Haslingfield Lawn Tennis Club – Singles Box League

Background

The Singles Box League is being organised to promote competitive singles play within the club for all standards. It is open to all members (including juniors recommended by their coach).

The competition consists of a number of mixed divisions (usually of 5 people in each division) where each person plays everyone else in their Division in a best-of-11-games singles match with the total number of games won scored to create a league table. The competition rounds will be run throughout the year on a monthly basis, with promotions and demotions as each round ends.

People wishing to join the box league should seek advice from a club coach or existing member of the league as to which would be the most appropriate division to join in. They should then go to www.haslingfieldtennisclub.org.uk/Play  and click on the link in the “Singles Box League” section.  We use the LTA’s Box League system to manage all the admin of the league.

The rules below are intended to provide some structure to the system. Most of all, have fun and enjoy playing some competitive tennis!

Rules

1. The singles box league is open to any member over the age of 16. In exceptional circumstances the administrator can approve a younger player.
2. Matches consist of 11[1] games (10 normal games and a final “11th game” tie-break to 7 points, with the tie-break counting as a single game). Each player scores the number of games won (eg. 11-0, 9-2, 6-5 etc). The final game is always a tie-break regardless of the score at the time.
3. Players must enter the score into the LTA Box League system as soon as possible once the match is completed.
4. The two players with the most games in each division at the end of a round are ‘promoted’ and the two with the least are ‘demoted’. Depending to the number of players entering and leaving the box league at each round, this will not necessarily reflect a simple change in division number; consider it as a movement relative to your opponents. If you win or lose extremely convincingly, you may be moved more than usual, at the discretion of the administrator. In the event of points being equal, the results between the relevant players will be used to determine who goes up/down.
5. If you are unable to complete a match once started, eg opponent gets injured, you may either rearrange to complete or to submit the scores as they finished. It is up to the players to decide but it must be an agreed decision. Refer to the administrator if unsure.
6. If a match cannot be arranged due to lack of availability of either party or due to cancellation, a score of zero for each player will be entered. Under no circumstances should “walkover” scores for games not actually played be written on the score sheet without such agreement.
7. If you do not play at least two matches in any one round you will be removed from the box league at the end of the round unless you contact the administrator with a satisfactory explanation before the end of the round. Players removed from the league in this manner will be forced to miss a round when they request to re-join.
8. The operation of the box league relies on goodwill of the players and respecting the final decision of the administrator. Unsportsmanlike conduct will result in a player being removed from the league.

Prizes

There are annual trophies to be won that are handed out at the AGM for results during the season. These are awarded to:

• The Singles Box League Champion (most games won in Division 1).
• The top Man and Woman (most games won regardless of division). The most points scored overall.

[1] If the players agree, more than 11 games can be played in their match, e.g. a complete set, best of three sets, etc. But only 11 games will count as their score in the league, and the players must decide in advance which 11 games these are.