Queen City Tennis League Summer Weekday & Saturday Women Updated Rules 05/25/2016 USTA Rules and Code of Conduct (Sportsmanship) apply. The Queen City Weekday & Saturday League is a hard and clay court morning league comprised of multiple divisions played in the summer months. Each division shall have a max of 10 teams. Each team consist of 3 lines of doubles. Weekday Women: Divisions with a 9:15 am Warm Up and 9:30 am start time: Wednesday Divisions 1 and 2 Thursday Divisions 3, 4, and 5 Saturday League 2 Divisions with a 9:30 am Warm Up and 9:45 am start time. The home team will provide 3 cans of new, unopened standard-size balls for lines 1, 2 & 3. Balls provided must be appropriate for the court surface. TEAM REQUIREMENTS 1. Each club entering a team must be a member of Queen City. New clubs must be approved by the Queen City board. 2. New teams must have a minimum of 10 rostered players. 3. To enter a team, clubs must have the appropriate number of playable courts with adjacent restrooms and drinking water. Off site courts may not be used unless they are inspected and approved by the Queen City Board prior to entering a team in the league.
4. New teams will be assigned to the appropriate division by the league commissioner. New teams are not required to start at the bottom of the league. A club entering a new team must provide the commissioner with a roster of players and include each player s current USTA rating. If a player does not have a current USTA rating she may self-rate using USTA PLAYER REQUIREMENTS 1. Players (rostered or substitute) must be members of the club they represent. All players must be 19 years old or older. 2. Club Pros. A club pro is defined as any salaried person who is employed by a club with membership privileges, who provides tennis instruction to members and/or non-members of that facility and whose tennis instruction is their primary source of income. If the pro has a current USTA computer rating, such pro shall not be rostered or subbed below another player with a lesser rating. If the pro does not have a current USTA rating they shall be limited to playing in Division 1. In no event shall a pro be eligible to play on a Weekday Women s Thursday team. 3. College Players. A college player is defined as any current college player or former college player having played for any college team in the past ten (10) years. Such college player must play on the highest division team of such club. Players who have not played collegiate level tennis for greater than ten (10) years are eligible to play on any division team their club deems 4. Captains of teams using such club pros or college players are obligated to make certain that they are in compliance with this rule. CAPTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Each captain is responsible for reviewing and understanding the league rules, USTA rules, and The Code: Player s Guide for Unofficiated Matches. 2. Each team must have a captain or acting captain at the match. 3. A captain or her representative must simultaneously exchange line-ups by 9:15 Weekday, 9:30 am Saturday, even if weather and/or courts are questionable. Subs must be specified.
4. It is the responsibility of each team captain to determine whether or not a player has already agreed to play for another team or another club before listing her as a player or substitute. ROSTER 1. All teams must submit a roster of team members and subs prior to the commissioner s deadline. 2 team members are to be listed at position 1, 2 at position 2, and 2 at position 3. All other players should be noted as subs. The roster must include the name, phone number and email address of all players. 2. Each team roster must list a captain and a co-captain. The rosters must include the email address and telephone number for the captain and co-captain. 3. Players may be listed for only one team per club and must be listed in the division appropriate to their level of play. The addition of unlisted substitute players must be made prior to play by contacting the league commissioner. 4. If two teams from the same club are in the same division, the rosters may be developed either with two teams that are equal in strength or one team with the strongest 6 players and a second team with the next 6 strongest players. 5. Clubs with multiple teams in the same division will not be allowed to share players or subs. MATCH LINEUPS - PLAYERS MUST PLAY IN ORDER OF STRENGTH 1. For each match, the best team must play at Line 1, the next best at Line 2, and so on. No stacking is permitted. Stacking is defined as the illegal placement of a weaker team in a higher position, to better assure victory for a stronger team playing at a lower position.
PLAYER POSITIONING A player or sub may move up/down 1 position from their rostered position or in the case of a sub they may move up / down 1 position from the position they first played. MATCH PLAY 1. A captain or her representative must simultaneously exchange line-ups by 9:15 Weekday and 9:30 Saturday, even if weather and/or courts are questionable. 2. Players should plan to arrive no later than 9:15 AM Weekday and 9:30 AM Saturday to engage in a cooperative warm up with the opponents on the court to be used for the match. If a player arrives after 9:30 AM she forfeits her warm-up time. Some players confuse warm-up and practice. A player should make a special effort to hit shots directly to the opponent. Practice serves should not be returned. 3. All matches begin at 9:30 AM for Weekday and 9:45 AM for Saturday. A team match is started when the first ball (on any of the three lines) is put into play. All three lines must wait until all players have arrived before starting. 4. No substitutions may be made after line-ups are exchanged. However, if a player does not arrive by the 9:45 am Weekday and 10:00 AM Saturday default time, players must move up from the bottom lines at the location of the match to fill any vacancy. Forfeits are taken from line 3. 5. Prior to the start of a team match, if injury to, illness, or disqualification of a player occurs, the affected team may substitute a player who is immediately ready to play and may adjust their line-up at the affected position only. The substitute player must be eligible to play at affected player s line. If no substitution is made by 9:45 am Weekday and 10 am Saturday, the default will be awarded at that position. After the start of a team match, if injury to or illness to a player occurs, the opponents will be awarded a default for that line. 6. Play is governed by the Rules of Tennis found on the USTA website (www.usta.com/usta/home/aboutus/rules.aspx), and the Code Players Guide for unofficiated matches (found on Downloadable Forms on the
QCTL website), except where Queen City rules differ, in which case Queen City rules are to be followed. 7. All players will play the best of three sets (tiebreaker at 6-all in each set with the first to7 by 2), with the third set being a 10 point tiebreaker, first to 10 by 2, following the Coman Tiebreak Procedure. See Downloadable Forms on the QCTL website for the tiebreaker rules. 8. Match play is to be continuous, except for a one-minute break between court changes and a maximum 10 minute rest period between the second and third sets. 9. Any player who sustains an injury or becomes ill during a match may be allowed a one-time medical time out of 5 minutes for the treatment of that medical condition. If a player is unable to resume play within the time limit, her opponent wins the match by retirement. The match score will be entered for the games prior to the injury. 10. One point shall be awarded for each match (line) won. A forfeit shall be counted as one point for the opposing team. 11. All matches must be played on the day and time assigned or be forfeited (see exceptions for weather). SCORES 1. Players from the home team are responsible for completing scorecards for each individual line. The score sheet should contain the full name of each of the four players. At the end of the match, the away team should review the match score and initial the scorecards prior to departing. 2. The home team captain is responsible for entering scores onto league website www.queencitytennis.com within 24 hours of the completed match. The visiting team captain is responsible for verifying the posted scores and reporting any inaccuracies to the league commissioner within 48 hours of the completed match. After 48 hours the scores will stand as entered.
FORFEITS 1. If a player arrives after 9:45 AM Weekday and 10:00 AM Saturday, a forfeit may be taken. If a forfeit is not taken, the match stands as played. 2. Forfeits called before match must start with the lowest position. If you are forfeiting a line, as a courtesy, contact the opposing captain and notify her of the forfeit prior to the match. The line receiving the forfeit is not required to appear at the match site. 3. A maximum of 3 forfeits are allowed per season. After a team has forfeited three lines in one season, the team and all members may be disqualified from playing the following season. RAIN, INCLEMENT WEATHER, OR UNPLAYABLE COURTS 1. Matches may be cancelled by the league commissioner as a result of rain, inclement weather, or unplayable courts. This decision will be made by the commissioner as early as possible and will be posted on the website by 8:00 AM. Once a cancellation is posted, the matches scheduled for that day may not be played even if both captains agree that courts are playable. 2. In case of inclement weather, two (2) rain dates will be reserved at the end of the season for make-up matches. Make-ups required beyond the two (2) rain dates must be completed as soon as possible but in no event later than one week following the last scheduled rain date. 3. If a match is canceled by the league commissioner as a result of rain, inclement weather or unplayable courts, the match will be rescheduled to the rain date scheduled by the league commissioner. Since no points have been played, the lineup submitted by captains becomes void. 4. If a rain out is not called and it is raining or the weather is questionable, do not assume that the match is cancelled. All players must report to their location and be prepared to wait until 10:00 AM Weekday and 10:15 AM Saturday, to see if courts will become playable. The captain and the club pro at the match location will determine if the matches are to be played. If rain has stopped, every reasonable effort should be made to ready the courts for play as soon as possible. If the match is to be played on hard courts and assistance is needed to have the courts ready, the visiting team must help. If courts are playable by 10:00 AM Weekday and 10:15 AM Saturday, the
match will proceed. If courts are not playable at 10:00 AM the lines will be rescheduled. Any lines wishing to play later that day are free to do so. All other lines should be rescheduled and must be completed within two weeks. If lines are rescheduled, changes to the lineup can occur until the start of the match. 5. If a match is interrupted by rain, then completed lines stand as played. Incomplete lines must be resumed by the same players in the same positions (ad and deuce), same side of the net, same set, game and point score, and at the same site, unless players have mutually agreed to play elsewhere. The match must be completed within two weeks. Once a make-up match is scheduled it cannot be rescheduled unless all four players are in agreement. 6. The league commissioner will have the final decision on handling the particulars of a rain out and make-up matches. SPORTSMANSHIP 1. All players are expected to conduct themselves with courtesy and responsibility. If issues arise outside the league rules, players are to make every effort to mutually resolve the issue and conclude matches within the time allotted. 2. No physical act of violence or threat of violence will be tolerated by any league player under any circumstances. Any league player engaging in such behavior will be immediately suspended from league play for the remainder of the current season and will be banned from league play for the following season. If such league player engages in such behavior for a second time, the player will be permanently banned from participating in the Queen City Tennis 3. Players who have completed their match should leave the court quietly and observe the match from outside the court fencing. Team members and spectators should support their teammates without being rowdy and disruptive. 4. No coaching, gesturing or line call consulting is allowed from spectators, team members, or
5. No children are to be allowed on or around the tennis courts while matches are being played. It is the captain s responsibility to ensure that there is no disruption of play. PENALTY POINTS 1. League commissioners will issue penalty points for infractions of the rules. The offending team will be assessed a penalty point, which will be taken from their cumulative score. PROTESTS 1. Protests must be made in writing (email) by team captains to the league commissioner within 7 days of the match. In case of an adverse ruling by the commissioner, either captain may file an appeal in writing via email to the Vice President. A committee of at least two non-involved board members and the Vice President will be called to review and make a final decision on appeals. The commissioner involved will present the situation to the competition committee. Final division standings will not be reported until 7 days after the final match if there are any outstanding issues. If a protest is received regarding stacking, all weeks played will be reviewed and a ruling will be decided. CELL PHONES 1. Cell phones are not permitted to be turned on during play. If a player s cell phone rings during play, the opponent is entitled to claim the point based on a deliberate hindrance. DIVISION STANDINGS 1. Division standings are based on points. A point is awarded for each individual match (line)won. Team statistics may be reviewed online by clicking on Team Statistics on the Scores page of the website. If there is a tie, the winner will be determined by the following: a. The team with the most individual matches (lines) won in head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
b. If still tied, the team with the highest % of sets won in head-to-head competition. c. If still tied, the team with the highest % of games won in head-to-head competition. 3. Because the number of teams participating in the league may fluctuate from season to season, the team movement as described above may be altered at the discretion of the league commissioner.