Page 68 - Tennis Magazine April 2019
P. 68
Tennis C O M P E T I T I O N
Life
The goal of Universal
Tennis Rating is both
simple and ambitious:
measure every player’s
ability along one scale
Standard
The Jack Kramer Club in The event offered a modest, recent matches over the past 12
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, where $30,000 purse. The highest seed was months, on a numerical scale rang-
legendary coaches such as Vic then-ATP No. 33 Steve Johnson; the ing from 1.00 (raw beginner) to 16.5
Braden and Robert Lansdorp winner was then-ATP No. 51 Sam (Novak Djokovic territory). It is based
helped shape the nascent games Querrey. Mardy Fish and Tommy on the quality of the opponents and
of Open-era icons including Haas, whose tournament-playing the score differential—competitive-
Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras days are behind them, were among ness—of matches, rather than sim-
and Lindsay Davenport, added the other notable competitors. ply wins or losses. It is blind to age or
another signifi cant chapter to What was so historic about it? gender. Any match between players
its legacy last December. It For one, it was perhaps the most registered with UTR can be tracked
hosted the inaugural California “open” of all tennis tournaments as long as UTR is provided the data,
Championships. ever staged. Over the course of a either by the players or tournament.
hectic week, 269 recreational and More than a million players already
professional players competed in have UTR ratings, and UTR has pro-
the California Championships, using cessed over 10 million match results.
an orderly format and entry system “The possibilities with UTR are
based on a new, disruptive technol- almost limitless,” says Manhattan
ogy sweeping the game: UTR. Beach native Jeff Tarango, a former
Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) is an pro and California Championships
algorithm-driven system that rates tournament director.
a player based on his or her 30 most At last year’s Miami Open, when
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