World Tennis Number: The new gold standard, or a failure?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52383/itfcoaching.v32i91.371Keywords:
Tennis rating, World Tennis Number (WTN), Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), United States Tennis Association (USTA)Abstract
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has recently implemented World Tennis Number (WTN), as their official rating system. It is unknown if this rating system is accurate, therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the predictability of WTN in match outcomes, comparing it to the accuracy at which Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) predicts match outcomes. We collected matches from the 2022 USTA Boys’ 16 & 18 National Championships. For WTN, UTR, and USTA ranking, we compared the predictability of match results using the Area-Under-Receiver- Operating-Characteristic (AUROC) Curve. Of the 806 matches analyzed, players with better WTNs, better UTRs, and better USTA rankings won in 76.8%, 76.7%, and 64.3% of matches, respectively. The predictability of WTN difference between players was comparable to that of UTR difference between players (AUROC, WTN: 0.847 vs UTR: 0.859, P-value = 0.14), and was superior to that of the difference in USTA rankings between players (P-value < 0.001). As WTN was superior to USTA ranking and was as accurate as UTR in terms of predicting match results, its use as a rating system is validated. This result can support the use of WTN for seeding criteria in USTA tournaments.
Downloads
References
ITF World Tennis Number (WTN). (2022, July 27). Tennis New Brunswick. https://tennisnb.ca/itf-world-tennis-number-wtn
Lawn Tennis Association. (2022, July 22). ITF World Tennis Number. https:// www.lta.org.uk/compete/wtn-rankings/world-tennis-number
Kramer, T., Huijgen, B. C., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., & Visscher, C. (2017). Prediction of Tennis Performance in Junior Elite Tennis Players. Journal of sports science & medicine, 16(1), 14–21.
Rankings. (n.d.). https://www.usta.com/en/home/play/rankings.html
Understanding the Algorithm - Complete Summary. (2022, March 15). Help Center. https://support.universaltennis.com/en/support/solutions/ articles/9000151830-understanding-the-algorithm-complete-summary
United States Tennis Association. (n.d.). 2022 USTA Junior Tournaments Ranking System. USTA. https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022- pdfs/2022-USTA-Junior-Tournaments-Ranking-System.pdf
United States Tennis Organization. (n.d.). USTA Junior National Championships Entries and Selection Information. USTA. https://www.usta.com/content/ dam/usta/2020-pdfs/National-Championships-Info-Entries-and- Selection-Process.pdf
Universal Tennis - Transforming tennis globally. (n.d.). https://app. universaltennis.com/login?next=%2Fhome
USTA /. (n.d.). https://playtennis.usta.com/Competitions/kalamazoocollege/ Tournaments/Overview/a6a54c3a-a3a3-4faf-b98f-2e2706dfc7aa
USTA (2022). USTA launches ITF World Tennis Number widget online. (June 9). https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-current/national/usta-launches-itfworld- tennis-number-widget-online.html
World Tennis Number - Powered by ITF. (2022, September 5). https://worldtennisnumber.com/
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 SangHyuk Im, Chang-Hoon Lee
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.