League Rules
Special thanks to Ed Flanigan from Kew Gardens Tennis Club and Jack Lenartowicz from Dentonia Park Tennis Club for their assistance rule clarifications and edits (June, 2021)
Additional and minor edits made by Alastair Millar (February, 2023)
Format
1. A league fixture will consist of four lines of men's doubles matches.
2. A team’s four lines must be arranged from strongest to weakest for each fixture (line one to line four). For clarity, a team's line one pairing of players must be stronger or equal to its line two pairing of players, a team’s line two pairing must be stronger or equal to its line three pairing, and a team's line three pairing must be stronger or equal to its line 4 pairing.
2. Before a league fixture begins, team captains must simultaneously exchange their lineup of players. This must occur prior to any official on court match warm up. No substitutes or edits are allowed after the lineups have been exchanged.
3. League fixtures will start between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. (exceptions made at the discretion of the league)
4. Visiting teams must abide by the host club’s rules, regulations, and dress code.
Match Scoring
1. The Home Team can elect to play using either Full or Super Tie Breaker Scoring.
“Full Scoring” consists of best two of three tiebreak sets, with tie breakers to 7 points played at 6 games all in each set. Tie breakers must be won by a two-point advantage.
“Super Scoring” consists of best two of three tiebreak sets, with a super tie breaker to 10 points played in lieu of the third set. Tie breakers, including the super tie breaker, must be won by a two-point advantage.
The Home Team must clarify which match scoring will be used during the lineup exchange.
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A Super Tie Breaker will be considered as one set for the purposes of team scoring. Super Tie Breaker scores should be entered as 1-0 in favor of the winning team (e.g. a team winning 10-6 in the super tiebreaker should enter their 3rd set score as (1-0)
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In the event of a Super Tie Breaker, the team that wins a third set super tiebreaker will be given one match, one set and one game to their team's season scoring total, the team that does not win a third set super tiebreaker will not be awarded any games for that set.
2. In the event of a defaulted match, the non-defaulted team will be awarded one match, two sets and twelve games to their team's season scoring total.
3. In the event of a defaulted fixture (all four matches), the non-defaulted team will be awarded four matches, eight sets and forty-eight games to their team's season total.
4. A team, or individual line of players, not ready to compete within 15 minutes of the scheduled starting time will be defaulted from competing.
4.1 In the event that one doubles line is defaulted, the match scheduled to be played in line 4 will be considered the defaulted line. Lines 1, 2 and 3 will be played. In the event of two defaulted matches, lines 3 and 4 will be defaulted while line 1 and 2 will be played.
4.2 A team must field a minimum of two lines (lines 1 and 2) for a fixture to be played. If three or more lines are unable to compete, the entire four-line fixture is defaulted.
5. A host team must have their home courts (or a suitable alternative) available at the scheduled time of the home matches, for the duration of the matches.
6. All communicated defaults are final.
IE: Once a captain defaults a line, match or fixture, the opposing team has no obligation to be prepared to play that line, match or fixture on the defaulted date.
7. Home team captains must update and add match results onto the Tennis Scores website by 11:59pm on Sunday night, each week. Failure to do so will result in a "one match penalty" from that teams "regular season score."
Season Scoring
1. Season scoring is determined by the total number of matches won by each respective team. Each match and set won in a fixture will count towards a team’s season scoring total. In the event of a tie in the number of matches won between two or more teams, standings will be based on those teams’ total amount of sets won throughout the regular season, followed by (if necessary) the head to head result between those teams in the regular season. If a tie remains between teams in matches, sets and head to head record, total games won in the head to head match ups will be the final determining factor to regular season results.
Players Eligibility
1. All players who represent a club or team in league play must be registered members with that club or, must be considered in “good standing” at the club’s discretion, or must be a subcontractor, full-time tennis professional or club professional employed by that club.
2. Teaching Professionals are permitted to play in the A1 and A2 divisions only. For the purpose of the A1 and A2 divisions, Teaching Professionals shall be defined as persons who teach tennis on a full-time basis year-round or, as their main source of income during the indoor or outdoor tennis season.
3. There shall be no limit to the number of professionals who can play on a team in the A1 division.
4. The number of tennis professionals allowed to play in the A2 Division shall be limited to a maximum of two per team, per fixture.
5. No player shall take part in more than one match in any fixture.
6. Players in a lower division can play for a higher division team twice during a season. After playing a third match in a higher division they are considered full time members of the higher division team, making them no longer eligible to compete for a lower division team.
Example: An A2 player can play twice for their club’s A1 team, however playing a third time in A1 makes them ineligible for A2.
7. Players who have competed in Line 1 or Line 2 of a higher division team are no longer eligible to compete for a lower-level team, regardless of “number of matches” as listed in rule 6, above.
Example: A player who has played a match in Line 1 or Line 2 for a B1 team, is not eligible to play in B2, regardless of how many matches that player might have played in B1.
8. No player can play for more than one club in any season.
Example: A player competing for Toronto Lawn’s B1 team cannot also play A2 at Wanless Park.
8. Players who compete a "Line 1" position become ineligible to play in "Line 4" for the remainder of that season.
Note: Previous played "Line 4" matches are not disqualified once a player has competed on "Line 1".
Playoffs
1. Each division will have a “playoff” at the end of its regular season to determine the division champion. The top 6 teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs.
2. Teams will be seeded 1 to 6 based on regular season results. In the six-team playoff format, the 1st and 2nd seeds will receive first round “byes” directly into the semifinal round. The 3rd seeded team will host the 6th seeded team and, the 4th seeded team will host the 5th seeded team in the quarter final round. The winner of the 3rd and 6th place quarter final will play into the 2nd seeds bracket and the winner of the 4th and 5th place quarter final will play into the 1st seeds bracket.
3. For a player to be eligible to compete in the playoffs, they must have played a minimum of 3 matches in the regular season.
4. During a playoff fixture, if teams are tied in matches, sets, and games at the end of all four matches, one final super tiebreaker to ten points will be played immediately by any combination of team players that competed in that fixture (regardless of the line they played). The winner of this super tiebreaker will determine the winner of the fixture.
5. In the event a rain delay affects a playoff match, teams will reschedule the match to be completed at least one night prior to the scheduled start of the following round.
6. In the event of a rain delay that effects an entire playoff round (no matches played by any teams); all fixtures of that round shall be moved to the following week on the regularly scheduled division night.
6.1. If the higher seeded team's club is unavailable to host the rescheduled playoff matches, teams may schedule the makeup fixture (or make up matches) at any agreed upon venue and time provided matches are completed one night before the following round is scheduled to begin.
6.2. If teams are unable to reschedule on mutually agreeable terms the league may reasonably extent or alter the playoff schedule to accommodate rain-out situations.
Promotion and Demotion
1. The winner of each division, as determined by the playoffs, has the option of advancing to the division above them. If this option is taken, the last place team from the higher division based on regular season standings will be moved to the lower division.
Please note: Based on the number of teams in a higher division, exceptions to move a team down can be made at the discretion of the league
Rain Outs
1. In the event a match is rained out, the Points can be split 2-2 and scored 6-0, 6-0 for each team.
Note: We encourage teams to schedule make up matches however, we understand the significant and challenging court booking demands in Toronto.