Have you wondered when it makes sense for your child to move to the next level of tournaments? Here’s an example based on the progression of the current USTA #1 ranked girl in the 12 and younger division. For more info about USTA tournament levels check here.

Player Progression for Hannah Ayrault
Hannah holds USTA’s #1 ranking for girls 12 and younger (12U) as of March 2023.
She has 14219 Ranking Points.
Hana is also #1 in the USTA’s Southern region and #1 in the USTA’s Georgia district.
Hana’s Overall Record is 222 wins – to 107 losses, which is a 67% win percentage.
Hana is in the 6th Grade making her either 11 or 12 depending on his birthdate.

Tournament Progression
In summary, my observation is that Hana advanced into new levels even if she did not have a significant win in the previous level. In some periods her wins percentage was just over 60% which seems to have been enough to make her confident to approach the next level.

An asterisk indicates a step up to the next level. She played many more tournaments than listed below. These are only the milestones where she stepped up or won a tournament. For a more complete listing check here and for more complete stats check here.

6-7 y/o, First Grade 2017 – 2018
Played Orange Ball Tournaments

7-8 y/o, Second Grade 2018 – 2019
*October 2018, Started 10u Green Ball
*August 2019, 12u Green (L7) – Lost in 3rd round (Semifinal)

8-9 y/o, Third Grade 2019 – 2020
January 2020, 12u Yellow (L7) – retired after winning 2 round
*February 2020, 12u Yellow (L7 or 6) L5 – Finalist in 4 rounds
*July 2020, 12u Yellow L6 – Winner in 5 rounds
*August 2020, L5 – Lost in 1st round, lost consolation match

9-10 y/o, Fourth Grade 2020 – 2021
October 2020, L3 – Lost in 2nd round, won 1 consolation, lost 1 consolation match
*October 2020, L – Winner in 4 rounds
*November 2020, L2 – Lost in 3rd Round (16)
*March 2021, 14u L5 – Lost in 3rd Round (16), first 14u tournament
*June 2021, L3 – Winner in 7 Rounds (128 draw)*June 2021, L3 – Winner in 7 Rounds (128 draw)
*July 2021, L1 National Clay Court Championship – Lost first round, won 2 consolation matches
August 2021, L1 National Championship – Lost in second round, won 3 consolation matches

10-11 y/o, Fifth Grade 2021 – 2022
Plays a mix of levels including January 2022 Level 1 Winter Championship
May 2022, L2 Winner in 5 rounds
June 2022, L3 Winner in 7 rounds
*July 2022, L1 Winner National Clay Court Championship
August 2022, L1 Finalist National Championship

11-12 y/o, Sixth Grade – 2022- 2023
*February 2023, 16u L3 Finalist – First 16 and under tournament
*March 2023, 18u L1 Team Tournament, Lost in 2nd Round, Won 2 consolation matches – First 18 and under tournament