Competitor Corner: Self-Rating Information

The purpose of self-rating is to determine your own tennis playing ability.  You would want to know this in order to better plan out your skill improvement, to select the appropriate level of league or tournament, or to set up handicap matches against weaker or stronger opponents to make the matches more competitive.

The descriptions below are generalized about all aspects of play based on a number of sources.  If you want to review the complete Tennis Canada rating guide, you can find it on their website.  If you prefer a visual representation of play, check out this youtube playlist from the USTA showing males and females playing at the various NTRP levels.

General Descriptions of Skill Levels

Skill range 1.5 (new player) - 3 (beginner player)

  • 1.5: New Player with limited tennis experience.  Working on getting ball into play
  • 2.0: Beginner player.  Has obvious stroke weaknesses and may not be able to execute all shots (forehand, backhand, slice, drop shot, approach shot, overhead, serve, lobs, volleys, etc...) but has a basic understanding of game play.
  • 2.5: Beginner player.  Learning to judge where the ball is going, but weak court coverage.  Can sustain short rally of slow pace with players of similar ability.
  • 3.0: Beginner - Intermediate player: Fairly consistent when hitting medium paced shots, but not comfortable with all strokes, and lack execution when trying for directional control, depth of power.

Skill Range 3 (beginner-intermediate player) and up

  • 3.0: Beginner - Intermediate player: Fairly consistent when hitting medium paced shots, but not comfortable with all strokes, and lack execution when trying for directional control, depth of power.
  • 3.5: Intermediate Player: Has achieved improved stroke dependability with directional control on moderate shots, but still lacks depth and variety.  Starting to exhibit more aggressive net play and has improved court coverage.
  • 4.0: Intermediate-Advanced Player: Has dependable strokes, including directional control and depth.  Can use all shot types with some success.  May be starting to master use of power and spins.
  • 4.5: Advanced Player: Starting to master power and spins.  Can handle shots with pace, has sound footwork, can control depth of shots and can vary game plan according to opponents.  Hit first serves with power and accuracy and place the second serve.

Handicap Tennis Ideas

There are a number of ways to handicap a match when there is a wide difference in skill levels between the players.  There are formal handicap systems that are very structured (and suitable for competition), but rely upon good record keeping and a history of play on which to base the handicap.  They also tend to have more complicated scoring mechanisms.

If you are interested in playing with a handicap, here are a few options you can use, using the NTRP rating (or self-rating) to determine what the handicap should be:

  • For each half point, or full point difference in NTRP rating, provide a free point per game.
    • If there is a 0.5 difference in rating (a 2.5 player plays a 3.0 player) the lower rating player begins each game at 15 (15-0 or 0-15 depending on if they are serving or not).
    • If that difference is 1.0, then the lower rating player begins each game at 30 (30-0 or 0-30).
  • For each half point of difference in rating level, provide 5 free points.
    • The free points can be used by the lower ranked player at any time, and if used, acts as if the serve was completed, and the lower ranked player won the point.
  • The better player receives only serve per point.
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