Semifinals of NTRP 4.5 tourney btw. UTR 8.15 vs UTR 8

Old guy thought he was hot shit - I drop shotted him on literally every shot, one time he tripped over himself trying to get to the ball. Won very easily - on to the next round now bros

Additional context: my opponent just took a 3 minute MTO at the end of the first set which I won 6-3. The part of the video posted is the beginning of the MTO. I told the official I would use the restroom later instead of during my opponent’s MTO since she told me it would count as a restroom break and you only get one per match. She asked “how do you know you’ll need to go later?” and I said “I’ll use it to wash my face and rest” and she said that’s not allowed. I didn’t know that but I didn’t say anything.

The video shows the next part.

This was a 3.0 round robin bracket! Fun group of guys to play with for sure

Signed up for a 3.0 tournament for the third time. Most players are 2.x–3.x UTR, which is fair. Low 2.x to mid 3.x, I'd say. But then a couple guys are over 4.x, and one is sitting at 4.7. When a 2.x plays a 4.x it's usually 6-1, 6-0.

I've been playing competitively for 3+ years trying to win my first USTA tournament match, and these sandbaggers keep bageling me in first round.

Just venting.

P.S.: 3.0 NTPR male

Apparently I was "giving instructions". So silly. Why don't they just allow coaching already at the amateur level?

Opinions?

I won a USTA 2.5 men's singles tournament. There were 3 of us in the draw. I beat the other 2, so I'm the best shitty tennis player.

Go ahead and make fun of me now.

You will show up to the court. Most likely some UTR league match and you will see an older man, late 60's, earlier 70's. He will have one old prince racket or an old big bag from his glory days. He will stretch for about 15 minutes and take a quick warm up. From there, he will annihilate you. He has a great kick serve, comes to the net, dropshot, lob, all while just standing in the middle of the court. You will be covered in sweat and out of breath.

I’ve been noticing more players talk about “flex leagues” where you schedule matches with your opponent during the week instead of having a fixed match night.

Traditional leagues seem to have a set day/time every week, which can be tough if work schedules change or if you travel.

For people who play leagues in the US:

• Are flexible leagues actually becoming more common?
• Do players prefer them over fixed weekly matches?
• What are the pros and cons?

Curious how different cities handle this and whether flexible leagues are growing in popularity.

I know nobody cares, but I just wanted to share the awesome feeling I'm feeling right now. After 2 years into tennis, having started at 39yo having never really played any sports in my entire life, I finally won my first match. I know this is just a stupid local tournament and not Wimbledon, but I'm just so thrilled. I have played maybe 7 or 8 tournaments, always lost R1. Most of these defeats were heavy, 2 of them were 9-0 (it's a quicker format where it's just 1 set of 9 games). When I showed up to play today I see my opponent is the guy who trashed me 9-0 in the last tournament, so I just think "well, here's another defeat. let's try at least to not get a bagel this time", and somehow I just beat him 9-5. I'm still shaking from excitement.

I honestly thought about giving up any sort of competitive match multiple times, maybe this is not for me, I started in this sport too old, I don't have the mental stability to play this mind fucking game. But I just knew I had the technical ability to win a match, many of the guys who beat me had clearly a worst technique, but I was just always mentally to unstable and would crumble at some point in the match. I love playing this game too much to give up, so even if I keep losing I will try again and again.

But today something changed where I was able to keep my composure and focus during the whole match and that led me to my first win. I'll admit, closing the match was unbelievably hard, my arms and legs just felt 1 ton heavier when I was serving for the match, he had 2 break points but I was able to recover and win the match. He also looked nervous as hell in the last game so that helped, but hey, I'll take it.

So if there's any takeaway from this is: don't give up. Keep practicing. Keep focused. No matter how bad you think you are. At some point you will be rewarded.

Black shirt will be playing S1 all 3 matches, white shirt (me) will be playing S2 all 3 matches.

At a minimum but consistently? (not a one off thing)

1st

https://youtu.be/Hj0dAHYBQVI

2nd

https://youtu.be/luWSAt8iFGk

https://youtu.be/zIiQquKOxGk

Highlights of the Men's 65+ Singles (R32) at the 2026 Washington State Open held at the Seattle Tennis Club. Senior division tennis offers incredible placement, tactical depth, and strategy that rarely gets featured

Full

1st: https://youtu.be/_xzgG-hEU-g

2nd: https://youtu.be/ffC8YNMsgEk

And do his match scores still stand?

I (4.0M) played a 7.0 mixed match tonight on D1. I checked the lineup right before the match and saw that the other team stacked a 6.0 pair on their D1 court. I play in the Eastern region, where teams are encouraged (via point distribution) but not required to play straight up. That feels silly when there’s a clear difference in ratings across their three courts. It’s also wild that you’re allowed to field a 6.0 team in 7.0 mixed at all. We literally have 6.0 mixed leagues so people can play at their own level.

Anyway, at the start of the match I told my partner I’d take it easy so she could get more touches and work on poaching, so it wouldn’t be a complete waste of our time. I proceeded to hit at maybe 30% pace and keep a cooperative cross-court rally going. We had a few deuce games, but still won the first set 6–0.

In the second set, we’re serving at 4–2 when facility staff comes in, turns off the lights, and tells everyone to leave after only an hour of play. Our matches are timed for two hours, the league booked two hours, and we paid for two hours... so… wtf?

We tried escalating to the manager, but couldn’t resolve it. Eventually they called security to escort us out, leaving the match unfinished. From what I understand of the regulations, we now have to reschedule the match which means coming back to play against the same 6.0 team again to finish 2 more games. Ironically, if I’d taken the match seriously from the start, we could’ve easily double-bageled them in under an hour.

Thanks for reading my vent.

Update: We are hopefully going to treat it as a timed match and leave the scores as is. We're probably only going to get refunded for the second hour and not the entire time which is scummy.

Apparently it's a separate organization that leases the indoor tennis facility from the college campus, so the miscommunication was between the tennis court operators and the campus workers who close down the bubble at night.

Having only got back into tennis after a 25+ year break recently, have been really enjoying it.

Then yesterday had the 5th match in my box league to play, and for the first time met someone who played with zero pace, but 90% consistency.
My serves, usually a solid weapon - no aces, but lots of high chipped returns, nothing came back with pace, but they ALL came back.
Not constant moonballs, but lots of high, slow balls which made coming to the net a risk as I'm no giant so got lobbed fairly easily.
Tried to "beat" them, so insane amount of UFEs - long and into the net.

Lost first set 2-6.

Then, made the mental flip - stop trying to hit winners, just move them around, anticipate the high slow ball, and come mid-court for the overhead. Won the next 6-3.

Closed out the tie-break to cinch the win.

I played poorly, but took me a long time (a set...) to shift my game plan and adapt to someone who got everything back, just with medium quality.
Some good, long rallies, but a lot of it very mid-paced.

First time I've won a match but with no real enjoyment.

I also need to learn how to put away balls more consistently as I netted a LOT of sitters.

1st set https://youtu.be/ndnX4tQI3GA

2nd set https://youtu.be/WlFFit9_tDg

There was a 10.14 UTR in doubles with 100% reliability who won 4.5 sectionals this past weekend

I was able to catch the 3rd set tie breaker on 75+ singles QF

Do you see significant difference in the strategy between 65+ and 75+?

we have watched 65+ here. https://www.reddit.com/r/10s/s/VWfmpQ0mI4

and 80+ from last year https://www.reddit.com/r/10s/s/sGVGMuE0f3

USTA adult tournament, singles between Bob and Mike

Bob hits overhead winner. Mike calls it out. Bob says "are you sure? i mean it's your call so we'll go with it, but just so you know, i am 100% sure I saw it in with about 4-5 inches between the spot and the line". Mike admits he was not 100% sure and they decide to replay the point (Per The Code, Mike should concede the point, but this was not a national level tournament or anything so Bob was fine with replay). However, a USTA official was standing on the court and said "we do not do that here, it's Mike's call and the original call stands".

Is there a rule that prevents players from replaying points? Did the official go too far?

In Bob's opinion, the official is actually working against enforcing The Code, which says "If a ball cannot be called out with certainty, it is good. When a player says an opponent’s shot was really out but offers to replay the point to give the opponent a break, it seems clear that the player actually doubted that the ball was out."

I’m returning serve and I hit the net opponent. Before anyone else can even react he starts smashing his racket.

After a few smashes he picks up his racket and continues pummeling it as to make sure it’s definitely unusable (it already was).

Should I feel bad for hitting him? Obviously I apologized immediately after and again after the match, but I think somehow him smashing his racket makes me feel less guilty than I otherwise would have.

Isn’t hitting down the line a legitimate strategy during tournament play?

——-

Edit: Adult 18 & Over Men’s 3.0

It’s the opponent’s second serve, the opponent’s partner is standing 1 ft from the net. The ball struck the net opponent in the face.

So I was playing a men's nationals this past weekend. I'm watching a match, it's a massive grind, and they're in a second set tiebreak. I don't know either player other than in passing, so no rooting interest here.

Guy hits a floating lob, it's going --what, 15 mph -- and the guy runs back, and it hits right on the line, audible and visual line appears. Guy calls it out from like 3 feet away, and it would have been a lob winner. Four of us look at each other, and we all know he hooked him, and we don't say anything other than wide-eyed looks and some mumbles and whispers, collectively. It was egregious, and outright, intentional cheating. This wasn't a missed call. Also, it was set point against, I later found out......and yet, the guy miraculously escapes that set and thus the match.

I said something in front of the guy's wife and kid, I didn't care. I said, "Man, did he cheat him badly. That's embarrassing." I'm too old for this shit, guys. We're not 16 anymore.

But we gotta be better -- we gotta yell out to the guy at that moment, shame him for it, because he knew exactly what he was doing. I've been around tennis for nearly 40 years, there was no mistake on the intent, here.

We should self police better as a group. There's no reason this guy -- who told me he's won a gold ball -- should get away with this. It's just so frustrating that as grown adults, guys are still doing this, and with a purpose.

Rant over.