Of all the things contributing to the novice player’s frustration with tennis, the number one deterrent is the scoring system. After all, in what other sport can you win a significant number of points and still get beat 6-0?
It’s not fair -– especially to the lower level player who judges himself by the score. Even after losing 6-1, 6-2, he apologizes to his new tennis partner: "I guess I’m not enough of a match for you". So the tennis player is forever on the lookout for someone of equal skill and experience. Winning a 6-4 set is fun, but winning 6-1 is sometimes boring. "Gotta find better matches," he thinks to himself, setting out to find a new opponent.
The end result is that, as you climb the ladder, you find fewer people to play. Attempting to improve, you ostracize yourself from former tennis-playing friends. This is one of the reasons why many tennis clubs become so cliquish. The 4.0 players play with the 4.0’s, the 3.5 players play among themselves, and so on.
To eliminate this cliquish stratification, some clever solutions to bring these different level players together to keep from losing your precious tennis-playing friend, even though you may be of a different playing level.
There are many ways to handicap tennis matches. Among them are:
The USPTA has endorsed a handicapping system called TENCAP. Tencap is the computerized and manual tennis handicapping system designed to equalize play between players of differing skill levels. Like the golf handicap, Tencap is simple to understand, convenient to use and inexpensive for players. Because of the golf handicap system, the number of recreational golfers has grown tremendously. Tencap will provide similar benefits for tennis.
USPTA has endorsed Tencap because USPTA believes that a handicapping system will do the following:
How does the Tencap system work? Tencap is a national handicap system that is very similar to the handicap system used by the United States Golf Association (USGA). Players receive a Tencap ranging from 0 (the best) to 65. This Tencap is a measurement of a player's ability. The handicap is the difference between two players on the Tencap scale and is the number of points used in each tennis set to equalize the two players during play. For example, a player with a higher Tencap rating receives a certain number of "free" points to be used throughout each set. This number of free points is determined by the difference in Tencap ratings.
Tencaps are not based on visual or subjective evaluations. Every Tencap is a calculation based on the percentage of games won by players, relative to the caliber of the opponents played. Tencaps are recalculated every two weeks. Using Tencaps as a guide or as a handicap, players will be able to find more competitive matches against suitable opponents. However, it is recommended that handicap matches be played only against players within a range of 10 Tencap points.
The whole idea of handicapping is to allow different level players to play on the same court and have an enjoyable match. Try some of my suggestions, you might find some new players to play.