What is it? Well, it’s a new rating system for all tennis players across the world. It will make it easier for everyone who plays tennis in Britain to organise and play against opponents of a similar standard.

Whether you’re playing at Wimbledon (we can dream), or just meeting a friend to play matches at your local court (much more likely), everyone’s welcome – and everyone will have their own Number.   

Intrigued and want to find out more?

In short, the ITF World Tennis Number has…

• A world-wide rating system that ranges from 40 (recreational players) to 1 (pro players).
• Separate ratings for singles and doubles players – a world first
• An algorithm that produces your own rating.
• An algorithm that counts sets, and matches, played which means the more you compete, the more accurate your rating will be
• A personalised digital ‘Game zONe’ feature, which will help you identify opponents with a similar rating online

The ITF World Tennis Number will make it easier to play matches

We are trying to make it as simple as possible for tennis players in Britain to organise and play more matches as we know how hard it can sometimes be to find someone of a similar level to play against.

That’s why we’re adopting the ITF World Tennis Number – to make life easier for tennis players like you.

You can get an ITF World Tennis Number for free

If you’re an Advantage member in the Play, Play+ or Compete categories, who wants to play or compete at any level, you’ll be able to get your own ITF World Tennis Number for free.

Anyone who already has an LTA rating will automatically have a new ITF World Tennis Number generated for them so you do not need to do anything.

The new rating system will cover all adults and juniors born before 2012.

Having an ITF World Tennis Number will be required for acceptance into certain competitions (this’ll be made clear when you enter).

How will this affect my LTA Rating?

Your ITF World Tennis Number will have no connection to your current LTA rating – it will be a completely new rating calculated specifically for you. using up to four years’ worth of match results.

The system is slightly different for juniors. New players will initially be given a number, like in the current system, but unlike the LTA Rating system, once the player has recorded some match results the system will quickly give them a more accurate Number.

Bringing in the ITF World Tennis Number isn’t the only way we’re improving how we run competitions

To make our competitions better, we have…

• Introduced a simpler system, based around the calendar year, for competition age groups.
• Helped players find and enter competitions – which we’ll continue to adapt based on your feedback. For more information go to LTA.org.uk/CompetitionsPortalSupport.
• Introduced a new LTA National League team competition for tennis venues in the winter season involving 2,500 teams.
• Brought in new categories of competitions for junior players, including LTA Youth Matchplay alongside such events as the LTA Youth Team Challenge and the LTA Youth Local Tour.