The USTA League Regulations can be found on USTA.com. Southern sectional Regulations
Click on keyword "Southern" on the Home Page, and Alabama State
Regulations Click on Keyword "ATA" on the Home Page.
These National, Southern, and State Regulations have full force and
applicability at all levels of play in the USTA League Tennis Program in Mobile
and there is no authorization to modify, amplify, or change them by players,
captains or Local League Coordinators.
The Mobile Area League Tennis sets forth the following rules to apply to local team matches.
Eligibility
All team members must be a minimum of eighteen (18)years old for
Adults, 50 or 60 for Seniors and Super Seniors respectively, prior to or during the calendar year
that they compete. All players must be current (paid) members of the USTA through their local league season and must register for a team via TennisLink.
When registering, each player must pay the present local league fee plus an internet TennisLink fee per league season.
Players must have a NTRP computer rating.
New players to the system must "self-rate" when registering for a league using the NTRP Guidelines.
Team Rosters
The captains should read and be familiar with the rules and regulations of the USTA, STA, ATA, and Local League
found on each organization's website. It is the captain's
responsibility to register his/her team via TennisLink each season and
notify their players of the team number. Non-playing captains must
appoint one player to create the team and register in order to obtain a team number.
Let LLC know when you want to be a non-playing captain.
The Registration Deadline Date for submitting initial
rosters can be found in the Calendar of Events for all leagues .
The Local League Coordinator
may amend the dates as needed. A team may have no more than 16 players on a
roster for Adults and 14 for all other leagues (Senior, Mixed, Super
Senior, Southern Combo Doubles and Tri-Level). A maximum of players may
reside outside the state. The local league has the authority to
accept or deny participation. Leagues that play their local league
at the state championships may have no more than two players from
outside the state of Alabama.
If an Adult or Senior League consists of only two
teams in a level of play, each team must maintain its roster with at
least 60 percent of its players at the designated NTRP level of play.
Addition of Players to Roster
USTA Adults may have no more that 16 players
on a roster. The only exception to this regulation would be when a
player needs to be added to a higher level team after being disqualified
from his/her present team before the end of the season's local round robin
competition. Additions can be made prior to the last two scheduled
matches for the USTA Adult and Senior Leagues, and prior to the last
scheduled match for USTA Mixed Doubles, Southern Combo Doubles and Tri
Level. If any of these leagues are played as a weekend tournament, the
LLC will establish the deadline date for adding a player. The District
League Coordinators will establish a roster addition deadline for all
leagues that play their local league at the state championships. Roster
additions cannot be made for play-off purposes only.
Format of Play
Each home team shall identify and reserve it's home courts. If your facility does not have water on the courts,
the opposing team captains should be advised. The home team provides new balls for each match
which must be yellow, solidly colored and made for the appropriate court
surface. The home team will be responsible for court fees for the visiting
team, if applicable. If a match is scheduled and the home team’s courts are
not playable
one and one quarter hours prior to match time and the
home team does not have an alternate location, then the match is played at
the opposing team’s courts if their courts are playable and available.
Any team having to split their times of scheduled matches due to court availability should notify opposing
captain at least three (3) days prior to the match. Failure to do so may result in a forfeit by the home team for not having enough courts when
the opposing team arrives for the match. Players feeding in should
be present one half hour before the designated start time.
All matches will be the best of two sets, with a set tie-break
at 6-all, in the event of split sets, a match tie-break (first to 10 by 2)
shall be played in lieu of a third set with the two minute set break and no
coaching allowed. The tie-break shall be scored as 1 set 1 game for
tie-break procedures. All tiebreak will use the Coman tiebreak (
Click
for Details).
Team format
for the adult leagues shall be two individual singles and
three individual doubles matches for 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 levels.
For 2.0, 2.5 and 5.0 levels the format shall be one individual singles and two
individual doubles. The format for all other leagues (seniors, mixed,
combo, and tri-level) is three individual doubles. A team will be awarded a point for each individual
match won.
Captains should have blank score cards from TennisLink to exchange simultaneously prior to the beginning of the team
match. Match numbers are located on the schedule.
A 15-minute default rule is in effect, starting at the exact time the
match is scheduled to begin and subjects players to being defaulted.
In the event of illness, injury, disqualification, or no-show of a player prior to the start of an
individual match (once the lineup has been exchanged), a team may substitute a player in the affected position within the 15-minute default
time using a player not already listed on the lineup. If no such
substitution can be made, the affected position will be forfeited.
If a team does not have enough players to field a full lineup, the team not
having enough players will forfeit from the bottom spot of either singles or
doubles and move other players up (exception is Tri Level where defaults are
by the NTRP level).
If a team forfeits an entire team match during round robin play, the local
league coordinator may disqualify the team. A forfeit of more than two courts is considered an entire team forfeit
for the Adult League. For all other leagues that play three courts a
forfeit of two courts is considered an entire team forfeit. The local league
coordinator may dispute/correct stats and standings to reflect the proper
scoring for all other teams in the round robin when a team forfeits an
entire match. This may occur at the end of the local league season. If all
teams in contention for the championships have already played the forfeiting
team in good faith, those match results will stand as played.
One captain,
no matter which one, or team member should enter scores on TennisLink by match number at the conclusion of each match.
Confirmation must be done within 48 hours of posted scores by the opposing team’s captain or team member.
Players may participate in more than one NTRP level within a division in the same local league during the same season.
No scheduling considerations will be made. A player may play on more than one team within a division in the same season provided it is in separate
local leagues.
Levels with more than one flight in a season will have a play-off, structured and approved by the State Coordinator (within two weeks of schedule being published).
Telephones , pagers, or any other sound emitting devices are not allowed on the court. If any of these devices go off during a point,
this is considered a deliberate hindrance and the opponent may claim the
point.
Rescheduling Matches
The following weather conditions - rain, lightning, or severe temperature (below 35
degrees F or the wind chill is below 25 degrees one and one half hours prior
to match time) shall authorize the cancellation and
re-scheduling of a scheduled match. Either captain may elect to
reschedule.
In the event that rain or inclement weather forces the cancellation and re-scheduling of a team match, unrestricted substitutions
from the team roster may be made in any individual matches that have not begun. This includes moving a player from one position to another.
Completed matches will stand as played and incomplete matches must be resumed by the same players at the exact point, game, and set that
existed when play was halted.
Rescheduled matches should be completed within 12 days of the scheduled match. Notify the coordinator within 24 hours of the originally scheduled match,
giving the coordinator the rescheduled dates and times. Rainouts of the last match of the season must be rescheduled within 6 days of the original
match date. The only exception to this would be a USTA Mixed Doubles or Tri
Level League tournament. In these cases, the LLC will reschedule the
matches.
If a match is not played due to inclement weather,
the following procedures should be followed:
The home team captain should contact the opposing team captain and offer three
(3) possible days for rescheduling. These offered dates should be
within the 12-day
rescheduling timeframe. The opposing team captain should try to field a team on one of those three
offered days of play. Notification should be made to the home team
within two days of the offering. If a rescheduled date is agreed upon,
then the only reason for rescheduling on that agreed upon date would be
inclement weather.
Once a date has been agreed upon the local league
coordinator should be notified. It is the home captain's responsibility to
make court arrangements for rescheduled matches.
Rescheduling a match of a team whose players are involved in any USTA championship match on that same date
or a major school holiday may be necessary. When this occurs, the captain
of an involved team should notify their opposing captain at least 5 days
prior to the scheduled match, letting him/her know that they will not be
able to field a team for the scheduled match.
The local league coordinator may administratively reschedule a match.
USTA League State Championships
The season champion shall be the team with the greatest number of team matches won and shall represent the local league at the State Championships.
In the event of a tie, The USTA League Regulations for tie breaks will be followed. The tie shall be broken by the first of the following procedures
that does so:
Individual matches: Winner of the most individual matches in the entire competition
Sets: Loser of the fewest number of sets in the entire competition
Games: Loser of the fewest number of games in the entire competition
Head-to-Head: Winner of the head-to-head match
In order to advance out of local league to adult, senior, and mixed
doubles championships an individual player must have participated in 2
matches on that specific team with no more than one (1) default counting.
In order to advance out of local league to senior mixed, tri level and combo
doubles championships an individual must have participated in 1 match on
that specific team with one (1) default counting. Super senior and
super senior combo doubles are invitational events; therefore, no local
league play is required to advance to Alabama championships.
In any Division, a player on more than one team at the same or different NTRP levels must choose to advance on only one team when entering the
State or Sectional Division Championships. Each State or Sectional Championship in a division is considered the "same competition" if the event is
divided into more than one weekend. NOTE: Playing in two levels may generate a rating at the higher level.
Players who qualify on two teams advancing to the same NTRP national championship must declare which team they will represent.
Players on teams entered in the State Championships that withdraw after the schedule has been published will be subject to a fine of $75 per
person payable to ATA. Said players will be ineligible to compete in any USTA league until the fine is paid. An appeal may be submitted to
the State League Coordinator within two weeks after the end of the said championship. All entry fees will be forfeited.
Grievance ProceduresAny grievance must be filed in writing with the Local or State League Coordinator prior to the commencement of the next match in that flight involving the team or individual complained against, or within twenty-four hours after the end of local league play, whichever occurs first. A copy will be sent to the appropriate league Grievance Committee and to the party or parties against whom the complaint has been filed. Self-Rate Eligibility Grievances are filed with the District League Coordinator. USTA Alabama mandates that the party(ies) that file(s) the self-rate eligibility grievance complaint must provide the documentation to support their complaint at the time of their filing.
The Local League Grievance and Grievance Appeals Committee may consist of:
Carol Ann Jeffery James Giddens
Becky Lund Brian Dorgan
April Boudreaux Ken Daugherty
Kelly McGinley Barry Lund
Lisa Hansen Jim Gray
Kristen Pfeffle Ernest Ladd
Linda Smith Celso Anez
The grievance and grievance appeal committee members may be selected from the above list and may be amended by the local league
coordinator in the event conflicts exist.
It is the team captains responsibility to update changes in an email address with the local league coordinator and with USTA. Email is the primary means of
communication used by the coordinator.