WILMINGTON COUNTRY CLUB LADIES CUP TENNIS RULES Revised August 29, 2024
1. OBJECTIVES
T he goal is to oversee WCC’s participation in the Wilmington inter -club Cup tennis league. The Ladies Tennis Committee (LTC) will develop a ladder in order of strength while also giving as many members as possible the opportunity to play for the sake of good and healthy competition within our ladies ’ tennis program.
2. LADIES TENNIS COMMITTEE (LTC)
All LTC members must be active Cup tennis participants and serve for a minimum of 3 years.
The LTC shall consist of the following members: • 2 Racquets Professionals
• A Chair who serves for 2 years and is the WCTA representative • A Co-Chair who serves for 1-2 years and enters the Roster • 1 member who serves as ladder/challenge recorder • 1 social chair who plans seasonal cup events • 4+ additional members at-large who ideally represent each Cup level
3. PARTNERSHIP RULES
A. All new partnerships will be placed on the ladder by the LTC and WCC Pros (See 4B & 4C).
B. Partnerships are expected to attend weekly practices or notify the racquet shop if they cannot.
C. Unless you are granted injured status (see Sect. 7A), all partnerships must be available to play 4/7 matches in the fall and spring cup seasons. If a partnership fails to play 4 matches together in a season, they will drop off the ladder and may be placed back on the following season as a new partnership but not higher than 1 position lower than their previous position on the ladder.
D. A partnership must notify the racquet shop and ladder recorder by the end of a Cup season if they plan to drop off the ladder.
E. Partnerships are expected to act in good faith to make themselves available for and accept challenges. It is expected that all players will exhibit good sportsmanship
during the challenge period with behavior defined by respect, fairness, integrity and honesty.
F. Each Cup member is responsible for lunches for home matches, weekly practices and the use of indoor courts at away matches. These fees will be charged to a member’s WCC account at the end of each season.
G. All partnerships are responsible for finding a sub for any match a member of that partnership cannot play.
4. LADDER ADJUSTMENTS POST-SEASON
A. The ladder will be adjusted after the Spring and Fall seasons based on the point system (See #9. Each partnership will be assigned a numerical ranking as well as points based on their season record with their rostered partner. The ladder will reshuffle based on the partnership’s final ranking. B. New partnerships must contact the LTC to request placement on the ladder. The WCC Racquets Professionals and the LTC will review the partnership’s USTA ratings, match results and strength of play and place the partnership on the ladder. New partnerships will be added to the ladder in the order in which the request is received. A partnership does not need to challenge for placement on the ladder. The deadline for new partnership requests is the last day of Cup season. C. This ladder will be posted and used by those eligible for challenge matches. Challenges may not be issued before new teams are placed. A new partnership may be challenged after they are placed on the ladder. New partnerships may not issue challenges after they are placed.
5. CHALLENGES
A. Challenge Periods
a. Fall Cup Season – 1 week following the close of Cup season - July 31 st b. Spring Cup Season – 1 week following close of Cup season - December 31 st
B. Earned Challenges
a. Challenges are earned by winning 5/7 matches in a single season. b. A partnership who has earned a challenge may issue 1 challenge up to 4 spots above that partnership’s current position on the Ladder.
6. CHALLENGE PROCEDURES
A. A challenging partnership must submit the challenge in writing to both challenged players via email and copy the racquet shop (racquetshop@wilmingtoncc.com), the challenge coordinator (mgehret@aol.com) and the LTC Chair. The challenging email should simply state that they are requesting a challenge. It should not include suggested days, dates, times, etc. B. Once a challenge is made in writing, a challenging partnership may not withdraw their challenge. If the challenged team is unable to give any dates due to vacation schedules, injury, busy schedules etc. then the challenged team will move down a spot on the ladder.
C. Challenged partnerships:
1. Must respond within 48 hours with 3 date/time options within the following 3 weeks from the date of the challenge. These dates must have indoor court backup. 2. The 3 dates and times must be as diverse as possible. Each partnership should exhibit good sportsmanship in finding a date to play and act with fairness, consideration and integrity.
D. Once a date and time has been set, the challenging team needs to notify via email the racquet shop, the challenge coordinator and the LTC Chair. Results of the match must be communicated the same way. E. If the challenging partnership is unable to accept either of the 3 possible playing dates, they must wait 1 week to issue a challenge to that same partnership if desired. No wait if challenging a different partnership.
F. Partnerships are not required to accept more than one challenge during the challenge period for a total of two per calendar year.
G. The challenging partnership is responsible for providing balls.
H. Challenge matches are the best of 3 full sets unless all parties agree to play a superset tiebreaker in lieu of a third set.
I. A partnership not able to play a scheduled match or not showing up to play within 30 minutes must forfeit the match and it counts as a win for the non-forfeiting team.
J. Partnership position changes will be recorded in the order in which the challenges are played.
7. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
A. Injuries/Illness
An injured, seriously ill, pregnant or post-partum player who is unable to play 4 of 7 matches in a Cup season may submit in writing to the LTC a request to retain their partnership’s position on the ladder; this request will only be granted for one season, with a maximum of two consecutive seasons for each partnership, one request per player. The injured team will receive the points as if they have played the season.
B. Weather
A match interrupted by weather conditions or court time limitations must be finished at a mutually convenient time, but within 7 days following the interruption. The match is continued from the score at the time of the interruption. If a match is not finished before the end of the challenge period, a 0-0 loss will be recorded for both partnerships.
C. Retirement
A partnership “retires” a match that is halted by injury, illness, pregnancy or another emergency after it has started. The score should be recorded at the time of interruption with the win going to the opponents of the retiring partnership.
D. Other
1. Under exceptional circumstances where application of the rules may lead to an inequitable result, the WCC Director of Racquets, upon referral from the LTC, may take action if it would be in the best interest of the ladies ’ tennis community. 2. After the final Cup ladder has been posted, partnership positions within a Cup team may be adjusted for the benefit of the team if agreed upon by all of the team members. The request must be submitted in writing to the LTC and will be considered a permanent change to the ladder.
8. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES
Grievances must be submitted in writing or email to the committee in a timely manner. Partnerships submitting a grievance should provide accurate records so the LTC can make a fair decision.
9. TENNIS POINT SYSTEM
Position changes on the ladder are determined by the following process:
Each partnership is assigned starting points to weight the courts appropriately. The top partnership receives 100 points, the second team from the top receives 99, and so on. Each team has points awarded or subtracted based on their wins per season: • 0, 1, or 2 wins = -1 point • 3 or 4 wins = 0 points • 5, 6, or 7 wins = +1 point and a free challenge earned
The ladder will reshuffle based on the final numerical ranking.
In the event of a tie, the following are considered:
1. Sets Won During the Season: The number of sets won together as a partnership divided by the number of sets played together as a partnership. A match won by default is counted as a win but scored 0-0 for this calculation, even though WCTA scores it as 6-0, 6-0. Matches lost by default will not be counted as a match played between partners for purposes of the season record. If teams are still tied, go to step 2. 2. Least Number of Games Lost During the Season: The number of games lost as a partnership divided by games played as a partnership. If teams are still tied, go to step 3.
3. The team that started the season at a higher position will remain higher on the ladder.
Wilmington Country Club Summary of Key Changes Ladies Tennis Cup Rules August 29, 2024
1. All new partnerships will be placed on the ladder by the LTC and WCC Pros (see section 4).
2. Unless you are granted injured status, a partnership that fails to play 4 matches together in a season will drop off the ladder and may be placed back on the following season as a new partnership but not higher than 1 position lower than their previous position on the ladder (see section 3C).
3. The ladder will be adjusted using the point system and then new teams will be placed and earned challenge matches can begin (see sections 4 and 5).
4. A partnership that earns a challenge match may issue 1 challenge up to 4 spots above their current position on the ladder (see section 5).
5. Once a challenge is made in writing, a challenging partnership may not withdraw their challenge (see section 6B).
6. Challenging emails should simply state that a partnership is issuing a challenge and should not include suggested dates and times.
7. A challenged partnership must respond within 48 hours with 3 diverse date/time options (See section 6C).
8. Partnerships are not required to accept more than one challenge during the challenge period for a total of two per calendar year (see section 6F).
9. There will be no “injured status” during challenge periods. If a partnership is challenged and cannot play due to injury, vacation plans, busy schedules etc. then the challenged team will move down one spot on the ladder and this will count as t hat partnership’s 1 challenge for the season (cannot be challenged again).
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