Frequently Asked Questions
Many players ask us questions about our website and rankings. The
answers to 95% of these questions are listed here. If you do not see
the answer to your question, please send us an email or contact us.
General Questions
Free Accounts
Updating Player Profiles
Photos
Videos
Recruiting Advantage Premium Membership
Rankings
"Star" Ratings
What is TennisRecruiting.net all about?
You can learn everything you need to know about our web site and our
company by reading About Us.
What differentiates TennisRecruiting.net from other tennis sites?
TennisRecruiting.net differentiates itself in several ways:
- Free recruiting service: TennisRecruiting.net allows
players free registration - and the ability to update most information
free of charge.
- Weekly rankings: TennisRecruiting.net provides two sets of
weekly rankings - the College Recruiting Lists and the TennisRPI.
These rankings use a head-to-head rather than a points-based system
for both boys and girls.
- Rankings based on graduation year: TennisRecruiting.net is
the only site on the web to rank players based on graduation year -
which is what college coaches need.
- Extensive player profiles: Every player in our rankings has
several webpages with a wealth of information - player records, historical
rankings, high school information, and much more.
- Premier services for college coaches: TennisRecruiting.net
provides services designed by and for college coaches. Player
information is packaged in a manner college coaches have long
requested - and long awaited. Hundreds of college coaches use
TennisRecruiting.net daily.
Do you have a lot of experience producing tennis rankings?
Our company is the worldwide leader in tennis ranking systems. The
USTA and its sections and districts have used our ranking products to
produce their official ranking, standing, and selection lists for more
than five years. Since 1998 we have produced more than 30,000 USTA
lists.
Our ranking system supports a variety of points systems as well as
several head-to-head systems, including STAR, Safire, and WinRank.
What exclusive content do you have available at
TennisRecruiting.net?
Our goal at TennisRecruiting.net is to provide new content every
business day. Recruiting updates and features from tennis authors
around the country are added several times a week. Rankings are also
updated each day, Tuesday through Friday.
Our exclusive content falls into several categories:
- Recruiting Profiles: Conversations with recruits and their
coaches where we update where they are in the recruiting process.
- Getting Started: Our resident recruiting expert, Dede
Allen, introduces you to various recruiting issues.
- Tournament Wrapups: Stories from premier junior tournaments
around the country.
- Ask the Experts: Well-known coaches and players answer your
questions about collegiate tennis and recruiting.
- Who's Hot? Each month, we feature players who are playing
their best tennis and jumping up the rankings.
- Where Are They Now? Updates on past players with their
current activities and whereabouts.
Why should I register at TennisRecruiting.net?
Registration at TennisRecruiting.net is free - and it is your
ticket to TennisRecruiting.net services and content.
For junior players, registration allows you to update information
for college coaches to query. You can also validate your graduation
year to ensure that you are included in our lists.
Everyone who registers gets access to the complete College
Recruiting and TennisRPI Lists - along with access to many of our
player profiles and much of our exclusive content.
I registered at TennisRecruiting.net, but I did not receive a
confirmation email. What should I do?
Many online services have spam filters that capture your email, and
it is possible that your confirmation email was flagged as spam.
Before doing anything else, check your spam configuration and any
folders where spam is directed.
If you still cannot find the email, try sending a text version of
the confirmation email by doing the following:
- Log in to TennisRecruiting.net with your username and password.
(Note that you can log in even if you have not verified your email
address.
- At the bottom right-hand side of your browser, there is a My
Account section. Click on Activate Your Account.
- Verify that your email address is set correctly, and then click on
the Send Confirmation button.
Within a few minutes, you should receive a text version of the
confirmation email with a verification link inside. If this does not
work, contact TennisRecruiting.net support.
How do I update my player profile?
It is very easy. First, you must register for a free account.
Then, log in and click on Link Account to Player - either right
after registering or at any time by clicking the link in the My
Account box in the lower right-hand corner. The directions from there
should be straightforward.
I updated my information on the Update Profile page, but my
profile did not change. How can I fix that?
When you make changes to a player profile, you will be able to see
the changes on the Update Profile page, but the actual player profile
is not updated immediately. We make sure that all changes go through a
review process to ensure data integrity and prevent profanity and abuse.
Changes are usually approved within 24 hours.
I updated my graduation year from the Class of 2008 to the Class
of 2009. But my name does not show up on the Class of 2009 list.
What is going on?
Changing graduation years in the TennisRecruiting.net system is a
process that is difficult to handle tastefully. Here is how things
work when a player updates his/her graduation year:
Whenever a person changes classes, we have an inherent problem for
the current week: Consider the case where the person ranked #100 in
the Class of 2008 updated his/her class to the Class of 2009 - and the
ranking for the Class of 2009 would be #80. Now, what should we do
with the lists?
- We cannot just re-rank - it would look funny if every time you
came to our list you were ranked up or down a few notches.
- If we take the person out of the Class of 2008 list right now,
there will be a hole at #100 in the rankings - there would be no one
ranked #100 at all. (This looks ugly and creates confusion.)
- In the Class of 2009, there are already kids ranked #79, #80, and
#81. What should we do there? Co-rank two kids at #80? Co-ranking
also looks equally ugly.
We handle this case by waiting until the next ranking to insert the
player into the new list. For the current week only, the player
remains in the old list (i.e., the Class of 2008) and his/her profile
indicates no ranking. We do figure out the relative rankings for the
historical ranking charts and top prospect rating - and those are
updated accordingly. But there is at most a one week period where the
player will be unranked.
For the example above, the player will remain in the Class of 2008
list for this week, the player profile will read Class of 2009, and
next week, the player will show up as a "new" player in the Class of
2009.
Keep in mind that changing classes should be a one-time event for
any player.
What benefits do I get from becoming a Recruiting Advantage
member?
Upgrade your membership to Recruiting Advantage, and you get
complete access to all of the exclusive content and services at
TennisRecruiting.net.
Content available to our Recruiting Advantage members includes:
We have plans for many additional services and content that will be
available only to our Recruiting Advantage members - but folks
with free accounts will continue to have a great experience.
Finally, purchasing a Recruiting Advantage membership is a
great way to support TennisRecruiting.net and the rankings we put out
each week.
Can I update my profile picture without purchasing a Recruiting
Advantage membership?
Yes, you can update your photograph with a free account.
You must first register for an account and link to
a player. Then click on Update Player Profile in the My
Account box in the lower right-hand corner. One of the options on
that page is updating your photograph.
My local paper wrote an article about me. Can I link to that
article from my profile?
Yes, Recruiting Advantage members can link to third-party
news articles on their profile. As an example, take a look at the
news articles on
this profile.
Click on the
More News
link and notice that we include third-party articles in addition to our
own content and that of our partners.
After linking to your player profile, click on the Update
link. Then click on Multimedia to reference news
article from your profile.
I have two children that play tennis. Do I have to pay for two
Recruiting Advantage memberships for them?
You need multiple accounts to update information about multiple players – and you would need multiple Recruiting Advantage accounts to view the statistics pages for multiple children. This is intentional.
We have a few reasons behind this policy – most notably that many people share their Recruiting Advantage accounts with their friends. Rather than put measures in place to police this activity (which would be difficult and not at ALL fun), we decided to hold off since we knew we had a number of player-specific Recruiting Advantage features coming. These coaches visit statistics and the loading of YouTube vidios are only the first such features – Recruiting Advantage members will soon be able to upload articles, pictures, and indicate tournaments that they are planning to play in to their player profiles.
Note that with one subscription you can still view almost everything on the website – see all the prospect lists, read all the content, etc. And with multiple free accounts, you can update information for all your children. But you would only be able to see statistics for the children linked to a Recruiting Advantage account.
So… how you proceed is up to you. You can choose to only pay for one membership for your most “recruitable” player – just using the free service for children that are not yet recruitable. Or, if you find the statistics addictive, you can choose to purchase more than one account.
Can I upload photos to TennisRecruiting.net?
Yes. If you can create a free account and
link it to your player profile,
you can
upload a photo
for your profile page.
Recruiting Advantage members can also upload photo galleries.
Click on the Multimedia link to get started.
How many photos can I upload? Can I control the order they are
displayed?
You can upload up to 12 photos. The first four will be displayed
on your main profile page, and the remaining photos will be shown in
a player photo gallery.
You can also reorder the photos at any time.
Can I upload video to TennisRecruiting.net?
Yes! TennisRecruiting.net allows you to embed
YouTube videos
right on your player profile page. Just
link to your player profile
and click on the Multimedia link to get started.
I can update everything else on my profile for free. Why do
I need a Recruiting Advantage membership to upload video?
We have many minors who use our website, and we take many measures
to ensure that inappropriate content does not appear on profile pages.
The most important measure is our review process - all submissions are
reviewed by our staff.
Reviewing videos is very time-consuming - and therefore costly.
Requiring a Recruiting Advantage membership ensures that video
submissions will be higher-quality, and it also helps cover the
reviewing costs.
Do I need to publish a video?
Coaches always want to watch their recruits play. Video of your
groundstrokes, serves, volleys, and match play can allow coaches to
get the information they need whenever they have the time. And videos
are obviously compelling - nothing grabs attention like a video clip.
What should go into my video?
A good video starts with a plan. The typical video is 2-5 minutes
in length. Typical components include:
- A short introduction where you introduce yourself and state
your goals.
- Several sections covering various technical components, like
groundstrokes, serves, and net play.
- Match play.
How do I upload my video to YouTube and TennisRecruiting.net?
Detailed instructions are available on your profile update webpage.
Briefly, the steps are:
- Create a free account on YouTube.
- Upload one or more videos to YouTube.
- Link your Recruiting Advantage account to your
TennisRecruiting.net player profile.
- Enter the YouTube video id on your profile update page at
TennisRecruiting.net.
Just
link to your player profile
and click on the Multimedia link to get started.
When I update my email address on the Edit Your Account
page, my old email address is listed as the "confirmed email address".
Why are two email addresses shown?
TennisRecruiting.net sends all email correspondence (e.g.,
receipts, password reminders) to your confirmed email address. When
you update your email address, you must confirm the new address (i.e.,
by clicking on the "confirm account" link in the confirmation email).
Once confirmed, your updated email address will be the only email
address associated with your account.
I love TennisRecruiting.net. How do I support your site?
It takes a lot of time and money to put out rankings and content at
TennisRecruiting.net. One way to help support TennisRecruiting.net -
and to get full access to all of the great content - is to purchase an
annual subscription.
In addition, supporting our advertisers - particularly our retail
partners - helps us as well. If you do decide to make an online
purchase, make sure to start at TennisRecruiting.net and click on one
of our sponsor links. That way, TennisRecruiting.net gets credit for
the purchase.
What rankings are available at TennisRecruiting.net?
TennisRecruiting.net puts out two sets of rankings for boys and girls
each week: the College Recruiting Lists and the TennisRPI.
What are the College Recruiting Lists?
Take a look at the College
Recruiting List description.
What is the TennisRPI?
Read the About the TennisRPI Lists
page.
Why does TennisRecruiting.net show both Recruiting Lists and
TennisRPI lists?
The two ranking systems are very different. They measure different
criteria, and we believe both criteria are interesting.
The College Recruiting Lists use a system that we have spent years
refining, and we believe that it is an excellent measure of which
players are currently playing the best tennis. This ranking system is
the same widely-accepted system that has been used by college coaches
since March 2004 at TennisInformation.com.
The TennisRPI is modeled on the well-known Ratings Percentage Index
(RPI) algorithm that is "the gold standard" of college athletics. The
RPI is used by the NCAA Selection Committee for choosing teams for the
NCAA Tournament in College Basketball, and RPI calculations are used
in college football, baseball, softball, and other sports.
Both of these ranking systems are very interesting, and so we
provide both lists at TennisRecruiting.net.
How are the TennisRecruiting.net rankings different from those
put out by the USTA and TennisInformation.com?
There are two important differences between the
TennisRecruiting.net rankings and those put out at other websites: (1)
head-to-head rankings and (2) class rankings.
The TennisRecruiting.net rankings use a head-to-head system,
while the USTA rankings use a points system. In a head-to-head
system, your ranking is based solely on the quality of your opponents,
regardless of which tournament or what round you played them. In a
points system, each tournament is assigned a point value, and points
are earned for each round you reach in a tournament, regardless of the
quality of your opponent.
The TennisRecruiting.net lists are the only U.S. rankings broken
down by graduation year rather than by age. Such a breakdown
is important since colleges recruit based on graduation year - and
many players play out of their natural age division.
How do I improve my rankings?
Simply put, the two things you can do to improve your ranking are
to play tournaments often and play competitive opponents.
Wins over players ranked above you help you considerably, as do more recent
wins over competitive opponents.
Losses to players ranked considerably higher
than you and wins over players ranked considerably lower than you will not
contribute to your ranking, so there is no advantage to racking up a large number
of wins in tournaments with players that don't match your ability. Similarly, losses
to a seeded player much better than you, resulting from the luck-of-the-draw
will not penalize you. Matches that are important are between players that have
similar abilities, i.e. competitive matches.
One factor in the College Reqruiting list rankings is the average of the opponent's
quality of a player's best 8 wins. In an elimination draw, the best win for a player
is most likely the last win prior to losing since opponents tend to get better as
the tournament progresses. Consequently, it would make sense to have played in at
least 8 tournaments before you are maximizing this factor. In a tournament that you
win, you may not have played one of your best 8 opponents, so winning a tournament
does not necessarily improve your ranking. Of course, the more tournaments a player
plays, the more chances there are to improve this best-8-wins factor.
What is so important about ranking by graduating class?
Rankings by graduation year are important to college coaches.
Colleges recruit based on graduation year, and age-based rankings -
particularly two-year rankings like 18 & Under and 16 & Under - are too
coarse for college coaches.
Do college coaches really use TennisRecruiting.net?
As of July 2007, almost 400 college coaches subscribe to our
premium coaching service, and hundreds more have accounts.
Players can see how many coaches have visited their profile pages
for free - just create a free account and link it to your profile.
Players can identify exactly
which coaches are visiting
their player profile pages with a Recruiting Advantage account.
Many of the features of TennisRecruiting.net are based on input
from college coaches at all levels and across the country.
I play tournaments in both the 18 & Under and 16 & Under age divisions.
Which tournaments will count towards my College Recruiting List and TennisRPI
rankings?
We include all tournament results in all age divisions when
calculating rankings. It makes sense to use all data in the ranking
calculations since there is a great deal of play between age levels.
In fact, we think that our rankings are superior because we use so
much data.
Why should my 16 & Under matches count for my 18 & Under
ranking?
Again, we are not ranking in age divisions - but rather by
graduating class. Tennis is a sport where there is a great deal of
play between players of different age levels and skill levels. With
so much cross-play, there is enough "connectivity" between different
players to use that data to produce better rankings. We believe that
the information from these matches is important to produce the
best-possible rankings.
Which tournaments will be used in the TennisRecruiting.net
ranking calculations?
Tournaments that count are in 5 groups:
- ITF grade A,1,2,3 plus any ITF tournament played in the USA.
- USTA National Schedule tournaments.
- Sectional tournaments that are designated to count for USTA National rankings (12 per section).
- Historically strong tournaments where in the previous year over 60% of the players are National Players. We currenty do not have a published list of these, but this is on our list of future additions to the site.
- Dynamically determined events in tournaments where at least 30% of the players in the event are National Players, minimum two. For boys' and girls' 12 and under events the percentage requirement is relaxed to 20% since group 2 tournaments in this age division have smaller draws.
We term a "National Player" as any player that has played in at
least one of our group 2 or group 3 events in the 12 months preceding
the tournament in question.
You can determine ahead of time if a tournament is in group 1-4,
but group 5 tournaments, which are the bulk of them, are determined
after the tournaments are played.
I see a problem with my player record. How do I fix it?
All corrections or additions to player records for
TennisRecruiting.net rankings should be e-mailed to Julie Wrege.
I noticed several kids who have incorrect graduation years.
What gives?
There are many players for whom we do not have confirmed graduation
years, and so we have estimated the graduation year for some players.
These players are flagged as having "provisional" graduation years on
their profiles.
Players or their parents can update their graduation years by
registering for a free account and then updating their class. If you
see someone with an incorrect graduation year, encourage them to
update it!
If "more data is better", then why don't you simply use all
match results from all junior tournaments?
It sounds like a good idea to include all tournaments, but using
all tournament data is a mistake that many people (including us!) have
made in the past.
An important considerations when doing a head-to-head ranking is
how "well connected" the players are. Head-to-head rankings are
excellent when players have a lot of matches against the competition.
But things can break down when there are subsets with no
cross-play.
For example, a head-to-head system cannot objectively compare:
- Player A who reaches the semifinals in several super-national
tournaments.
- Player B who is undefeated - but only competes in local
tournaments.
While Player A is almost certainly better, there is no data the
ranking system can use to differentiate the tournaments without
classifying the tournaments. By restricting the set of tournaments we
use to ensure good connectivity, this case never comes up.
For these reasons, we restrict the tournaments considered to large
national, sectional, and district tournaments where we expect the
players will be well-connected.
Why am I not showing up on the TennisRecruiting.net rank
lists?
To be eligible for a ranking, a player must compete in at least
three tournaments during the previous twelve months and win at least
four matches over ranked players.
I did not play a single match last week. So why did my ranking
change in the latest list?
There are three reasons such a change might happen:
- All players’ records are evaluated for each list publication.
Although you may not have competed, other players did, and all this
data is now a part of the overall ranking data. Consequently, players
whom you have played moved up or down, and you may have also.
- Only data from the past 12 months counts. Every player - including
you - had a week of old data drop off your player record.
- An emphasis is now put on recent wins. Each week some wins may
drop off your record or be counted less than in the previous
calculation.
What are the Top Prospects?
Check out the Top Prospects
Description.
I am a 1-star recruit but I have wins over a lot of 2 and 3-stars.
When do I get another "star"?
The ratings (stars) are awarded once a year, near the beginning of the
school year (early October). A special ranking is done that includes
matches from Sept 1 through August 31 of the previous year - for classes
that have more than 1000 ranked players the top 25 are blue-chips, the
next 50 are 5-stars, the next 125 are 4-stars, the next 200 are 3-stars,
the next 200 are 2-stars, and the rest are 1-stars. For classes with
fewer ranked players, a percentage is used.
As the year goes by, some players have improved, thus moving up in the
rankings but they retain their present "stars" until the next school year. We do this so that the college coaches can see who is improving their game.
Why do you only determine "stars" once a year?
The main reason that we only rate players once a year is that it is common for seniors
to stop playing USTA junior tennis once they have signed with a college. They often continue
improving their game by playing in "futures", pro, semi-pro, or ITF events only. We don't
want the star rating that they have earned to fall just because we can't use these
events in our rankings (there is not sufficient connectivity).
What is the Prince Hot 100?
Check out the Prince Hot 100
Description.
