Glossary

The words the Desk uses for tennis and for its own numbers, and what each one means here.

The structure of play

team match

One team against another on a date, made up of several lines. The two teams can be from the same club.

line

One individual match within a team match.

individual match

The regulation's formal term for a line.

flight

The group of teams inside one NTRP level of one local league that play each other.

division

The program: Adult, Mixed, and in NorCal Combo.

NTRP rating

The rating USTA publishes for a player, like "3.5C", "4.0s" or "4.5A". The letter after the number says how USTA set it. C is a computer rating, s is self-rated, A is a rating the player appealed, and D marks a rating USTA disqualified during the year.

rating year

USTA's name for the stretch of dates whose matches count toward a year-end NTRP rating. The docs page "Does my match count toward my NTRP rating?" says when a rating year ends, quoting and linking USTA.

age group

The ages a league is for: 18 & Over, 40 & Over, 55 & Over, 65 & Over or 70 & Over.

Section

One of the 17 USTA Sectional Associations, or the territory it runs. The Desk's section is USTA NorCal.

area

The geography a local league covers. The Desk covers some of the areas in USTA NorCal, and Browse lists them.

club

An organization that enters teams with USTA NorCal, such as a tennis club, a park or a school. A team belongs to every club whose USTA page lists it, so a NOVATO TC/PIONEER PK team that both clubs list belongs to both.

Results and scoring

points

The league's own match points, as the scorecard records them. Under Points per Position, a win at Doubles 1 is worth 2 points, and a win at each other line 1. So a team match of four lines totals 5.

standings / league table

Teams in the order the league's published rule sets. First comes total team matches won, then most individual match wins, fewest sets lost, fewest games lost and head-to-head.

tie

Two teams with an equal score on one of the standings' criteria, such as team matches won. The league's rules use the word only this way.

draw

The lottery performed by USTA NorCal staff to settle an unfinished match or place advancing teams.

set, game, and the match tiebreak

A match tiebreak played in place of a third set counts as one set. When the standings break a tie, it also counts as one game. For a Desk level, a match tiebreak decides who won the line and adds nothing to the margin, which comes from the other sets.

default

A line the league scored without it being played.

valid match

USTA's term for a match in which at least six games were completed. USTA needs three of them to generate a year-end NTRP rating. USTA states no rule that leaves a shorter match out of the year-end calculation, so the Desk states none. The docs page "Does my match count toward my NTRP rating?" gives USTA's definition of a valid match, quoting and linking USTA.

The Desk's own numbers

Desk level

The number the Desk computes for each player, its estimate of how they are playing now. It's on the same scale as NTRP, so one NTRP step is one whole point, and it shows two decimals. The Desk works it out again each time it reads new results, once a day. It moves after each rated line, by how the result and the score compare with what the Desk expected. When USTA moves a player's NTRP rating, it also moves part of the way toward about the middle of the new range, unless it's already past that point. It makes that move at the player's first match at the new rating.

Desk Pass

The paid tier. One person holds it, and its forecasts work for any team the Desk covers, opponents included.

range

The range of Desk levels that one NTRP rating covers. A rating covers the half point of Desk level up to it: a 4.0 covers Desk levels above 3.50, up to and including 4.00. So a 3.5 at Desk level 3.50 and a 4.0 at Desk level 3.50 meet as equals.