New to tennis? Start here.

Your kid fell in love with tennis and suddenly everyone's speaking a different language. Here's the primer nobody hands you at the gate.

How scoring works (the 5-minute version)

Points → games. 0 is "love," then 15, 30, 40, game. At 40–40 ("deuce"), traditional scoring needs two points in a row; many junior events use no-ad instead — at deuce, the next point wins the game, and the receiver picks the side.
Games → sets. First to 6 games, win by two. At 6–6, a tiebreak (first to 7 points, win by two) decides the set.
Sets → match. Usually best of 3 sets. Many junior events replace the third set with a 10-point match tiebreak — first to 10, win by two. It's fast and brutal, which is why the mental game matters so much.

TierBreak handles all of this automatically when you track a match — you only ever record who won the point and how.

Tournaments: how the ladder works

In the U.S., most junior tournaments run through the USTA. Events are tiered by level — entry-level local events up through sectional, regional, and national championships. The names vary by section, but the shape is the same everywhere:

Local events — round-robins and one-day matchplays. Low stakes, high learning. Live here for a while; it's where match craft is built.
Sectional-ranking events — multi-day draws, seedings, consolation brackets. Results start feeding rankings.
National-level events — for later. The pathway is long by design.

Players also compete outside USTA: high-school tennis, UTR-rated flex leagues and verified events, and team formats like Junior Team Tennis.

The ratings alphabet: WTN, UTR, rankings

Term	What it is	What to know
WTN	World Tennis Number — a global rating from ~40 (beginner) down toward 1 (pro)	Lower is better. Updates with results. The number every USTA player now gets.
UTR	Universal Tennis Rating, 1–16+, higher is better	Widely used for college recruiting and level-based matchplay.
Ranking	Points earned in your section's tournaments	Measures activity + results in your section, not pure level.

The trap: ratings move slowly, noisily, and sometimes down even when the player is improving. That's why TierBreak measures development directly — days won, skills trained, evidence from real points — and treats ratings as a lagging indicator, not the scoreboard.

Tournament-day survival kit

Two racquets minimum (strings break), water + electrolytes, snacks that aren't sugar bombs
Layers — matches start at 8am cold and finish at noon hot
A printed or screenshotted draw; know the check-in desk and default time
Sunscreen, a chair for you, and a charged phone (you're the scoreboard now)
Patience: a "9am match" means 9am or whenever the court frees up

What great tennis parents do

During the match: stay neutral. Players police their own lines and scores in juniors — that's the deal. Cheer good points (both kids'), say nothing about bad calls.
After the match: the car ride home decides whether tournaments stay fun. Lead with "I love watching you play." The parents' guide has the full playbook.
Long term: measure shows-up-and-works, not trophies. TierBreak's whole design — streaks, weekly reviews, proof from real points — exists to make the process visible so results can take their time.

Where TierBreak fits from day one

You don't need a ranking to start. Log practices, win days, learn match tracking at low-stakes events, and start the Mental Pathway early — the kids who learn to breathe between points at ten are unshakable at fourteen. By the time ratings matter, you'll have years of proof of the work behind them.

Next: Set up TierBreak →