USTA League Information

To some, playing tennis “Just for Fun”, means not playing competitively, while for others, playing “Just for Fun”, means playing competitively. Which one are you? If you like competition then you are in the right place to get started playing league tennis under the auspices of the USTA.

The Villages Tennis Club has for many years supported various competitive Men’s, Women’s or Mixed doubles teams at various levels of play through the USTA NorCal section. The teams for 55+, 65+, and 70+ age groups are structured for 3 lines of doubles play and no singles play is required. In 2022, we had 5 USTA teams as follows: Men’s 65+, and 70+, 7.0 level (doubles players with ratings of 3.5 and 3.5 or 4.0 and 3.0), Women’s Combo 6.5 level (doubles partners who have 3.0 and 3.5 ratings), Women’s 18+ 4.0 level (played with our 55+ women and some non-resident guests; one line of singles and 2 of doubles), as well as a Mixed Doubles 40+ 8.0 level. The season for each team is laid out by the USTA NorCal and you can choose to play regular adult schedule, which includes weekend and night play, or you can do a daytime league with no evening play. Play is Monday-Friday with start times in the morning. There are leagues of different age groups and ratings throughout the year and each “season” includes 10 weeks of play. Each team in an individual area of NorCal must offer home courts for half of the ten matches within the 10 week time frame. The Villages is usually considered to be a Lower Peninsula team, but when fewer teams are registered our area can be blended into another area called South Bay. Here is a link to the NorCal season calendar of Adult League Play.

 https://www.usta.com/en/home/play/adult-tennis/programs/northerncalifornia/usta-norcal-adult-leagues.html

Scroll down to the league you are interested in.

Each team is organized and registered a full month or more before the season starts by the team captain. Players may register throughout the league play season, as long as there are enough players signed up to field a team when the season begins. The realistic minimum of players needed per team is 12, or twice the number you’ll need for each match. The Captain is the person who signs the team up on the Norcal site. A co-captain is usually added to help the captain with recording matches when the captain is unavailable. Players sign up once the website is established. Sound interesting? Want to join in on the fun?
 
First, become a member of USTA: 
Then, for players who are new to USTA league play, there is a self-rate system in place on the Norcal website. See:

…for this and other league /team information. Each team cannot have more than 6 self-rated players. If The Villages cannot field enough players for a team on home courts, six non-residents are permitted by Tennis Club rules. Alternatively, there are usually other teams in the area that may need extra players. Check this listing to find out:
 
Click on Adult Competitive Leagues, the click on Current Team list, then use the drop down menu highlighted in green (on the top of the page) to scroll to the league you want.
Need more help?  Phyllis Seeger is available to answer your USTA league questions at phyllisseeger@gmail.com.