Description

The SDTF singles ladder is a list of members who are interested in playing singles matches with a wide variety of players. Every match you play earns you points, and when you win, you move up the ladder.

Benefits

• Play more matches.
• Meet new people.
• Improve your game.
• Get yourself match tough for events like the San Diego Open, San Diego Doubles, SDTF's own Club Championships, Team Tennis, and Singles League, as well as inter-city Cups (Cal Cup, Gold Cup, Pac Cup, and West Coast Cup).

Tiers

In order to encourage competitive matches with opponents of similar skill, the ladder is divided into these 4 tiers:

Tier 1:

• Open players (highly advanced, NTRP 5.0+)
• A players (advanced, NTRP 4.5)

Tier 2:

• B players (high intermediate, NTRP 3.5-4.0)

Tier 3:

• C players (low intermediate NTRP 3.0)

Tier 4:

• D players (novice NTRP 2.0-2.5)

Calendar

This year, the singles ladder will run for 36 weeks between January and September, followed by the Master's Cup tournament that would last 5 weeks.

Singles Ladder matches may be played throughout the regular season (January 21 to September 28).

Mid Season Ladder Tournament may be played during the middle of the season (currently scheduled for May 26 to June 15).

The Master's Cup Tournament will be held after the end of the regular ladder season starting on September 29 to November 2. Subject to the number of entrants (minimum 4 participants per tier), the tournament format may be either single-elimination or round-robin.

Winners of the Master's cup tournament along with the points leaders from all tiers will be announced at the SDTF annual holiday party in December.

Tournaments

To promote additional match play and subject to sufficient interest described above, the Master's Cup Tournament will be held after the conclusion of the regular season.

The Master's Cup Tournament is available to players who:

• Finish the season in one of the top 8 spots of their tier, with lower-ranked players becoming eligible if a higher-ranked played declines or does not respond to the invitation to participate. and
• Play at least two matches during the season.

Joining

Your SDTF membership must be current to join the ladder. If your membership is lapsed, any ladder match you play will not count.

• To join the ladder, challenge someone on the ladder in the lowest 6 positions of the correct tier for your level which cannot be lower than your current GLTA singles ranking (e.g., if you are a B player, you should challenge someone in Tier 2). If you win, you will take over your opponent's position on the ladder and he/she will move down one position. If you lose, you will be placed at the bottom of your opponent's tier.

Raffle

The top 3 players in each tier, based on the highest number of completed matches, will be entered into a raffle.

Prize

One winner of $30 Ray's Tennis gift card for each 9-week period.

Eligibility

• One must be an active member of the federation
• Must have completed at least 3 matches within the 9-week period.
• Must have no pending disciplinary cases with the executive board.

Dates

For the purpose of this raffle, quarter is defined as a period of 9 weeks.

• 1st Quarter January 21 to March 23 (drawing by March 30)
• 2nd Quarter March 24 to May 25 (drawing by June 1)
• 3rd Quarter May 26 to July 27 (drawing by August 3)
• 4th Quarter July 28 to September 28 (drawing by October 5)

Challenges

Eligibility

• You may challenge up to 6 positions above your current ladder position within your tier.
• If you are in positions 1-6 of your tier, you may also challenge up to 10 positions below your current ladder position, so you can continue to accumulate points.
• If you are playing a ladder tournament match, you are exempt from these positional restrictions.
• If you wish to move up to the next tier, you may challenge anyone in the bottom 4 positions of the tier directly above your current tier, as long as you don't challenge up more than 6 total positions from your current ladder position.
• A player cannot issue or accept more than one challenge at the same time. An issued or accepted challenge must be played before other challenges can be issued or accepted.
• A player cannot issue or accept a challenge match against the same person more than once in any 14-day period.

Issuing

• Use the singles ladder to select a challengee who meets the above eligibility requirements.
• To bring up contact information for the challengee, click his/her name.
• Contact the challengee, preferably by both text message and email. State that you are issuing a ladder challenge, and negotiate a time and place.
• If the challengee cannot be reached within 48 hours, you may report a "no reply" (see Status), but you should make a good faith effort to reach the challengee (e.g., if he/she doesn't respond to a text message within a reasonable amount of time, try calling).
• If the challengee is unavailable to play within 10 days, you may report an "unavailable" (see Status).
• Notwithstanding the option to report a "no reply" or "unavailable," the point of the ladder is to play matches and not to climb the ladder through obtaining defaults. Ladder participants are therefore encouraged to consider challenging another available player in the event a challengee cannot be reached or is unavailable to play within 10 days, at least on the first occasion of issuing a challenge.
• If a ladder participant is regularly unable to play, that participant should consider hiatus status, and any issues may be brought to the attention of the Ladder Chair.
• If a ladder participant has tried to arrange a match with another participant and on more than one occasion either been unable to reach that other participant or that other participant has been unable to play within 10 days, these would certainly be appropriate circumstances to report a "no reply" or "unavailable."

Playing

• The challenger provides a new can of tennis balls for the match and is to reserve a court to play/make court arrangements.
• Ladder matches are best 2 out of 3 standard sets, with regular-ad scoring, and a standard tie-breaker (first to 7 points, win by 2-point margin) played at 6 games all.
• Option for third-set super tie-breaker: If running out of time is or becomes a significant concern for both players, or if both players clearly agree before play begins, a standard third set may be replaced with a "super tie-breaker (first to 10 points, win by 2-point margin). Both players must agree to this change before prior to the start of the third set.
• Super tie-breakers are not permitted for the semifinals or finals of the Mid-Season Tournament or Master's Cup Tournament, regardless of player preference.
• Be guided by SDTF's Code of Conduct and the USTA's "Friend at Court" rulebook.

Status

The following choices are available for describing what happened when trying to issue or play a challenge match:

• Complete - the match was played to completion.
• No Show - your opponent didn't arrive and didn't cancel by 10 minutes after the appointed match time.
• Walkover - your opponent canceled between 24 hours before and 10 minutes after the appointed match time.
• Retired - your opponent withdrew during the match (or during warmup).
• No Reply - you issued a challenge but the challengee didn't respond within 48 hours. (To prevent abuse, "no replies" can be reported only once in any 20-day period.)
• Unavailable - you issued a challenge and the challengee replied that he/she was unavailable to play within the next 10 days. (As with a "no reply", an "unavailable" can be reported by a challenger only once in any 20-day period.)

Note: When a player reports a "no reply" or "unavailable" with you as the challengee, you will be placed on temporary hiatus (see Removal/Hiatus for details).

Reporting

• Within 24 hours of the completion of the match, the winner must report the score via the Report Match page.
• Please contact the Ladder Chair at ladder@sdtf.org (cc: the Tech Chair at tech@sdtf.org) if you have any problems reporting your match.

Positioning

• If you defeat a player higher than you on the ladder, you take your opponent's position, and your opponent plus any players above your original position (and beneath your opponent) move down one position.
• If you defeat a player lower than you on the ladder, all players maintain their current position.
• If you defeat a player in a higher tier, you take your opponent's position, and your opponent plus all subsequent players in the higher tier move down one position. Players below you in your original tier move up one position.
• If you lose to a player higher than you on the ladder, all players maintain their current position.
• If you lose to a player lower than you on the ladder, your opponent takes your position, and you plus any players above your opponent's original position (and beneath you) move down one position.
• If you lose to a player in a higher tier, you move to the bottom of the higher tier. Players below you in your original tier move up one position.
• If you report a "no reply," you move up 2 positions (if possible), and the 2 players above your original position move down one position.
• If you report an "unavailable," you move up 2 positions (if possible), and the 2 players above your original position move down one position.

Points

Awards

The player in each tier with the most total points at the end of the complete ladder season (including points earned in the Master's Cup Tournament) will receive a cash prize at the year-end Holiday Party. The total available prize pot shall be divided as follows: Tier 1 winner (25%); Tier 2 winner (25%); Tier 3 (25%); player with most points in entire ladder (25%).

Where multiple players within a tier tie for most points in that tier, the following criteria will be applied in order until the tie is broken:

1. Best head-to-head-record
2. Highest percentage of sets won out of all sets each person has played. 10-pt tiebreakers count as one set
3. Highest percentage of games won out of all games each person has played. 10-pt tiebreakers count as one game.

Where multiple players tie for most points in entire ladder, the following criteria will be applied in order until the tie is broken:

1. Highest percentage of sets won out of all sets each person has played. 10-pt tiebreakers count as one set.
2. Highest percentage of games won out of all games each person has played. 10-pt tiebreakers count as one game.

The name of the winner of each tier of the Master's Cup Tournament will be engraved on that tier's trophy, and each winner will receive the honor of keeping the trophy for one year.

Removal/Hiatus

• If you wish to be removed from the ladder, either temporarily or permanently, you can do so for any reason using the Go On Hiatus/Remove Me page form.
• Temporary hiatus - If you put yourself on hiatus (or are placed on hiatus due to a player reporting a "no reply" or "unavailable" match with you as the challengee), you can be reinstated back to your original position on the ladder (the position you occupied at the time your hiatus started) if you take yourself off hiatus within two weeks. This is called a temporary hiatus. Note, however, that you are limited to two temporary hiatuses per season, and you may not take yourself off a hiatus without penalty in the period in September (to prevent players from locking themselves into a high position on the ladder during the run up to the Master's Cup Tournament).
• If you go on hiatus for more than a two-week period (or you have already taken two temporary hiatuses), and you wish to be reinstated at a later date, you must challenge back onto the same tier of the ladder, and you must challenge to the 9th position or below (or the bottom of the tier if the tier has fewer than 9 players) and to a position no higher than the one you occupied when you left the ladder. If you win, you take the position of the challengee. If you lose, you drop to the bottom of the tier.
• You retain any points you accumulated prior to going on hiatus, whether it's a temporary or full hiatus.

Grievances

• If you have an issue with the ladder rules or anything else relating to the ladder, contact the Ladder Chair at ladder@sdtf.org.
• If the Ladder Chair is unable to resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you may appeal to the Rules Chair at rules@sdtf.org. The Ladder and Rules Chairs will confer, and their collective decision will be final.