UTP partners with Universal Tennis for accurate skill measurement

UNIFIED Tennis Philippines (UTP) continues its positive direction towards improving the state of tennis in the Philippines by partnering with Universal Tennis (UT) for its Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR) system, the most accurate and reliable technique for rating tennis skill worldwide.

The UTR system provides tennis players around the world a common scale to determine their level of play. The 16-level scale (from beginners to elite world-class professionals), will be able to precisely and reliably determine each individual players’ ratings based on actual match results, regardless of their age, gender or where the matches are held. The Universal Tennis Web site ( www.universaltennis.com), allows visitors to view more than 2.5 million tennis results at any given time.

US college tennis coaches also utilize UTR ratings for recruiting, for scouting opponents, and also to track the levels of their current players. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the governing body of the NCAA DI, DII, DIII, NAIA and Junior/Community College Tennis, currently use the UTR ratings to assist with their selections and seedings for regional and national events.

“We are so elated to have Universal Tennis agree to partner with us. This will benefit all tennis stakeholders in the country and will surely improve the quality of our players and competitions in the Philippines,” said UTP Founding Member and Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO, Jean Henri Lhuillier.

This latest move by UTP further pushes its mission of making membership and activities in the association more inclusive, and will benefit not just the top players but even the age group players as well as club players.

The UTR system is generated by results from around the world such as ATP, WTA, ITF, USTA, British Tennis, Tennis Australia, Tennis Canada, Tennis Europe and 600 other UTR events worldwide. It will also include tournaments from UTP starting with the WTA — Cebuana Lhuillier Under 16 and Under 14 Girls Qualifying scheduled from Sept. 22-24 in Valle Verde, including the Cebuana Lhuillier and Palawan Pawnshop tournaments to be held at Southwoods on Sept. 24, and in Cotabato on Sept. 25.