After my hip replacement surgery on August 15, 2025, the process of recovery was resulting in a surge of epiphanies, which I decided to share on social media because my friend thought my spontaneous videos were good. This first epiphany is about how hard it is to get the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to bump your rating down.
In case you don’t know what that means, even amateur players are rated on a scale from 1 to 7. Once you understand the. game and can keep the ball in play for a bit, you’ll probably be rated a 2.5. Pros are 7.0’s and are then ranked in the world. Currently, Carlos Alcaraz is #1 in men’s tennis and Aryna Sabelenka is #1 in women’s tennis.
When I left competitive tennis over 6 years ago, I was a 3.5 player. Because of the complications due to GERD, bicep tendonitis, and arthritis in my right hip, I had to stop playing. However, I realized during hip surgery that I might be able to play tennis, albeit at a lower level, like a 3.0. So I applied for a rating in Tennessee, since all of my tennis had been played in Virginia, and I was rated a 3.5. I then appealed my rating, explaining what I just told you about why I quit.
About a week later, I received a response from the USTA indicated that I had been too successful in tennis over 6 years ago to warrant being bumped down to a 3.0.
All I can say is, if I could have sent them a video of me hitting on the ball machine once I was cleared to hit, they might have reconsidered. Because I probably touched about 5 out of balls without getting them over the net. I was worse than I was before I started playing at 10.
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