There's so much sandbagging in my area you wouldn't believe
Half of the talk in APA leagues is who needs to lose to maintain low ratings and how many games/sets/matches are the minimum needed to still do OK so the others can be dumped. Half the talk is about what drinks to order.
The rest of the time they talk about how to actually play and get better through practice.
There is a "4" in my area, that can play me almost even (I would probably be a 7 or at least a strong 6), he has won two 5 and under tournaments and 3 doubles go to vegas tournaments. Still a 4 after all that. A guy I met years ago that was about as good as me, first day I met him said he was a 5, with a shrug and a "oh well, you know leagues" LOL
Teams I am around fight over "unknown" players new to the APA that are good players, they just want to get the player on the team, start them low and keep them low. No idea how APA operators and the organization in general can be so blind to all that goes on, they must be as dense on purpose as flat earthers. All you need is to have eyes and ears to see how badly the players play the system.
If you base a system on handicaps, it's just an invitation to all the cheaters so they can all be on even terms when they all cheat. Teams A,B, C cheat so in order to keep from wasting their time, teams D and E must also.