Tennis League Rules (All)

 

Saturday Men

  • Players must be at least 18 years old
  • Level 4.0/4.5 – Number of lines played: 5
  • A lower rated player may not play above a higher rated player
  • Third set will be played as a 10 point tie breaker. Third set will be scored as 1-0 when entering the scores into the system.
  • Saturday matches ideally start between 9-11am but this is determined by home court availability. Meaning, matches can be played in the afternoon if the home team court availability dictates so. 
  • Any team that forfeits an entire match will face disqualification for current season
  • A full match forfeit disqualifies team from participating in league following season
  • Any team caught cheating in any manor will forfeit all matches.

All matches must be played by the end of the schedule. Be on time and do not cancel last minute unless due to weather, everyone’s time needs to be respected.

 

 

Mixed

  • Players must be at least 18 years old
  • Level 6.0. 7.0, or 8.0 max combined rating – coincides with each mixed league level
  • Partners cannot have more than a point of difference between their ratings
  • Number of lines played: 6.0 – 3 lines of doubles ; 7.0 & 8.0 – 5 lines of doubles
  • Third set will be played as a 10 point tie breaker. Third set will be scored as 1-0 for the winning team when entering scores into the system.
  • Friday matches ideally start at 7pm, but this is determined by home court availability.
  • Any team that forfeits an entire match may face disqualification for the entire season
  • A full match forfeit disqualifies team from participating in league following season
  • Any team caught cheating in any manor will forfeit all matches.

All matches must be played by the end of the schedule. Be on time and do not cancel last minute unless due to weather, everyone’s time needs to be respected.

 

Sunday Women

  • Players must be at least 18 years old
  • Number of lines played: 3
  • A lower rated player may not play above a higher rated player
  • Third set will be played as a 10 point tie breaker. Third set will be scored as 1-0 when entering the scores into the system.
  • Sunday matches ideally start at 1pm but this is determined by home court availability.
  • Any team that forfeits an entire match may face disqualification for the current season
  • A full match forfeit disqualifies team from participating in league following season
  • Any team caught cheating in any manor will forfeit all matches.

All matches must be played by the end of the schedule. Be on time and do not cancel last minute unless due to weather, everyone’s time needs to be respected.

 

 

 

Sunday Men

  • Players must be at least 18 years old
  • Level 4.0/4.5 – Number of lines played: 5
  • A 8.5 combine team may not play above a 9.0 combine team
  • Third set will be played as a 10 point tie breaker. Third set will be scored as 1-0 when entering the scores into the system.
  • Sunday matches ideally start at 1pm but this is determined by home court availability
  • Any team that forfeits an entire match may face disqualification for the entire season
  • A full match forfeit disqualifies team from participating in league following season
  • Any team caught cheating in any manor will forfeit all matches.

All matches must be played by the end of the schedule. Be on time and do not cancel last minute unless due to weather, everyone’s time needs to be respected.

 

 

 

Women’s D League Rules 

LADIES First Coast Tennis D LEAGUE

RULES AND GUIDELINES
Updated 7/2015 

  1. CAPTAIN’S RESPONSIBILTIES

    A. Attend organizational meeting in summer

  2. Execute all business for the team

    II. TEAM ROSTER

    A. The minimum number of players that will constitute a roster is 12 “D” level players.  Exceptions may be granted by the First Coast Tennis director.  However, if the team forfeits 50% of the matches in the season, they will not be allowed to begin the next season with less than 15 players.

    B. The number of doubles positions to be played will be four.

    C. A self rating system will be used unless the player has a current USTA, pro assigned, or other league rating. The pro assigned rating will supersede any self rating or other league rating. Each player will start the season with a minimum of a 2.5 rating (maximum 3.0). To help ensure accurate rating calculations on firstcoasttennis.com, each captain shall make sure that all players on their roster have their correct rating recorded on firstcoasttennis.com prior to the season beginning.

  3. First Coast Tennis Association (4 court doubles league) C players are allowed on D team rosters. Beaches Division III players are also allowed on D rosters. Country Club C players (7 court doubles) that play above line 5 are not allowed on D rosters.

III. MATCHES

A. The First Coast director will schedule all matches.

B. Guidelines:
1. The captains shall notify each other 36 hours prior (Wednesday 8:00 pm) to a match when there are not enough courts/players available (see G-1 for weather exceptions).

  1. Refreshments will be provided by the home team.
    3. Play will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m. If players of either team have not arrived by 9:45 a.m., a forfeit may be called, unless discussed and agreed upon by both captains by Wednesday at 8pm (ie travel time)

    C. Match Rules:
    1. All matches will be played according to USTA rules. Every captain shall have a copy of these rules (can be found at on tenniscores.com website).
    2. Matches will consist of 4 lines for weekday matches and 3 lines for weekend matches.
    4. The home team will provide new ITF approved tennis balls, suited for the proper surface, for each match.
    5. Warm up and practice serves will be taken prior to 9:30am start time weekday and 11am weekend.
    6. A 10 minute break may be taken for injury or sickness before the player must decide to continue or forfeit.
    7. Players are allowed 25 seconds between points and 90 seconds between changeovers.
    8. Should the teams split sets, a 10 minute break is allowed between second and third sets (10 point tie breaker).
    9. No spectators are allowed on the courts. Spectators may watch from a location designated by the home team captain. 

  2. Cell phones/pagers: all cell phones and pagers must be turned off during matches. Infractions of this rule will be penalized. First offense – a warning, second offense – loss of point during current game, third offense – loss of game, fourth offense – loss of match.
  3. All matches will play a 10 point tie breaker in lieu of 3rd set.

    D. Line Ups:
    1. The Visiting Team Captain shall present her team’s lineup to the Home Team Captain upon arrival at the courts on the day of the match. There shall be no rearranging of order of teams after the Captains exchange lineups, unless there has been an emergency prior to the start of the match.
    2. A team’s line up shall be constituted at the discretion and honor of the Team Captain, and shall play her greatest strength from top to bottom.
    3. The procedure to follow in the event of a disagreement before or during a match will be as follows:
    a) the Captains of the teams involved will try to resolve the differences at the time of the match.
    b) if they cannot, the match will be played under protest.
    c) the Captains will file any protest to their facility director who will contact the opposing facility director and Director of the First Coast Tennis.

    E. Substitutions:
    1. Substitutions may be used when a team’s regular players are unavailable. The entire team roster must be exhausted before drawing from eligible C-team members.
    2. Substitutes must be in the following manner:
    a) a maximum of two players may be called down from the bottom of the “C” team ladder.
    b) no player who has played above position five on the “C” level inter-club can play on the “D” level.
    c) Substitutes must play on Court one.  A violation of this rule will result in the entire match being forfeited.
    d) No player rated above a 3.0 may substitute on the “D” level.
    e) A team may only use substitute players a maximum of 70% of the annual matches played. Once a team reaches this percentage during a given year, all matches using substitutions after that will result in automatic forfeits of the positions played.

f). First Coast C (all lines) and Working Women’s C (line 2 and down) can sub.

F. Forfeit:
1. If it becomes necessary for a team to forfeit a position, all forfeits must be from the bottom, regardless of the position of the absent players.
2. Any team that forfeits an entire match (four positions) will be placed on probation for the remainder of the current tennis season. If that same team forfeits an entire match the 2nd time during that same season, the First Coast Tennis director of tennis will determine if that team will be removed from the Tennis League for future seasons.

  1. A player or partnership playing out of position will forfeit that line.
  2. If court conditions aren’t available for the day of play and it was not communicated.  The home team will have to forfeit based on how many courts aren’t available.

    G. Cancellation and Rescheduling:
    1. In the event of rain or severely cold weather, the Captains will make the decision to play by 7:30 a.m. In the event of temperature or wind chill factor below freezing, the home team captain and facility director can make the decision on match play before match day.  If a match is cancelled due to weather, the match should be made up on the first available rain make-up date.  If either team has already scheduled a make-up match on the next available rain make-up date, the Home team should provide the Visiting team within 3 days after the originally scheduled match, three potential dates for the make-up match.  The visiting team must choose one of the proposed dates and notify the home team captain within 5 days of being given the choice of dates.
    2. If a match is interrupted by weather, the same teams continue their play at the point at which they were interrupted when the match is resumed. The match should be rescheduled by season’s end according to the procedures established in G.1. above. It is not mandatory that all five courts play on the same day.
    3. Those teams scheduled to play, who have not yet begun to play, may be substituted if they are not available on the day of the rescheduled match.
    4. The Captains must inform the First Coast Tennis director of the rescheduled matches. Once scheduled, the only subsequent rescheduling shall be due to weather.

    H. Match Results-Scoring
    1. Captains shall be responsible for entering scores online within 48 hours of the match being played.
    2. Team Standings will be available online at www.tenniscores.com.
    3. Points and/or percentages (%’s) will continue throughout the entire season.   

  3. Scoring / top teams will be defined by the number of lines won by each team as calculated on tenniscores.com. If there is a tie (among number of lines won) at the end of the season among teams who may qualify for the playoff and/or any applicable awards, the following method will be used to distinguish the order of top teams:

    The following percentages (%’s) will be used in the exact order listed UNTIL a top team(s) is determined: % of lines won, % of sets won, % of games won.

  4. Explanation of terms used on tenniscores.com under “scores”:
    a) Forfeit: a team does not show up for the match and therefore forfeits to the team that does.
    b) Default: the match gets started but for some reason (ex. runs out of time and one team has to leave) a default is declared
    c) Retired: injury

    IV. PLAYOFFS / AWARDS

    A. Recognition awards will be given at the end of the season Play Day and Awards Luncheon for the overall League Champion.  The Championship match and has been hosted by:

2011-Palencia        

2012-Julington Creek

2013-San Jose

2014-Marsh Creek

2015-Sawgrass

2016-Eagle Harbor

2017-San Jose

2018 – Ponte Vedra Inn & Club

2019 – San Jose

2020 – ???

  1. FINANCIAL
    Each individual player will register for their club team, paying the league fee at the time of registration.

    VI. ENFORCEMENT
    Any infraction of the above rules brought to the attention of the First Coast Tennis director of tennis in writing will be handled him/her. First Coast Tennis will review the complain/infraction with the club pro’s involved and, if necessary, the NFPTA League council before making a decision.

    VI. AMENDMENT
    These rules can be amended at any time with a simple majority vote of the NFPTA League Council.

    VII. ‘D’ DIVISION MEMBERSHIP
    Clubs wishing to apply for ‘D’ level membership need to apply via email to First Coast Tennis at first.coast.tennis@gmail.com
    VIII. ‘D’ DIVISION PLAYERS
    The ‘D’ team has set its highest acceptable rating for players on the team as 3.0. Every player will be given a self rating unless the player has a current USTA, pro assigned, or other league rating. The USTA, pro assigned, or other league rating will supersede any self rating (highest rating will be used). Each player will start the season with a minimum of a 2.5 rating.

    IX. SPORTSMANSHIP
    The ‘D’ Division will abide by the USTA rules pertaining to sportsmanship (rule 30 in rulebook). If there is an infraction of these rules, the following procedures will be followed.
    A) The offense will be brought to the attention of the offending team’s Captain. If the opposing team’s Captain is not available, the matter will be given to the Co-Captain.
    B) The Captain will approach the players and discuss the offense with them and at this time inform them that this is an official warning. They will also be told that the next time this occurs they (the players) will forfeit playing the next match.
    C) If the offender repeats this a third time, the team player will be barred from playing the rest of that fall or spring season.
    D) The parties involved should put in writing the incident and give a copy to the First Coast Tennis director.
    E) Sportsmanship Award (see section IV. “Playoffs / Awards”.)

    X. ELIGIBILITY
    Any woman is eligible to play if:
    1. She is a dues paying member of the club where she plays.
    2. She is a permanent area residence over 18 years of age.
    3. She is not a current certified tennis professional.
    4. She plays: on only one team, in only one division and for only one club in the “Country Club” league. Any woman is still eligible to play on non-Country Club leagues as long as she is at the level (individual rating) of 3.0 and below (examples of non-Country Club leagues would be: USTA, Working Women’s, First Coast, Beaches League, and Singles League.)

  2. A player may change club affiliation prior to the first match of the season or after completion of the first half of league play and prior to the first match of the second half of the season.

    XI. INTER-DIVISION MOVEMENT

    The following guidelines will be used to decide player movement year to year for the D Division only:

    A. Any player winning 70% of her matches in position 1 and/or 2 will be required to move up to the next highest division of play as long as the player has played over 50% of her club’s scheduled matches for the season on courts 1 and/or 2.

    B. A player who has last played in a local C league and has a winning percentage less than 33% at the bottom two positions, is eligible to drop down to the D-League. Or a written request by the player’s club director of tennis stating the request to move said player to the D league. The player must still fall within the rating of 3.0 or below.

    C. Any player who was in a higher Division of play than the bottom three positions in a local C League and has been out of the league for a minimum of one season and is requesting to play in the D-League can do so if the following conditions are met:
    1. Produces a signed rating from a pro in our local country club league (other than a pro from her own club and at the player’s own expense) showing that the player is rated at 3.0 or below and
    2. The player will be evaluated and be subject to the rules of Inter-Division Movement after the last match in December (using the matches scheduled through December as a guide) and again at the end of the entire season.

    Captains are responsible for ensuring that they do not have anyone on their team rated above a 3.0 USTA (all states included), pro assigned, or other league rating.