How Well Do I Play actually?

We tennis players like to know how well we actually play and there are many ways of making such a subjective judgement but there are also ranking systems based on how many things a player can do according to a sort of checklist. There are various systems for doing this but the one on which most Malaysians are based nowadays is the US Tennis Association one, I think (I could be wrong.) And if forced to do so, I would rank myself a 3 or 3.5-pointer at best according to that system. Here's one link for anyone interested USTA Self-Ranking Checklist 

Some friends think I should rank myself a little higher but I hesitate to rank myself at 4-points for many reasons. The first of which is that I can't place my serves all that well. I can hit the forehand and backhand corners and I can also serve into the body at will but I also tend to serve an average of 1-2 double faults per service game, especially when my blood sugar starts to drop. On top of that, I don't like playing against hard hitters. I think I usually handle powerful balls okay and return them with some control when I can get to them but that's the problem...at my age and weight, reaching fast balls is not getting any easier. 

The most important reason, however, is the fact that I can't play long rallies, which seem to be the main criteria for playing tennis nowadays. I know some club players can go on and on and that seems to be their main criteria for a high self-ranking but they often forget that they are actually (a).returning soft to medium paced balls, (b).not having to chase down these balls from side to side or else (c).simply pushing the balls back and not directing their shots at will. I wouldn't consider myself better if I couldn't return a fast or powerful ball exactly where I wanted it 9 times out of 10 continuously. 

And then, there's the really funny bit where being able to reach a good return and making a desperately lucky shot or two counts as being able to "play" the ball back. I admit I'm absolutely anal-retentive about playing each shot with correct technique and often discount some of my best winners as lucky shots simply because I didn't get enough topspin or slice on it but I would, personally, never accept the occasional fortunate stab at the ball as a tennis "stroke" of any kind.

That's one of the main reasons why I don't actually dare to rank myself any higher than 3 or 3.5 points. If other people want to rank me better than I do personally, that's fine and I'm prepared to listen and think carefully about what they say but I wouldn't care to do it for myself. At the end of the day, it isn't how well I THINK I can play but how well I actually do...or as I prefer to put it, "It's only how many bloody carcasses I leave on the court that actually counts!"  

Did I say I have a very competitive streak?