Avila Bay Athletic Club Tennis Director Michael Marquez has always been a big fan of the Universal Tennis Rating system, simply known in tennis circles as UTR.

UTR is a number between 1–16.5 that a tennis player is allocated based on your level of play. Three factors go into the rating: competition, score and recent history.

Delanie Dunkle, left, will play in the UTR round-robin division this weekend at the Vince Dente Memorial Tournament.

As the Director of this Memorial Weekend’s popular Vince Dente Memorial Tournament, Marquez is for the first time promoting a UTR division where six players will play a round-robin with each other, guaranteeing each player five matches.

“It’s the old Wayne Bryan way, give the kids the best experience you can,” said Marquez, who is from Ventura, played his college tennis at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and trained as a young junior under the watchful eye of Bryan at the Cabrillo Racquet Club in Camarillo. “A parent doesn’t want to have to drive an hour and half, lose first round and turn around and have to go home. This keeps the players in town for each day of the tournament, and they simply get more out of the experience.”

Marquez said one of the UTR featured matches for Sunday will pit top area high school boys’ player Colby Grey (UTR 10.27) against the top female Delanie Dunkle (UTR 9.67).

“It will be cool to see the top boy play the top girl because we never get to see that,” Marquez said. “UTR now gives us the chance to match up players with similar rankings, regardless of gender or age.“

Even USC Men’s Coach Peter Smith is a big fan, saying on the UTR website: “The first question I ask is, ‘What is your UTR?’ UTR is the new global gold standard in recruiting.”

To learn more about UTR, go to: https://myutr.com/