Revised January 30, 2024

Introduction

Team Tennis is a weekly competition that includes singles and doubles pro sets between SDTF teams. The teams are chosen at a captains’ meeting, where captains have the chance to draft 1 player. Each team selects a theme and each player chooses an alias consistent with the theme to encourage team spirit and unity.

This time, we are running an 8 week long regular season with make up week for a regular season rainout, a playoff week and a finals week. We are planning on 6 teams of 8 players.

Team Tennis is one of the San Diego Tennis Federation's most popular events. It provides players with the opportunity to meet fellow SDTF members and exposes participants to the varied playing styles of their many opponents. You will be ranked according to your skill level, and you will only play others at or near your skill level, so ALL ARE WELCOME, regardless of your playing ability. The themes chosen are always clever or funny, but the competition is real. The champion of Team Tennis gets bragging rights until the next season and has their team name emblazoned on the Team Tennis trophy.

Team Tennis is a great way to meet friends, build team camaraderie, practice your tennis skills and MOST OF ALL...HAVE FUN.

Basics

1. This event is a paid SDTF event. Team Tennis participants pay a team fee which covers associated costs.

2. Roster players must be current members of the San Diego Tennis Federation for the duration of the season. Similarly, alternates must be current members for the year in which they are subbing.

3. Each player plays one singles no-ad pro-set (first to 6 games) and one doubles no-ad pro-set (first to 8 games) against opponents from each team. The receiving team/player will choose the side (ad or deuce court) to receive the serve on the deciding point.

Creating Teams

1. A Ranking Committee will consist of the Team Tennis Commissioner, Captains, SDTF President, and any other person(s) the Commissioner deems necessary to assign fair rankings for the participants.

2. The Ranking Committee will rank the top 6, 8,or 10 regular players as # 1 players; the next 6, 8, or 10 will be # 2 players, etc. This will be based on the amount of teams and the number of particpants per team

3. The Ranking Committee will make every effort to rank players prior to the captain’s meeting so that each participant will play matches against opponents of relatively the same skill level. No players will be moved in the team rosters once the Commissioner has deemed the team draws to be official.

4. The Ranking Committee may assign a "provisional ranking" to a player if they do not have enough information on that player’s skill level to make an informed decision. The provisionally ranked player may be re-ranked by the ranking committee within 48 hours after the player’s first Team Tennis match and moved to the appropriate position on the same team. The other players on the team will be moved to accommodate the re-ranking. If no one communicates a concern with a provisionally ranked player upon completion of first matches, the Commissioners will deem that ranking is appropriate for remainder of the season.

Captain's Meeting

1. Captains will roll a die to determine the number order of the team

2. Captains will be allowed to pick 1 free pick for their roster at which position they request.

   (NOTE: For all picks, captains can choose from any roster level -- this is a change from previous seasons, where the picks needed to be split into top and bottom halves for the first two picks.)

3. After all draft picks are complete, the remaining names for each team will be drawn at random so that each team will consist of one #1 player, one #2 player, etc. Each captain will make these remaining selections random selections all at once based on the roster levels they have remaining in sequence.

After the meeting

1. Once their team is complete, captains should contact players on their team ASAP, and see if any subs might be needed for the first week or future weeks.

2. Captains should then come up with a team name with their team. Team members should then select or be assigned a nickname that fits accordingly. Have fun with this!

Alternates

1. All SDTF members not assigned to an official team roster are considered eligible alternates as long as they sign up as an alternate online.

2. If a non-roster alternate is not current with their SDTF membership yet for 2024, they will not be allowed to be an alternate in a match happening in 2024. The Commissioner will let captains know who on the existing alternate list is not 2024-current by early in the first week of January, and contact such alternates to let them know they need to be a member or else they cannot be used in a match. Submitted lineups with an alternate that is not current with their SDTF membership will be accepted, but if the membership is not current prior to the start of the match, then it will be treated as if the alternate is a "no show". (See #10 below.)

3. The Ranking Committee will assign each alternate a rank relative to the regular player rankings.

4. Captains are responsible for securing their own alternates when needed. A player from another team or from the membership at large can be used as an alternate, but ideally, a good faith effort should be made to find one from the list of registered alternates first.

5. If a Captain wants to use a sub from membership at large who is not on the list, that Captain must request a ranking for that player from the Commissioner before submitting their lineup by noon Friday (to provide enough time to ensure the ranking requested is appropriate). Captains must not assume a ranking for any sub not on sub list. If you are having trouble finding an alternate, please reach out to the commissioner ASAP!

6. Once a valid alternate is reported to the Commissioner by the reporting deadline, they become a member of the official line up for that week.

7. Alternates must have the same, or lower, ranking than the player they are replacing. For example, if you need a line 8 alternate, that player must be, at most a #8 rated alternate. That alternate, could play line 7, with the line 7 player playing line 8. You cannot however, sub a line 7 for a line 8 player, even if that player will ultimately play line 7 on the roster.

8. Alternates must play both the singles and doubles set.

9. There is a half-point deduction for each alternate used. There are no "free" alternates in Team Tennis, except for players who are verifiable entrants in an official GLTA event and except for the special case when there are no replacements available for a player who has dropped out (see below for more info).

10. If an alternate is reported after the lineup deadline or is a "no show" for the match, the opposing team captain may allow a last minute substitution. The usual ½ point substitution penalty and an additional ½ point “late sub” penalty will apply for using the substitute.

11. If a regular team member is unable to play for an extended period of time due to injury or another reason, that player will be replaced by a random draft of remaining players in the alternate pool who are available to complete the season (or at least until the regular member can return).

Note: If there are no available replacement players of the same level, the Captain is entitled to a free alternate to replace the player each week. To not incur a penalty, the Captain must notify the opposing Captain and the Commissioner at least 24 hours before the lineup submission deadline of who this free alternate shall be. Otherwise the alternate will no longer be free and incur a standard alternate penalty.

The regular team member can return to a team after 3 match (not calendar) weeks of absence with no penalty. A fully canceled match does not count towards this return timeline, but a partially completed match (where the replacement played) does count (and the replacement player would need to continue the partially completed match at a later date). Returning earlier will result in a standard ½ point sub penalty as the regular member would be a sub for the replacement.

Creating Line-ups

After appropriate alternates have been placed on a team, the Team Captain may shuffle their line-up based on the following tables. Note of Emphasis: Alternates must first replace a player of the same or higher rank, then they can be shuffled within the lineup.

Positions a ranked player can be placed in the singles line-up

Positions a ranked player can be placed in the doubles line-up

Singles and doubles

Captains may challenge the validity of a line up prior to the start of a player's set. The lineup will then be corrected if possible -- only corrections directly related to the lineup errors are allowed. The Captain making the challenge must approve the lineup correction -- otherwise the set is defaulted. After set begins, a Captain may not challenge the player's position for that set and the lineup remains the same.
NOTE: This should, in practice, never happen since lineups are reviewed ahead of time.

If the lineups are correct but a set is played with the wrong players playing each other (in part or in full), the set needs to be replayed. Any result or partial result is void.

NOTE: This should not normally happen as long as each Captain makes sure the right players are playing each other in the first place.

Details

1. Captains must update their lineups online in the worksheets provided and notify The Commissioner by 4:00 PM on the Saturday before the assigned match. If not, the official team roster will be used as the team's lineup.

2. The Commissioner will send a confirmation upon receipt of a lineup and will instruct the Captain to make any necessary corrections. A Captain may make these changes prior to the finalization of the rosters.

3. Assuming no issues with the lineups, the Commissioner will send out the final lineups to the Captains as soon as all of the lineups are submitted and verified. Once this is done, no further changes may be made to the lineups without the applicable penalty rules being in effect, or without the consent of the Commissioner and opposing Captain.

Match Format & Playoffs

1. Each team plays the three other teams in their group twice and the four teams in the other group once during the regular season.

2. Once the lineups have been turned in, players in position # 1 plays # 1, # 2 plays # 2, etc.

3. Each doubles match will consist of an 8-game, no-ad pro-set worth 1½ points. Each singles match will consist of a 6-game, no-ad pro-set, worth 1 point. The first player to either 6 (singles) or 8 (doubles) games wins the point(s) for their team.

4. Regular 12-point tie-breakers are played at 5 games all for singles and at 7 games all for doubles. A 12-point tie-breaker is over once a player reaches seven points by a margin of two. This is the typical tennis tiebreak style.

5. Default time is 15 minutes from the time a court is available for play, as determined by the Commissioner on-site . If no Commissioner is on-site, both captains should agree on the starting time of when a court was available to play, and track the time accordingly. USTA point penalties are in effect up until that time (up to 5 minutes = loss of toss and1 game, 6-10 minutes = loss of toss and 2 games, 11-15 minutes = loss of toss and 3 games, 15+ minutes = default). There are no exceptions for any player, or for any reason.

NEW THIS SEASON: if a player is 15 minutes late (defaulting their doubles match), the default timer is reset once a court is available for singles. The penalties are the same as for doubles (up to 5 minutes = loss of toss and 1 game, etc….). This is done to let the opposing team’s player at least play a set of singles potentially.

6. The same player must play both singles and doubles. The following default rules apply:

   a. If a player is unable to play the first scheduled set, a default is issued for the doubles only. doubles (1½ points) and singles (1 point).

   b. If a player plays the first set but is unable to play the second set, then the games and appropriate number of points for the first set are recorded and a default issued for the second set.

   c. If a player begins a set and is unable or unwilling to complete it (retired), the number of games won is recorded, and the opponent is awarded the appropriate number of points.

   d. Defaulted sets will be recorded as 0-0 games won; Retired sets will be recorded as whatever the set score was at the point of retirement (e.g. if someone quits while losing 2-3, 15-30, the score is recorded as 2-3)**.**

7. In the event of inclement weather, a match will be cancelled no less than 15 minutes prior to the start of the match. The Commissioner will make the final decision of whether to dry the courts or cancel the matches. If the early matches are cancelled, then so are the later matches.

8. The team winning the most points wins. Ties will be broken by the following (first to do so):

   a. Most games won.

   b. Most doubles sets won.

   c. Most singles sets won.

   d. Least number of alternates.

   e. Coin toss.

9. Team standings within each division will be determined by results in the following order:

   a. Overall win-loss record

   b. Head to head results

   c. Most points (after penalties)

   d. Number of games won

10. At the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams overall will advance to the playoffs, and the playoff seedings will be determined the same way as the team standings

11. In the semis, the #1 team will play the #4 seed and the #2 seed will play the #3 seed. The winners of the semis will play in the final (on a separate week) to determine the overall team tennis champion for the season.

Schedule

1. Teams should arrive 15 minutes before scheduled match times to facilitate warm-ups and begin match play on any vacant courts.

2. A 5-minute warm up will be allowed after courts are assigned.

Check out the Live schedule.