Team Tennis Rules and Format
Players are encouraged to read the Cascades Team Tennis rules. While you may know much about tennis courtesies and rules, some of these specifically
apply to Cascades Team Tennis and may differ from other leagues in which you may have played.
Season:
Cascades Team Tennis will have two, six week sessions.
- Session One: TBD
- Session Two: TBD
All matches are held on Tuesday evenings from 7-10pm at the Stone House courts.
Ball contribution:
Each team is to bring a new, unopened can of balls to each weekly meet. Each team's captain is to determine how their team will approach providing the
balls.
Format and Service Order:
Weekly competition is a four match Meet consisting of one of each of the following:
- Men's Doubles, and Women's Singles, followed by
- Men's Singles, and, Mixed Doubles.
Note: There will be no women's doubles because of low participation.
Player Scheduling and Meet Results:
Men's Play:
A minimum of two men are to be scheduled to play in each weekly Meet. One will play doubles and mixed doubles the other will play doubles and singles.
Rostered substitutions will be allowed so that the third player can participate in the evening's meet (see below).
A sub list will be provided for both the men's and women's side. Subs for men should only be used when fewer than two members of a team are available for
the evening's play.
Captains are encouraged to vary match orders and match partners week to week to enhance the experience for all. Captains have ultimate discretion in their
method of variation.
Women's Play:
Women will play singles and mixed doubles at each weekly Meet.
A sub list will be provided separately.
Results of matches will be posted in the bulletin board located on court #1 of the Stone House courts.
Rostered Substitutions:
A team can, at any point, substitute a player (same gender) into a set for any reason. Once a player is replaced, he cannot return in that set. If the
substitute is of a higher rating the rating differential will be triggered (see below, applies to singles matches only)and the score will be adjusted accordingly
at the point of substitution. This only applies if the substitution is of a higher rating.
If a substitution occurs in doubles, the remaining player cannot change the side on which they receive or the service order.
Substitutions are allowed in the Super Tiebreaker. However, once a player has come out of the mixed doubles set, a player cannot return to play in the Super
Tiebreaker as it is the same set.
In Cascades Team Tennis the substitution rule will only apply to the men's side as the women's side has be adapted to participation levels and cannot
accommodate this rule. Further the substitution rule is only in effect when the three participants are present from any given team.
Warm Up:
In Team Tennis, you warm-up with your teammates on a court as assigned. Every week, team 1, will warm up on court 1, team 2 on court 2, team 3 on
court 3 and team 4 on court 4.
A 15 minute warm-up begins at 7pm. Matches begin at 7:15.
Once play has begun, a 3-minute warm-up is allowed between matches.
No Shows:
Players not showing up at a match and not notifying their captain in advance that they cannot make it may lose their team association.
Let Serving:
There are no let services in Cascades Team Tennis. On a service, if the ball touches the net and lands in the service box it is considered to be live and in-
play. In doubles, either player can play a serve that touches the net after the ball has bounced in the service box.
Game Scoring:
The scoring will be standard four point games with no-ad scoring.
Match Scoring
There will be two, four-game sets in each match. Each set must win by 2 games. If the score is tied at 3 games each a 7-point tiebreaker shall determine
the winner of the set.
(updated for session 2). A 7-point tiebreaker shall determine the winner the match when the first two sets are split and the game score is tied. A one-
game win is given to the winner of the tie break.
Meet Scoring:
The winner of the weeks meet is determined by the most games won. If the games won score is tied after the four matches are played, a Super Tiebreaker
will be played by a mixed doubles team. The first team to score 13 points by two, will be declared the Meet winner.
Note: There is a three minute break between completion of the first mixed doubles match and a super tiebreaker.
Changing Sides:
Sides should be changed every odd game: 1, 3, 5.
Play:
The server should announce the set score before the first serve of each new game in a voice that all players can hear.
The server should announce the game score before each serve of the game in a voice that all players can hear.
Spectators may not assist with making calls. As such, they cannot call balls out, make judgment calls or make line calls.
Tennis etiquette in expected from all players at all times. Remember, when it comes to line calls, if a ball is 99% OUT, it is 100% IN.
Rating Differentials and Bonus Scoring:
In Cascades Team Tennis there may be rating differences between players. To balance this, Cascades Team Tennis will use a rating differential bonus system
for singles matches only.
The use of players with higher or lower ratings for singles matches will use the following penalty or bonus games calculated in the following manner:
Penalty or bonus games are assigned to the initial score of
each set before play begins. Thus a player with 1 bonus game
will start the set with 1 game (Set starts at 1-0). A player with
penalty games must give the opposition these games at the
beginning. Thus a player with 1 penalty point will start the set
at a 0-1 score. This applies to both sets.
Should a third set tiebreaker be required, the initial points will
reflect the games penalty/ bonus. Thus a player with a bonus
point will begin the Tiebreaker with 1 point. The inverse also
applies to the other player.
Latecomers:
Play starts at 7:15 PM. Late arriving team members delaying the prompt start of the match will result in game penalties as follows:
- 5 minute late arrival forfeit 1 game
- 10 minute late arrival forfeits 3 games
- 15 minute late arrival forfeits one set (latecomer score is 0-4, and the score of second set)
- 20 minute late arrival forfeits match (latecomers score is 0-4,0-4)
Note: the latecomer penalty only applies to the match that is impacted by a late arrival. So if a player is 5 minutes late forcing play to begin at 7:20 the
match begins with a score of 0-1. There is no penalty applied to this player's second match of the evening unless the player is also late for the second
match.
Substitution/Forfeit Policy
In the event that a team cannot field sufficient players to meet the needs of the night's meet the policy is that that team forfeits each match for which it
cannot compete. The score of 8-0 is awarded to the team that is ready to play each match as scheduled.
There is a sub policy in place where teams that are in need of a substitute may have other CTG members fill in as needed. Partial sub lists were provided to
the captains at the beginning of the session. With the sub policy in place it is expected that all matches are held as scheduled.
Team captains are encouraged to communicate early and often with their players to avoid situations where players are not able to attend a meet and there is
insufficient time to locate a substitute. Players should let the team captain know of any weeks where they are not available to play.
Occasionally emergencies arise. If there is an emergency situation where a team cannot field sufficient players and a good faith effort has been made to find
a substitute, the captain of the team facing the forfeit may propose an reasonable alternative with the captain of the opposing team BEFORE the meet
begins. Each team may do this at only one (1) Meet in a session. It is the opposing team's prerogative whether to accept the proposal for completing the
matches or reject the proposal and accept a forfeit. If both teams agree to a make-up at a future time, it must be completed before the next week's Meet.
On the final date of the session no make-up matches will be allowed, unless the entire Meet is rained out. Then the entire Meet will be scheduled for the
rain date.
To reiterate, it is up to the team that is ready to play the evening's Meet to accept or reject any proposals for alternatives to playing the meet as scheduled
or if the team that is not ready to play must accept a forfeit. This decision must be included on the night's score sheet.
