Loading...
Get priority ticket access to Britain's biggest tennis events & choose to Opt In to the LTA Advantage Wimbledon Ballot
Skip to content

ITF World Tennis Number (WTN)

9 MINUTE READ

Examples of the ITF World Tennis Number in use

Please find below 3 examples of the ITF World Tennis Number in use. 

It is possible that two players with a similar LTA Rating will have a different ITF World

Same LTA rating but different competition experience

Tennis Number as this will be based on up match data from 2016 onwards, calculated at set level.

For example we may have two players with an LTA rating of 6.2 but varying competition experiences.

Player 1 may have competed a lot as a younger player, managing to regularly move his rating up while still losing a lot of a matches.

Whereas Player 2 may not have competed as frequently, due to being talented in a number of sports, but always did very well in the competitions that they did enter and always easily beat Player 1.

Assigning points through the WTN algorithm

Your World Tennis Number will be calculated at Set Level meaning if a player were to win a match 2 sets to 1, they would be rewarded with 2 set wins and 1 set loss whereas their opponent would be awarded with 2 set losses and 1 set win.

When players compete the algorithm will analyse the pre-match data of both players to predict the outcome of the match and compare this prediction to the actual match result in order to change a players number.

ITF World Tennis Number is here to inspire and support everyone’s tennis goals, whatever they might be. If your aim is to improve your game and therefore your Number, it couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is keep playing and performing better than the algorithm predicts you will.

Due to the differences in the actual match results submitted by both players it is possible that Player 2 may have a higher ITF World Tennis Number than Player 1 and demonstrates how the ITF World Tennis Number is based on quality as opposed to quantity of match results in order to move along the scale.

Beating your predicted performance

The ITF World Tennis Number pre-match prediction is not as straightforward as win or loss as the algorithm will predict the percentage chance of certain outcomes and change player’s numbers in relation to that.

This means that regardless of the level of two players competing against each other (whether they have a lower ITF World Tennis Number than each other or not), if a player performs better than the algorithm predicts they will then their ITF World Tennis Number may go up.

Competition changes update

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. 
  • 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.

 

LTA Rankings

An LTA ranking is a measure of where you stand within your county, region and nationwide and represent an overall order of merit.

Competition grades

Want to find out which of our competition grades is most suitable for you? Check out our handy guide.

Cookies on LTA site

We use cookies on our site to ACE your experience, improve the quality of our site and show you content we think you’ll be interested in. Let us know if you agree to cookies or if you’d prefer to manage your own settings.