Rules

Philadelphia Area Junior Team Tennis League Rules Winter 2023-2024

Dates, Time, Location

    1. Matches will take place on Saturday late afternoons or evenings.
    2. Coach/Captain’s are responsible for securing 2 courts for their match for 2 hours.
    3. Home teams are responsible for providing new balls for the match. Each match should require 2 cans of balls.
    4. Matches should be played at their scheduled time unless weather interferes, no matter how many players a team has. If a team doesn’t have enough players to play the match, the coach/captain can request from their opposing coach/captain to reschedule the match for another time. However, both coach/captains must agree. If the opposing captain says they cannot do this, then the match goes on as scheduled with the remaining players.
      1. Example: John is Team A’s Coach, and Joe is Team B’s coach. John only has 1 boy and 2 girls to play against Team B, who has 3 boys and 3 girls to play, so he requests to reschedule the match. Joe’s players are not available at any other time, and cannot due so. Therefore, Team A plays Team B with 1 boy and 2 girls, defaulting 1 court (boys doubles).
  • Court Time, Costs, Warmups and Lateness
      1. Since we are indoors and costs are higher than outdoors, each team is responsible for paying a match fee of $102 that is payable to the host club. This is $204 total for 2 courts for 2 hours.
      2. NOTE to Host Clubs: This is a rate of $51/court-hour, which hopefully will be alright for this league.   For 6 players to play, it would be $17/player.
      3. In the case of defaults, since both teams are paying the $102, both teams should still get equal amount of court time.
      4. Home coach should notify the away coach that if paying by a check, if check needs to be made out to the club or the coach.
      5. Warmup time should be no more than 5 minutes and should start on the hour.       It is up to the home coaches and representative to tell players to stop warmup and start play.
      6. If a player is late, his warmup time will be taken away. The match should still be played though. If a player isn’t there after 15 minutes, the late player will lose the toss and 3 games for every 15 minutes. If he or she doesn’t show up at all, it will be a full default.
      7. Players should be limited to no more than 5 minutes on bathroom breaks
      8. Away teams should let home teams know at least 48 hours beforehand if they do not have enough players and have to default a court.  If it’s under 48 hours, they MUST pay the full $102 from their team.

Formats

    1. Each match consists of 2 doubles matches and 2 singles matches.
    2. For 18u, the first hour of court time will be girls doubles and boys doubles. And the second hour will be girls singles and boys singles.
    3. For the 10u, 12u and 14u, they will play 2 doubles matches and 2 singles matches regardless of gender.  The doubles is recommended to go on first followed by singles.  However, if a team only has 3 players, they can play a singles and a doubles followed by another singles and doubles with everybody from that team playing twice in order to get in the whole match.  Teams are required to put together their lineup in order of strength (higher level players play at 1st singles/doubles and lower at 2nd singles/doubles).
    4. They are on the court for the entire hour and are to play either a 8-game pro set or to whatever the score is at the end of the hour. If they finish a 8-game pro set before the hour, then can keep playing but those games will not count for the total score.
    5. All matches will be No-Ad scoring to utilize time constraints.
    6. Traditional 12 point tie-breakers are to be played at 7-7.  These are first to win 7 points, but must win by 2.
  • Scoring, Standings, and Players
    1. The team that wins the most games in all divisions win the match.
    2. If the score is tied at the end, then the result is a tie.
    3. Standings are based on games won. If there is a tie at the end of the season, the team with the best win-loss record, wins the league.
    4. Every player should be registered on TennisLink in order to play. If a player is not registered on TennisLink, the player’s coach has until the Wednesday after the match happens at 11:59pm to register the player. If that time has passed and the player has still not registered, the opposing coach should put the score for the player as a defaulted loss.
    5. 12u, 14u and 18u division winners in the win the right to advance to the Philadelphia District Championships.  To play in these, each team must pay a team registration fee and have at least 3 boys and 3 girls that have played in at least 2 team matches during the season.  Only those players will be eligible to play.  If the league winner does not meet this requirement, the next team in the standings that meet the requirement will be chosen instead.
    6. Home teams are responsible for reporting scores through TennisLink, although away teams also have this ability to do so if they choose.
    7. All matches scores MUST be entered by the Friday at 11:59pm after the match has been scheduled to enter the score.   Otherwise, the score can be entered as a double default by the league coordinator. The only exceptions would be:
      1. If a match has not been played due to weather or other circumstances. However, it’s one of the coaches responsibility to notify the league coordinator that the match has been rescheduled. Otherwise, it will be a double-default.
      2. If the home team has the scorecard and the away team does not have the scores or opposing players, then the away team must let the league manager know. In this case, it will be a defaulted match for the away team.
    1. Each coach/captain should bring a scorecard for the match.

 

  • Communication and Weather
      1. In the event of inclement weather, the home team coach/captain is responsible for making the decision on a match. Matches due to weather should be called no EARLIER than 3 hours beforehand.       Matches should be made up by the end of the season.
      2. Coach/Captains should communicate with their opposing coach/captain at least 48 hours before the match to coordinate details such as directions, number of players, etc.
  • Player Eligibility
    1. Players in the 18 and under division must have a World Tennis Rating of 22 or higher.
    2. Players in the 12 and under and 14 and under divisions must have a World Tennis Rating of 25 or higher
    3. Players in the 10 and under division are not subject to ratings and therefore players of all abilities are eligible for this division.
    4. Players can play on two different teams in different divisions and/or flights, but a maximum of 5 players may be shared between teams. For example if Club A has an 18 and under Intermediate team in the Saturday division and an 18 and under Intermediate team in the Wednesday division, then no more than 5 players may be shared between these teams. Please note that players may not be shared amongst teams in the same flight.

 

  • Coaching Responsibilities
      1. Coaching can be done at every changeover by assigned coaches only, and should be no longer than 60 seconds. No other coaching may be done during the match. Cheering is allowed by coaches, but please keep it limited to just that.
      2. Only the assigned coach there may coach during the match.
      3. Coaches are in charge of their team and their team number. Players can always be moved from team to team. However, if a player registers and then it turns out that the player is not able to play after the fact, refunds from the league and organization will NOT be granted.
      4. The person at the match representing your team is in charge of your team and the lineup.       If last minutes changes need to be made, it is up to this person to make the decision.
      5. Coaches are to stand and watch outside of the court of play during a match. The only exception would be if it’s not possible to view the match in attempts to coach at changeovers OR if a match needs help with scoring or calling lines. This may only be done with the approval of the other coach or person in charge of that team.
  • Player/Parent Guidelines and Responsibilities
      1. Parents should do all viewing outside the court of play, preferably outside the fence.       No parents are permitted to sit on benches or seats on the court or inside a fenced-in area. The only exception would be with help of scoring in matches with beginner players.
      2. Cheering is acceptable in between points. Please do not cheer during points and do so in a positive manner. Cheer “Coaching” is not permitted.”
      3. Players may sit on court, but may be requested to be removed if they causes a distraction for matches.
  • OTHER
    1. All teams must have at least 3 players registered on the team by the team registration deadline. If they do not have at least these registered, they will not be accepted into the league.
    2. All other guidelines will be put forth by the USTA Middle States Section.  Each team should get a regulations book.  He or she and the Area League Coordinator will be the final decision maker on all other issues.
    3. A Coaches and/or clubs total number of teams will be assessed for eligibility for their next WINTER season based on a percentage of their total defaulted individual matches divided by total individual matches. Coaches should keep these in mind when registering teams and players:
      1. If they have a 25% or more default percentage, they must have 4 players registered by the team registration
      2. If they have a 40% or more default, they must have 5 players registered by the team registration deadline.