Appeal Rules for USTA NTRP Ratings

With 2018 year-end ratings now published, players that aren't happy with where they ended up may take the steps to appeal their rating on TennisLink in the hopes of having it granted.  Some may appeal up so they can play on a team with friends, others may appeal down if they don't think they can compete at the higher level or flights aren't offered in their area at the higher level.

The USTA League regulations list a number of things regarding appeals, but some of the criteria used for appeals is not public.  I wrote a blog five years ago when some of the criteria was included in a communication from the USTA, but I believe the USTA can and does make changes to the criteria, possibly as often as each year, and those rules I wrote about are now dated and no longer valid.  So if you come across that blog, don't bank on it being accurate anymore.

What we do know is what is in the regulations and here is a summary of that.  Note that for the purposes of this article, I'm only addressing the standard auto-appeals.  Manual appeals for medical or other reasons are an entirely separate thing.

First, there are some special rules for players age 60 and over.  Here is the relevant language from the regulations.

2.05E Promotion of Players 60 or Over and 65 or Over 

2.05E(1) Any player who is 60 years of age or older prior to, or during, the calendar year in which such player plays his or her first local league match and has achieved the same rating level or lower for his or her three most recent year-end ratings, without benefit of appeal of the player’s year-end rating, will automatically be granted an appeal (A rating) if promoted, subject to 2.05E(3) below. NTRP Dynamic Disqualification procedures as outlined in 2.04B(3) apply. 

2.05E(2) All players age 65 or over, if promoted, will automatically be granted an appeal (A rating) of their current rating back to their previous valid year-end rating, subject to 2.05E(3) below. NTRP Dynamic Disqualification procedures as outlined in 2.04B(3) apply. 

2.05E(3) Any player who is clearly above level under the applicable Computer Methodology procedures will be denied an appeal of his or her year-end rating under 2.05E(1) and 2.05E(2).

This basically means players over 60 that have had the same C rating for their past three ratings will be automatically granted an appeal down if they are bumped up.

Players over 65 will always be granted an appeal down, except if their rating is too far into the range for the next level.  This latter part (2.05E(3) is new for 2019 and just closes a loophole where a player that really can play at the next level (their rating is above the "clearly above level") could appeal down, now they can't.

Ok, what about the rest of us?  That is covered by a pretty generic item in the regulations.

2.05C Appeal of Year-End Ratings. Year-end NTRP valid computer rating levels may be appealed or denied through TennisLink except for 2.05D Medical Appeals.

That doesn't offer a whole lot, it just says an appeal can be done using TennisLink.

As far as eligibility to appeal, there is this:

2.07 CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYERS. 

A championship player’s computer rating achieved as a result of play in National Championships may not be appealed down following the Championship Year it is received except as in Reg. 2.05D Medical Appeals and Reg. 2.05E Promotion of Players 60 or Over and 65 or Over.

This is just saying that players that go to Nationals are not eligible to appeal down at year-end of the year they go to Nationals, except for those age 60 or over (see above).

What else do we know about eligibility to appeal?  Not much.  In the past there have been documents that mention being within 0.05 of a threshold, or graduated allowances based on the number of matches played, but I have not seen any specifics of what the current criteria are.

If you go online to appeal and it is not granted, you will see a message something like this:

Automated Appeal Decision

Automated appeal requested up for <player name> is denied - Benchmark or out of appeal range.

That simply tells you you weren't eligible or are out of range.  Don't get confused by the "benchmark" terminology, I think that is just left over from when players did get "B" ratings for going to playoffs, but that rating designation is no longer used so you should just interpret it to tell you your appeal is denied with no other special qualifiers.

Note that in all cases, a player that has an appeal granted is subject to 3-strike DQ.  This is more or less the same as a self-rated player in that if your rating gets above the strike threshold three times, you are DQ'd and promoted to the next level immediately.

Should I learn more, I'll add to this blog entry, but I'm also interested in hearing from players that appeal on whether or not the appeal is granted, so don't hesitate to leave a comment or contact me.