USTA Grievance Report Form: Filing, Deadlines, and Sanctions

The USTA grievance report form is the document you use to lodge a formal complaint about a rule violation, eligibility problem, or sportsmanship issue in a USTA-sanctioned league or tournament. To fill it out, identify which type of grievance you have, enter the parties’ names and USTA ID numbers, add the match date and location, and write a factual narrative tied to a specific rule. To submit it, send the completed form to your local or district league coordinator (or to the site director at a championship) within the deadline for your grievance type, along with any filing fee your section charges.

The national office publishes a standard version of the form, but each of the USTA’s geographic sections may use its own variation with slightly different fields. Use of the national form is not mandatory. The core information is the same either way.¹

Pick the Right Grievance Type First

The category you choose changes your deadline, whether you owe a fee, and which committee handles the case. There are three main types.

A general or eligibility grievance covers any claim that a player, captain, or team violated a Friend at Court rule or USTA League Regulation. Roster problems, unsportsmanlike conduct, and challenges to whether a player was eligible for a given match or division all fall here.

An administrative grievance is a complaint about how a league program is being run. Captains and committee members are not subject to administrative grievances.

An NTRP grievance targets a self-rated player who is competing below their true skill level. This is the sandbagging category, and in most sections it carries no filing fee.²

Who Is Allowed to File

Not everyone can file. For a grievance against an individual or team, you must be the captain of the team that played in the match where the alleged violation occurred, a league coordinator, or a member of a championship committee. Administrative, eligibility, and NTRP grievances have wider filing rights: league coordinators and championship committee members can file those even if their team was not directly involved.³

You must hold an active, current USTA membership when you file. If the grievance is on behalf of a minor child, the child’s membership must also be active and current.¹

What the Form Asks For

The Parties

List the person or entity you are filing against (the respondent) and yourself as the grievant, along with both parties’ USTA ID numbers. The league-specific form also asks for your section and district or area. Double-check the respondent’s name and USTA ID. Errors here slow things down because the committee has to confirm membership status before the case moves.⁴

Match and Location

Enter the date and time of the incident, the facility name, and the league or tournament identifier. On the national form that identifier is the TennisLink ID. For championship-level grievances, note the specific event. The committee uses these details to pull match records and to confirm your filing deadline has not passed.¹

The Written Narrative

Both the national and league forms give you space to describe what happened. Keep it to objective facts: who did what, when, and how the action violated a specific USTA regulation or Friend at Court rule. USTA Regulation IV.B, for instance, requires players to follow The Code in any match played without officials, and is a common basis for conduct grievances.⁵

Witnesses

The national form has fields for witness contact information, including tournament directors, referees, or anyone else who observed the incident. The form warns that witness contact information will not be kept confidential, so tell your witnesses their details will be shared with the respondent and the committee. The league-specific form has no dedicated witness fields, but you can put witness names and contact details in the narrative.¹

Filing Deadlines Are Where Most Grievances Die

The windows are short and vary by grievance type and level of play. Miss the window and the complaint will not be considered, regardless of merit.

For a general grievance during local league play, file before whichever comes first: the involved team’s next match in that flight (whether or not the player in question participates), or 24 hours after the end of the local league season.⁶

At championships, deliver the written grievance to the site director or designee before whichever occurs first: 30 minutes after the involved team’s match ends, or the start of the involved team’s next match.³

Eligibility grievances are the exception. A team captain, league coordinator, or championship committee member can file one at any time if they believe a player failed to meet eligibility requirements.³

NTRP grievances can be filed at any time up to 48 hours after the conclusion of the sectional championship of the player’s team, whether or not the player participated. NTRP grievances are not accepted at national championships.³

Where to Get the Form and How to Submit It

The national grievance form is a PDF on the USTA website. Many sections publish their own version, usually under the Leagues or Regulations menu on the section homepage. If you cannot find it online, contact your local league coordinator. They can send you the correct form and confirm how your area handles submissions.

For local league play, file with the local or district/area league coordinator who has jurisdiction over the match. For championship play, hand it to the site director. Sections differ in exact routing. In the Mid-Atlantic, for example, grievances are emailed to the appropriate league coordinator, who forwards them to the grievance committee staff liaison.⁷

Filing Fees

Some sections charge, some do not. In the Pacific Northwest, general, eligibility, and administrative grievances each require a $50 fee, refunded if the grievance is upheld; NTRP grievances in that section are free.² In the Southern section, junior grievances are $100 per filing.⁸ Confirm the fee with your league coordinator before you file. In sections that require payment, omitting it means the committee will not consider your complaint.

What Happens After You File

Staff first reviews the grievance for timeliness, confirms both parties’ USTA membership status, and consults the committee chair. Depending on the severity of the issue, the chair either assigns a committee member to investigate and issue an initial decision or sets the case for a full hearing.⁹

At the sectional level, the coordinator sends the respondent a copy of the grievance with an explanation of the process and timelines. Both parties then have a set window to respond and gather witness statements. In the Mid-Atlantic that window is five days, and statements go to the staff liaison by email.⁷

The grievance committee aims to investigate, hear, and decide within 30 days of receiving the grievance. The chair can shorten or lengthen that based on complexity, severity, or investigation time. The final decision goes to both parties in writing.⁹

Possible Sanctions

If the committee finds a violation, it can impose penalties through the USTA League Suspension Point System. Suspension points reflect the type and severity of the violation and accumulate on a rolling 12-month basis.

A warning letter carries 1 suspension point. For self-rating below true ability, warnings carry 1 to 3 points.
A player who reaches 10 suspension points within a rolling 12-month period is suspended from league events for three months.
Additional points in the 12 months following a first suspension trigger a six-month suspension.
Further violations after a second suspension result in a suspension of 12 months or more, as determined by the section grievance committee.
Misrepresenting scores, misrepresenting identity, or knowingly playing while suspended results in 24 suspension points and a suspension of 12 months or more.

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Committees can also order match forfeitures or adjust results depending on the nature of the violation.

Appealing a Decision

Either party can appeal. The standard is narrow: the appeals committee reviews only whether the original committee erred in applying the facts, the regulations, the suspension point table, or proper procedures, or whether it acted arbitrarily. The appeals committee does not re-hear the case from scratch unless new information is received.³

Appeal deadlines vary sharply by section. Southern requires appeals in writing within 15 days of the decision notice.⁸ In the Mid-Atlantic the default window is 4 days.⁷ The written decision you receive after the initial hearing will state your specific appeal deadline, so read it closely.

Some sections also charge a separate appeal fee. The Pacific Northwest charges $50 for any grievance appeal.² Southern requires $250 payable to USTA Southern. Without the fee, the appeal will not be considered.⁸

1
United States Tennis Association. USTA Grievance Report Form
2
United States Tennis Association. League Grievances
3
United States Tennis Association. USTA League Grievance Procedures
4
USTA. USTA League Grievance Form
5
United States Tennis Association. Friend at Court 2026 – Handbook of Rules and Regulations
6
United States Tennis Association. 2026 USTA League Regulations
7
USTA Mid Atlantic. USTA Mid Atlantic Central Grievance and Appeal Procedures
8
USTA Southern. USTA Southern Grievance Procedures
9
United States Tennis Association. National Appeal of Suspension and Grievance Process
10
United States Tennis Association. 2025 USTA League Suspension Point System