The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
Tennis Central gears up for four big events this weekend as the return of tournament play makes a big splash for the first time during this hot summer.
On Sunday, the 10U and 12U players, tee up the orange and green balls at Holton Arms. Meanwhile, Tennis Central will host the first ever of its USTA events in Princeton, NJ with two back to back tournaments.
The expansion is fueled by the success of the company's tournaments at new venues in recent years in the DMV – The Beach Tennis and Pool as well as Hamlet are new USTA venues in recent years – and also Tennis Central's steadily rising presence in the Garden State.
Gary Potz leads ten Tennis Central coaches in summer camps that have started this month in Princeton. A number of juniors from New Jersey and their families have attended Tennis Central's service trip to Anguilla.
And Tennis Central coaches have staffed the Princeton day school varsity program, winners of six state state and sectional titles, for four years now.
So Princeton is excited to host 16U and 18U USTA tournaments this weekend for the first time.
Last week’s idle week in tournament play left some changes to the Tour rankings. In the top division, Marie Boy and Solomon Ravitz swapped places in the Top 10. Jackson Lou made the biggest leap, hopping four places into position 16.
Boy also crept up one position in the 16s, but it was Ashvin Ellentuck who finally broke into the top 10 after numerous fine performances, and challenging No. 1 Jon Ozenci in two recent dramatic clashes.
Suvin Thayavalliyil, Diya Nain, and Ivanna Baguma each moved up within the top 15 on the 12U Tour.
The tournaments pick up the pace now that summer has begun, as both Bethesda and Princeton locations will host tournaments again the first week of July to celebrate the Fourth of July weekend.
2024 Points Change
A change to the points applied to higher-level tournaments from lower levels should reflect ages and skills better from now on. It used to be that all points were halved when applied to a higher age group's rankings. Now, the points are halved each step up the ladder, not just once.
So a player can no longer earn 80 points at 10U and count them as 40 at 16U. They would be halved at 12U (40 points), again at 14U (20 points), then again at 16U (10 points). It provides the incentive without disrupting the older players' earnings too much.
However, a younger player earning points in an older tournament, much as Arnav Nadikatla did in this Tour Championship edition, is still a sure way to rise faster in those rankings.
Remember the newly added feature to the rankings: the Plus / Minus, which will tell you how far up or down the player has moved within the last week.
The full tables now look like this.
Each weekend this spring and summer, Tennis Central is bringing you USTA and UTR tournaments at Holton-Arms School. Earn points for advancing through each round, just like on the pro tours, and qualify for the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP at season's end.
Bigger events offer more points, with the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP offering the most, as well as prizes.
Check here for updates each week to the Tennis Central Tour Rankings, a 52-week points system based on the pro tours, as well as recaps of all the action and photos. We'll post the 2024 schedule soon!
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