UTR Rating is the global gold standard for assessing skill in tennis. UTR Ratings are the index that more than 90% of college tennis coaches use to determine whether a prospective recruit fits their team’s competitive level. The door swings both ways—recruits, maybe including yourself, can apply UTR Rating to finding the right college team.
Here’s a crash course on using UTR Sports’ ability to connect potential recruits with coaches and teams.
The Basics
1. Sign up for a UTR Sports account for free HERE. Once you claim your player profile, you can see your own UTR Rating with two-decimal-place precision. You can also view your match and rating history.
2. Update your profile with the most up-to-date information — college coaches will check out your profile as a snapshot of your tennis resume. Fill in as much detail as you can.
3. See how your rank. The College Corner, accessible to Power subscribers, features a variety of rankings to help you understand the level of each collegiate division and your own level. View the "Junior Prospects" ranking to see where you stand as a recruit. While a free account lets you see school and player names, a Power account unlocks the ratings data. See a deep dive into UTR Ratings by college division here.
4. Look up college teams that interest you. From the homepage, you can click into the "search" feature and select "colleges". By upgrading to a Power subscription, you unlock the UTR College Fit tool to view any college roster in great detail. You’ll find the coaching staff, players on the roster, and recent matches. Compare your UTR Rating with those of the starting line-up (usually the highest six rated players), as well as their teammates.
Consider how long it will be before you enter college. Ask yourself some tough questions. How much can you increase your UTR Rating in the near future? (University of Pennsylvania men’s coach Dave Geatz offers some great tips on how to raise your UTR Rating.) Is it realistic for you to start for this team? Or earn a place on the roster? Could you win a walk-on spot? Doing your research before contacting coaches will save you—and them—lots of time.
5. Once you find a likely fit, email the coach expressing your interest, and put your UTR Rating in the subject line. The coach will know immediately if you’re playing at a level that could help his or her squad.
6. If being recruited for a starting spot is not realistic given your UTR Rating, ask about the policy for walk-ons. Do they offer a walk-on tryout tournament? Does indoor practice space limit the size of the roster? Another option: Does the college have a club tennis team? If so, you can request contact info for the club tennis captains.
New in 2025: College Coach Views
UTR Sports has introduced College Coach Views — a game-changing new feature designed to help junior players track recruiting momentum and college coach interest
Players can now see which college coaches are viewing their profile and when, and coach activity can directly signal recruiting interest
Players with views (that are Power subscribers) will be able to see:
• The 3 most recent coaches who’ve viewed their profile (and a “view all” option to see all views in the past year)
• How recently each coach viewed their profile (<1 Week, <1 Month, etc.)
Power Your College Search
The free version of UTR Sports lets you compare your rating with other players with some limitations, but a Power subscription unlocks everything. Here's why you should upgrade:
1. Full decimal UTR Ratings: View all player and college team UTR Ratings to two decimal places. Remember that claiming your player profile—even as a free user—allows you to see your own UTR Rating with decimal-place precision.)
2. The UTR College Fit tool allows a player to see if his or her UTR is high enough to make the starting lineup of a given college team. Compare schools with a click of a button and a quick search, and save colleges to your "Saved Lists" for easy management. View all the colleges for which their UTRs are above that of the sixth-highest player on the roster. You can filter the list by gender, state, public/private, athletic conference, or division to focus your search.
Beyond the prospect’s UTR Rating, each college coach will apply his or her own criteria for what they seek in a recruit. The College Fit tool provides a very quick “reality check” to help set expectations regarding college tennis.
3. The UTR Power 6 Rating adds up the six highest, most reliable player ratings for each college team. Power 6 and College Fit are great measuring tools to help you prequalify college teams based on your competitive fit. However, bear in mind that individual and team UTR Ratings do not necessarily correspond to player or team rankings since other factors influence such rankings. In addition, a Power 6 Rating neither implies nor suggests any actual team lineup, which, of course, can change daily.
Check out the following article to help juniors understand what type of college tennis experience best suits their interests: “Right Team, but Wrong Guy—How making the starting lineup can backfire,” by former ATP Player Council president Eric Butorac.
4. Have some favorite college teams or players you want to view in the future? Save them to your Saved Lists or hit the "Follow" button on a college team's page (the "Follow" feature is available for free account holders, too).
UTR Ratings fluctuate based on how well players compete from day to day. Sometimes, new players may not yet have a 100 percent reliable UTR Rating. Their ratings will change as more of their matches enter the UTR Sports system.
5. UTR Sports is constantly innovating its college tennis offerings, from rankings like the new College Team Rankings to new events like the UTR Sports Collegiate Championship at the BNP Paribas Open and the NIT Championships.
The best way to get noticed by college coaches is to play well and play often. Check out these opportunities to compete:
Learn more about UTR Sports & UTR Rating
