* Note: When rules refer to a "team" it applies to a player for Singles or both players for Doubles.
1. Level of Play
We encourage all players to select a level that offers good, competitive matches. The final determination of level placement will be made by the by the T2Tennis League Administrator using the following criteria:
- Requested Level
- T2Tennis Play History
- NTRP Level
- Division Scheduling Needs
Refer to the following sections for specific Adult and Junior play level rules:
- Adult (Men & Women) - Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Singles
T2Tennis uses the USTA/NTRP system to determine play levels for Adult Leagues. To see more information about the NTRP rating system, please click here.
- First Time Players/Teams:
First Time Players are defined as players that have NOT played T2Tennis in the past. New Teams are defined as 2 players that have NOT played together as a team in a prior T2Tennis Doubles league.
- Players with a USTA/NTRP rating must use their current rating. If you do not have a USTA/NTRP rating, click here to find your appropriate USTA/NTRP play level. Alternatively, you may check with your tennis coach or favorite tennis pro for his/her advice.
- Singles Leagues: Register with your USTA/NTRP rating.
- Doubles Leagues: Use the table below to determine your team's T2Tennis Playing Level.
First, find your level on the left hand side of the table below (Player A).
Next, find your partner's level on the top of the table (Player B).
Finally, register your team at the level where the players' levels intersect.
| Player A |
2.5 |
2.5 | 3.0- | 3.0 | | | |
| 3.0 |
3.0- | 3.0 | 3.5- | 3.5 | | |
| 3.5 |
3.0 | 3.5- | 3.5 | 4.0- | 4.0 | |
| 4.0 |
| 3.5 | 4.0- | 4.0 | 4.5- | 4.5 |
| 4.5 |
| | 4.0 | 4.5- | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| 5.0 |
| | | 4.5 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
T2Tennis discourages teams with partners more than two full playing levels apart (i.e. A team of a 3.0 player and a 4.5 player).
- For Mixed Doubles only, a team where the woman has the higher of the two players' NTRP ratings, and the ratings are more than one level apart, can self-rate one level lower from the level shown on the chart. (Ex. If a woman is rated 3.5 and her partner is 2.5, team can play at 3.0-).
- New teams/players may play at one higher level than your calculated minimum level.
- Sandbagging Rule: New teams/players that do not follow our guidelines risk being disqualified from winning the division and participating in that season's playoffs.
- Sandbagging Rule: New teams/players that finish the regular season with a winning percentage of 75% or higher will not be eligible to participate in the playoffs.
- Returning Players/Teams:
Returning Players are defined as players that have played T2Tennis in the past. Returning teams are players who have played together as a team in a prior T2Tennis Doubles league.
The system will limit what level(s) you can register for based on the game winning percentage of your MOST RECENT SEASON (game winning percentage is calculated as the number games won divided by the total number of games played). The following will be your level options for your next T2Tennis season:
| Less than 30% | Automatically move down 1 level. |
| Between 30% and 40% | You CAN move down 1 level. |
| Between 40% and 60% | You must play at the same level. |
| Between 60% and 70% | You CAN move up 1 level. |
| Greater than 70% | Automatically move up 1 level. |
| Division Winner and 65% or Greater | Automatically move up 1 level. |
| City Finals Winner | Automatically move up 1 level. |
- Juniors: Age Groups and Levels
We offer the following age groups for juniors:
| 10 & Under |
Must be 10 or under for the entire season of play. |
| 12 & Under |
Must be 12 or under for the entire season of play. |
| 14 & Under |
Must be 14 or under for the entire season of play. |
| 16 & Under |
Must be 16 or under for the entire season of play. |
Within each age group, we offer the following levels:
| A |
Extensive match play experience and considerable tournament experience. This player is competitive with other tournament level players. |
| B |
Has a solid foundation in the game, league tennis experience and may have limited tournament experience. |
| C |
Has limited match play experience and is working towards developing his/her total game. |
- Players who win their division with a winning percentage of 65% or greater should move up at least 1 level.
- Moving up an age level is considered moving up a level.
- Players with a winning percentage of 65% or greater, but not winning their division, MAY be moved up 1 level.
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2. match scheduling
- Don’t wait until the last minute to schedule your matches! Call your opponents immediately. Be considerate and prompt and help make T2Tennis the best and most enjoyable league. Matches can be played out of order as long as they’re played by the corresponding "play by" date of each match.
- Scheduling your matches: T2Tennis allows you two weeks to play each match. The first week is the "scheduled week". The second week is the "make up" week. All matches have a "Play By" date. The Play By date (listed on your schedule) is the last day a score may be posted for that match. The ONLY exception is the use of a Late Pass (see Late Pass Rules Below) If a match is not played on the first match week, the match must have a scheduled date by the Monday of the Make Up week. Directions and scheduled match time should be confirmed with the opponent. Please notify T2Tennis if the directions or address are incorrect for a tennis facility. T2Tennis maintains a database of directions; however, we must rely on you for corrections.
- Contacting your Opponent: Both teams are responsible for making contact with the opponent team by the Wednesday prior to the Match Week. Each team offers 3 available dates to play the match (not including the "play by" date) or agrees to a date offered by the opponents. Dates and times offered to your opponents must coincide with the dates/times of the league the teams are registered in. (Example: Weekday Women’s league plays on weekday mornings, finishing up early afternoon.) Any other offered dates/times are not valid. Once the match is scheduled, the rule to offer 3 available dates becomes obsolete and the "Rescheduling" rule would apply if the scheduled match is cancelled. IMPORTANT: If each team has offered 3 dates (within the timeframe for the match) and cannot agree on a date to play, the match is scheduled at the default time.
- The default times for the "Play By" date are:
- Weekday Women: 11 am
- Business Women, Men and Mixed Doubles: 7 pm
- Juniors: 4 pm if on a Sat or Sun; 5 pm if on a Weekday
- Unable to contact your opponent: If you have made a diligent effort to both phone and email your opponent several times and still receive no response by Wednesday of the match week, please email the League office so that we have a record of it. If you still have received no reply by the Tuesday of the Make Up Week, you should take the win by Forfeit (see instructions on your scoring page) and notify the League office.
- Rescheduling: You may reschedule your match one time provided you give your opponents at least 24 hours notice (you must receive confirmation back from your opponent that they received your rescheduling request). A rescheduled match is automatically scheduled for the default date/time on the "play by" date UNLESS the teams agree to a different date/time or to use a "late score" pass. If you give your opponents less than 24 hours notice OR need to reschedule more than once, your opponent has the option of rescheduling or recording a "win by forfeit". If both teams can’t agree on a later date to play the match, the opponent will take the win by forfeit (even if they have agreed to reschedule).
- Inclement Weather on the "Play-By" date: If a match is rained out on the "play-by" date AND one team forced the match to be played on the play by date without offering three options days to play the match as per the T2 rules, the other team can record a win by forfeit (provided that team offered three days to play, not including the play by date).
- Inclement Weather on the LAST "Play by" date of the Season: For matches scheduled on the last "play by" date of the season and rained out (no late passes allowed), we will post a message on the "My Leagues" page that day with instructions on how to proceed. Teams that have a match scheduled on the LAST "Play by" date of the season will run the risk of not playing the match if there is inclement weather.
- Late Score Pass: The late score pass is used to post a late score after the "play by" date.
IMPORTANT - The late score pass is not valid for the last match of the season or for playoffs.
- Each team (or player for Singles) has one late score pass per season.
- Both teams must agree to play the match after the "play by" date and normal match scheduling rules apply.
- Decide which team will use the late score pass. This must be confirmed by email by both teams (Do not email T2).
- How to use your late score pass: If the "play by" date of the match has passed, the system will show a "Use Late Score Pass" link on the schedule page for that match. The team that agreed to use the late score pass will click on this link. Click on the link before going to play the match (as usual, the winning team will report the score.) Note: Once you click on this link, your late score pass is used.
- After the late pass is used, both team's schedule will show "No Score Reported" until the match is played and scored.
- Score for all "late score" matches must be recorded by midnight of the last "play by" date of the season. The "late score pass" is not valid for week 5. There are no exceptions to this rule. T2Tennis will not mediate any late score pass disputes.
Late Score Pass notes:
*If BOTH teams have a need to use the late score pass, we suggest you agree that the winning team uses their late score pass.
*T2Tennis will not grant additional late score passes.
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3. Match Play
- USTA rules govern play.
- All players are expected to uphold their commitment to the league and the other players in the division by completing all matches.
- Court Surface: It is the home team’s obligation to let the opponent know what court surface the match will be played on. The choice of court surface is up to the home team.
- Balls: The home team supplies an unopened can of yellow USTA approved balls for the match and will retain the balls after the match. Winners do not receive an unopened can of balls.
- Posting scores: The winning team MUST post the match score before midnight of the play by date. If you need to play on the "Play By" date, you should plan on playing at the default time above unless all players agree on a different time that day. If you get rained out on the "Play By" date, both teams will take a loss as the system will zero out the match. Teams can agree to play past the "play by" date if a late pass is available. If Team A is unable to play at the default time, and all players do not agree on a different time that day (after each tem offers 3 available dates), or to use a "late pass" Team B will post a win by forfeit.
- Court fees: Any required court fee and/or guest fee must be paid by the home team.
- Home Court Not Available: If your home court is not available for your match, you may play at an alternate site if it is no farther for your opponent. If it is farther for your opponent, you should offer to play at the opponent’s court.
- Restroom Not Available: If your bathroom facilities are not operational you must offer to play the match at your opponents’ court.
- Court Lights: If your facility does not have lights and the match will continue into darkness, you must offer to play at your opponents’ court. Business Women’s and Men’s Leagues MUST provide lit courts.
- Coaching: Coaching is not permitted. Spectators may not intercede in any way.
- Cell phones: All cell phones must be turned off or muted for match play. If a player needs to place a call during a match, they may make a call in the 90 seconds allotted for changing ends or the 10 minutes between the 2nd and 3rd sets. If you need to leave a cell phone on during match play for medical or emergency purposes and your phone rings, your opponents will be awarded the point in progress.
- Opponent is Late: There is a 20 minute default rule. After 20 minutes, the waiting team has the option of taking the win by forfeit or waiting longer for the opponent to arrive. Schedules list cell phone numbers so you should at least try to contact a late opponent to be sure they aren’t lost or having traffic problems.
- Excessive Forfeits: A team having excessive forfeits may be disqualified from playoffs and/or suspended for the next season. This penalty also applies to any team withdrawing after the registration deadline and to teams that forfeit playoff matches.
- Conflicts should be settled by the players using the USTA rules and ‘The Code’. All players have the right to question a line call or score. If you dispute a call, reaffirm with your opponent what they saw and accept their decision. Remember... Good sportsmanship begins with fair play and a good attitude.
- Unsportsmanlike conduct: T2Tennis reserves the right to refuse to place a player that has a history of unsportsmanlike conduct complaints filed against him/her.
- Additional rules for juniors:
- A parent/guardian must accompany juniors to their matches.
- Clapping for a point well played by both players is allowed. Parents, please use your best judgment.
- Discrepancies concerning a call or score should be settled by the junior players. If the players can’t remember the score, they should return to the score they can both agree on and proceed from there. Juniors should be encouraged to make fair and honest line calls. If a parent clearly sees that his/her child is making bad line calls in their own favor, the parent is permitted to remind his/her junior about how to make good calls. If any part of the ball touches the line, the ball is good.
- Upon agreement by both parents present at the match, a player may be defaulted for unsportsmanlike conduct on the court. Any incidents of unsportsmanlike behavior should be reported to the League office. After 2 complaints are received within a season, T2Tennis will notify the parents.
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4. Playoffs
- Playoffs are held immediately after the completion of the regular season.
- Opting-In: All teams must "opt-in" to be included in the end of season playoff (even if you win your division, you still must opt-in). Click on the link at the top of your schedule to opt-in to the playoff. You must opt-in before the end of the season. Teams that have added a replacement player and don’t qualify to win the division, will not qualify to opt-in to the playoffs. Please be aware that travel distances to playoff matches can be considerably farther than regular season matches.
- Criteria to qualify for playoffs:
- You must "Opt-In" for the playoffs.
- Division Winners: All division winners will automatically qualify, if they opt-in. Exception: too many forfeits or "not played" matches. (see below).
- Points: Teams must have a minimum of 9 points to qualify for the playoff draw. Depending on how many division winning teams opt-in, 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th place teams may qualify as well.
- Forfeits: Teams with more than 1 loss by forfeit or 1 "score not reported" in a season will not qualify for the playoffs (retired matches do not count).
- Teams will be seeded based on Division Winners, then number of points and finally game winning %.
- At the conclusion of the season, an e-mail will be sent to each team that chose to participate in the playoffs letting them know if they made the playoffs.
- Accessing your playoff schedule: If your team made the playoffs, you will see a new Playoff match at the bottom of your schedule (under week 5). The highest seeded team will be the home team. Make sure you play and enter your score by midnight of the "play by" date.
- Scheduling a playoff round: Each team must offer 3 options to play each playoff round, or agree to a date offered by the opponents - the same rules apply as in the regular season, HOWEVER during the playoffs the "play-by" date can be used as one of your three offered days to play the playoff round. Due to limited days to play each round, weekend dates are valid to offer in all leagues.
- Solving scheduling issues: If a team cannot offer 3 dates to play the playoff round and cannot agree to any of the 3 dates offered by the opponents, the team forfeits the match. A team that has not offered 3 dates to play cannot force the playoff match to be played at the default time. If neither team has offered 3 dates to play the match and cannot agree to a date to play, the match is scheduled at the default time.
- After entering a winning match, your next playoff match will appear on your schedule AS SOON AS YOUR OPPONENT IS DETERMINED. If it is not shown initially, please check back frequently to see if your next match has been determined.
- Play by dates and default times for each round are found in the e-mail sent to the participating teams and on your schedules.
- Default times for the "Play By" date are:
- Weekday Women: 11 am
- Business Women, Men and Mixed Doubles: 7 pm
- The entire playoff bracket for your league and level can be accessed by clicking on the city playoff link at the top of your
schedule (after the playoffs begin).
- First Time Teams: Teams playing their first season with T2Tennis that have a game winning percentage of 75% or more will not be allowed to participate in the playoffs. Sandbagging will not be allowed.
- Teams that reach city finals and forfeit the match may be suspended from participating in future seasons.
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5. Weather
- Inclement Weather: In the event of rain, the home team must contact the opponent as soon as it is apparent that the match will not be played at the scheduled time. The home team should never assume the opponent knows it is wet at your courts and the visiting team should never assume that a match is called due to weather at opponent’s courts. Always contact your opponent when the weather is questionable. If Team A shows up at the courts to play at the scheduled match time/day, and Team B does not show because they assume the match is unplayable due to weather (without making contact with Team A), Team A may take the win by forfeit.
- Rescheduling due to weather: If weather dictates that you reschedule your match, you should do so before the "Play By" date in case of rain on that day. If the teams cannot agree to reschedule before the "play by" date, then the match is rescheduled at the default time.
- If players have assembled to play and the match is delayed or interrupted by rain or wet courts, players should be prepared to wait a ½ hour to determine if the court is playable. If after ½ hour, or if forecasts indicate that a long delay is inevitable, players are free to leave and reschedule. If the match had begun, players should resume the match at the exact game and point as they stood when halted.
- If the temperature is above 98 degrees or below 32 degrees (Fahrenheit) before the match is started, it is the option of the players to reschedule the match. Do not force an opponent to play in temperatures that can pose a health risk.
- Inclement Weather on the LAST "Play by" date of the season: For matches scheduled on the LAST "play by" date of the season and rained out (no late passes allowed), we will post a message on the "My Leagues" page that day with instructions on how to proceed. Teams that have a match scheduled on the LAST "Play by" date of the season will run the risk of not playing the match if there is inclement weather.
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6. Scoring
- All matches are best 2 of 3 sets.
- A set is completed when one player wins 6 games by a margin of 2 games. If the set score reaches 6-6, a 7-point tiebreaker (first to 7 by 2 - see below) is played to determine the winner of that set.
- Adults: IF ALL PLAYERS AGREE BEFORE THE MATCH BEGINS, you may play a tiebreaker in lieu of a 3rd set. In this case, record the 3rd set score as 7-6.
Juniors: The 3rd set will be a 7-point tiebreaker (see below for details). Record the 3rd set score as the actual score of the tiebreaker, i.e. 7-3.
If all players agree before the match begins, a 7-point tiebreaker may be played in lieu of the 2nd set (record a 7-6 score for the 2nd set if you play the 2nd set as a tiebreaker).
- Reporting scores: Scores for all matches (including "Forfeits" and "Retired" matches) must be reported by the winning team/player by midnight of the "Play By" date. Record the actual set scores. Tiebreakers are recorded as 7-6 (except for Juniors playing a 3rd set - see above). If the score is not reported, the match will be shown as "not played" and each team will receive 0 points. A score may be recorded after the play-by date by using a "Late Pass" (see "Late Score Pass" under "Matches").
A "Won by Forfeit" is reported when the opponent(s) is not available to play the match or does not respond to the opponent’s emails and phone calls.
A "Retired" win is reported by the winning team when a match cannot continue due to injury, illness, personal reasons or disagreement. To record a Retired match, enter the score of games/sets played and check the "Retired" box.
- Points Awarded: The winner of a match receives 3 points - one point for each set and a bonus point for winning the match (this includes wins by forfeit or retirement). If the losing team/player won a set, one point is awarded. If they did not win any sets, no points are awarded.
- If the score is not reported, the match will be shown as "not played" and each team will receive 0 points. A score may be recorded after the play-by date by using a "Late Pass" (see "Late Score Pass" under "Matches").
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7. 7-Point Tiebreaker Rules
- The first team/player to win seven points shall win the game and the set provided the lead is at least two points. If the score reaches six points all, the tiebreaker shall be extended until this margin has been achieved. Numerical scoring shall be used throughout the tiebreaker.
- The player whose turn it is to serve shall be the server for the first point which is delivered from the right court (deuce court). His opponent shall be the server for the second and third points to be delivered from the left (ad) court, the right (deuce) court, and thereafter each player shall serve alternately for two consecutive points (left court, right court) until the winner of the game and set has been decided.
- Players shall change ends after every six points and at the conclusion of the tiebreaker. Note that after any change of ends the server will be serving his second serving point.
- Doubles Matches Serving Order: The player whose turn it is to serve shall be the Server for the first point. Thereafter each player shall serve in rotation for two points, in the same order previously in that set, until the winners of the game and set have been decided.
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8. Injury/Replacement Players/Withdrawal
- Substitute Players: Substitutes are not allowed. If you (or your partner, in doubles) become permanently injured and/or cannot finish the season, please email us immediately.
- Injury - Doubles: If your partner becomes injured, we will allow a one time, permanent (for the season) replacement to allow your team to complete the season (the replacement player must have/create a profile in the T2 system). The replacement player must be rated at or below the team's current T2 level of play. If any matches were played with the original partner, your team will be ineligible to win the division or opt in to the playoffs. Please email the league whenever you need to replace a player. A replacement player may not play until his/her name appears on the schedule.
- Injury - Singles: If you become injured and are unable to complete the season, please email the League Office immediately. We will attempt to replace an injured player.
- Withdrawing from Play: You must notify the League Office if you need to withdraw from play. We will give you instructions on how to proceed.
- There are NO REFUNDS or CREDITS for withdrawals after schedules are posted.
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9. Division Winners
- Division Winners are determined by the team with the most points. If there is a tie, the team with the best "game winning percentage" will be declared the division winner (we recognize all juniors tied for first place based on Points as Division Winners).
- All Division Winners will receive bag tags and car magnets. You can login anytime after the "Play By" date of the last match of the season to view the final standings.
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