KUNMING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Tennis Association has issued a new technical standard for tennis skills, with the aim of improving the standard and popularity of tennis in the country.

Called the Chinese Tennis Number, or CTN, it will be applied to both amateur and professional tennis players. Sun Wenbing, head of development at China's Tennis Sports Management Center, said that the introduction of CTN would help increase the level of homegrown tennis talents and further promote the popularity and development of tennis in the country.

"CTN is used to determine the overall competitive level of a player. It combines players of similar ability within one level. The ability of players in the same level is determined by the ranking system," said Wei Shengfan, director of the ChinaNet Development Center.

CTN will be divided into ten levels according to players' ability, with 10, nine, and eight corresponding to the primary amateur stage, and one representing the highest level of professional tennis. Players will be assessed on a number of factors, including competition performance and style of play.