Why Adults and Juniors Should Play Each Other

                It has been my experience that in general, adults do not want to play matches against kids, because either they feel their level is not up to par, or simply because of the age.  In most cases, the adults link the age of the child to the level of the child, which at its core is illogical.

                Age is simply a number used to identify how long we have lived, and to give us a measurement of how old we are when we die.  It has nothing to do with the ability level of any player.

                There was an article in Tennis Magazine a year or two ago, where the author, a 4.0 male player, played against the #1 12 and under girl player in the nation.  The 4.0 adult male player lost that match 6-4,6-0, and the 12 year old was being nice.  One cannot look at the age or the size of the player and determine that there is no way that player can be competitive with you.  If that were true, Justine Henin should never have won a major, much less 7, nor Martina Hingis winning 3 of 4 slams when she was just 17.

                The most important factor in improving one’s game is playing players of your own ability.  Ability level does not discriminate by age or size.  If you are good enough, then you are good enough.  If a boy is 8 years old, but can beat every 3.0 man in Tallahassee, should not the boy then be able to play with a 3.5 man, and not be discriminated against?  After all, adults want to be challenged to improve, just like junior players do.  If the 8 year old boy is a challenge, then the adult has the opportunity to improve by playing them.  Playing against a like-aged player will not guarantee your ability to improve; rather the opponent must be of like ability.

                The NTRP for adults is precisely designed to address the adult’s desire to play people of their own level, regardless of age.  NTRP does not discriminate players by age at all.  If a 90 year old is good enough to play 4.5, the results will show, and the 90 year old will be playing 4.5 League.  What is the difference if the player is 10, 30, 50, or 90?  None, if you simply look at the player from an ABILITY standpoint.

                In tennis the only thing any player cares about is playing players at their level or a little bit better.  Junior players are more than capable of playing competitive matches with adults, both on the winning and the losing end, provided that ability levels are matched up correctly.  If an adult of any level can walk out on the court with a 12 year old girl of the same level and play a close, competitive match, who really cares that the girl is 12?  Obviously if the match is lopsided for EITHER player, then the ability levels are not even, and the players should not be matched up any longer.  But, once again, this has nothing to do with age, but solely with ability level.  So if the 12 year old girl is beating all the 3.0s in town badly, then the junior player should play against 3.5 women.  Likewise if the 12 year old girl is losing badly to 3.0 women, then the junior should play 2.5 women.  The same is true for adult vs adult matches, as this is the precisely the algorithm used by the NTRP system.

                Adults and juniors can and should play with one another.  It will expand both players’ sphere of competition, and give both additional challenges.   It gives both more match play opportunities.  And when the adult and junior are matched properly, it gives both the competitive matches they are seeking. 

                So what is it that prevents adults and juniors from playing each other since it makes perfect sense?  My experience is that it is the adults that balk at playing the junior players, not the other way around.  Adults have the false belief that a junior player will either not give them a good match, or that the junior player will embarrass them.  In the former, the adult player thinks the match is a waste of time based on age, or that they are too good for the junior player, again based on age; and in the latter case the adult feels that if they should lose to a young player, that it would be too embarrassing to continue.   .

                Age is just a number, and does not predict ability level at all.  It may somewhat influence what that ability level is, but at the end of the day, the player’s level is the player’s level, whether they are 8, 21, 40, 70, or 100.

                In many cases, good junior players have a hard time finding kids their own age to play with, precisely because it is the ability level that is most important in development and not the age.  In these cases, these players need competitive matches with anyone at their ability level to prepare for tournaments.  This is why the junior player will seek out adults to play.  They are just like the adult, in that they want competitive matches. 

                So at the end of the day, I would encourage every adult player to accept offers to play with junior players.  It is the tennis professional’s job to ensure that the ability levels are matched up correctly, so trust their judgment.  You would trust their judgment with a new unrated adult player, so do so with the junior player.  If the match is lopsided, you will not be asked to play that player again, lest your ability levels find a way to meet again.  I implore you to treat every junior player the same way you would treat a new adult player that has just moved to town.  You find out their alleged level, and play them to see if they are someone that will give you a competitive match going forward.  You do not judge them by their age.