Who can file an NTRP Grievance:
An NTRP Grievance may be filed by a captain, a co-captain or by NorCal administration.
Who can you file an NTRP Grievance against:
Any player with a self rating (S), a rating lowered through the medical appeal process (A), a tournament rating (T), or a rating based solely on Mixed League match results (M) is subject to an NTRP grievance.
A player who inappropriately self-rates and captains and others who condone inappropriate self rating may be subject to sanctions, including disqualification and suspension.
Two issues that support an NTRP grievance against a player who has self rated:
1. Omission or falsification of information regarding one’s tennis history
There are specific minimum ratings allowed for players who have high school, college or professional tennis playing history. These minimums are available on our website. If you have information indicating that a player has omitted or falsified his tennis history, please contact the office first and we will look into it. If your information is correct, NorCal will file an administrative grievance.
Conditions Which Would Give Credibility to a NTRP Grievance:
• The player participated on a college team at a significant NCAA level (note: age of player, injuries, position on team, and strength of tennis team at particular school could affect a significant change in rating over time).
• The player participated at the professional level (including tennis or other sports).
• The player has earned international, national, sectional or state/district rankings that would reflect a strong probability that the player should have a higher rating.
• The player has ratings equivalent to national or sectional in some other country.
• The player has a history in league tennis and/or sanctioned tournaments that would substantiate a claim that the player has misrepresented their current skill level.
• The player played high school tennis but has self rated at 2.5.
• The player played post season high school tennis but has self rated at 2.5 or 3.0.
• There is credible written or online documentation that the player answered falsely or omitted information while obtaining a self rating.
2. A player has self rated below his skill level.
NTRP grievances against a self rated 2.5 player will be accepted only if there is substantial and incontrovertible supportive documentation available. New tennis players at the 2.5 level may improve very rapidly, resulting in a wide range of tennis ability evolving among flights as the league season progresses. Captains should recognize that this is the nature of the 2.5 player as evidenced by the very high probability that this April’s 2.5 player will be this July’s 3.0 player. NorCal welcomes the beginning 2.5 player to our leagues and applauds their progress up the ratings ladder!
What kind of information might support an NTRP grievance?
• The player may have produced one or more strikes in her/his current player record.
• Documentation that a player was playing at a higher level at the time he self rated.
What kind of information DOES NOT support an NTRP grievance?
The following contentions or claims would not, on their own, be accepted as evidence in a NTRP Grievance.
• I haven’t lost a match all year and he beat me like a drum!
• My player is at the top of his level and the opponent beat him easily!
• That player is a teaching pro!
• This player won all his matches by a significant margin in straight sets!
• My player is very strong and was beaten 6-0, 6-0!
Please do not include a description of the player’s strokes or strategy, or an account of how he covers the entire court or blasts overheads or has pro-level topspin or serves at 300mph. The NTRP grievance committee will base their decision on documented match results, not on potentially subjective eye-witness accounts of his matches.
If you are considering filing an NTRP grievance, we strongly suggest you contact the office and discuss it before you file. If there appears to be support for filing, we will advise you on the procedure for filing. If there does not appear to be support for filing, we will save you a lot of work. If it appears that there may be support for filing later in the season, we will advise you of that as well.