Overview:

The annual Nailsea Lawn Tennis club Tournament is open to all members of the club. Tournament matches begin in May. Finals matches will be played over a weekend in mid-September.

Tournament Organisation:

The tournament is managed by the Tournament Organiser / Tournament committee. The tournament organiser is also the referee for the tournament.

All enquiries about the tournament, should be directed to the Tournament organiser / tournament committee.

The decisions of the Tournament Organiser / Tournament committee are final.

Tournament Entry:

The tournament and the date for the finals weekend will be announced by the Tournament Organiser by 31st January.

Entry sheets will be put up in the clubhouse and players must register their entry for the club tournaments for which they are eligible, by the ‘entry close date’ Normally by the end of May.

A communication will go out to all members announcing the entry open and close dates, together with dates for when first matches are to be completed.

There is usually a small fee for entry into each event and this will be required to be paid at the time of entry. This fee is to cover the costs of the tournament such as trophies, balls, barbecue charcoal etc.

Etiquette:

We expect all players to follow the clubs Court Etiquette which can be found on the club website in the club handbook and the handbook section within the membership tab.

Organising matches and play by dates:

Tournament matches should be played by the stated ‘play by date’ which can be found on the tournament draw sheet both on the website and the club noticeboard.

Players may be defaulted if matches are not played by the ‘play by date’

It is the responsibility of all players to make contact with their opponents and arrange their matches by the ‘play by date’. We suggest setting up a smally WhatsApp group for doubles matches.

A court must be booked for your arranged matches via the online booking system on the website.

If any player has a concern about completing a match by the ‘play by date’ they should notify the Tournament Organiser / Committee at the earliest opportunity.

Only with the agreement of the Tournament Organiser/Committee will an extension of the ‘play by date’ for a match by granted.

An extension to a ‘play by date’ is subject to the Tournament Organiser/Committee deeming that:

There is no material impact on the ability to complete future matches

Sufficient effort has been made to play the match by the ‘play by date’ and there is a legitimate reason why this has not been possible

The opponent who did not request a ‘play by date’ extension, is available to play the match within the extension period and this has been confirmed.

If a player becomes injured or unable to play an arranged match, the match may be rescheduled subject to the conditions above. A player must advise an opponent in good time of their request to reschedule an arranged match.

Adult Match Rules:

Standard LTA rules of tennis apply.

It is the players shared responsibility to source and agree the balls to be used.

Matches will be the best of 3 sets with a tiebreak at 6-6 in all 3 sets.

Junior Match Rules:

Red ball (8 and under) – Match tiebreak to 10 points, with 2 clear

Orange ball (9 and under) – Best of 3 sets – Tiebreak sets to 7 points, with 2 clear

Green ball (10 and under) – Fast 4, best of 3 sets – Set 1 & 2 first to 4 games. Tiebreak at 3-3 to 7 points with 2 clear. Set 3  - Tiebreak to 10 points with 2 clear.

Yellow ball (11 and under) – Fast 4 as above.

12 and under onwards – Best of 3 sets – Sets 1& 2 full sets with a tiebreak at 6-6. Set 3 match tiebreak to 10 points with 2 clear.

In the event of bad weather and the courts are unfit for play, the match will only start or continue with the consent of both players. When a match has to be abandoned and rescheduled the previous score remains and the match will continue from the position it was left.

If a player becomes injured or is unable to complete a match after it has started, they will forfeit the match. Players are allowed to suspend play for treatment of injury or illness for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Match results

It is the responsibility of the winner of each match to immediately update their result on the tournament draw sheet on the club noticeboard. Please ensure you:

Write your name in the space provided for the winner of your match

Write the score from your match between the two names of the players

The draw sheets will be updated on the website following completion of each ‘play by date’

Finals Weekend

All finals will be played on ‘Finals Weekend’.

A match schedule will be published by the Tournament Organiser/Committee once all finalists are known and ahead of finals weekend.

Depending on the number of tournament finals to be played, matches could be scheduled on either the Saturday or Sunday of Finals weekend.

The Tournament Organiser/Committee will endeavour to schedule matches between 2pm & 6pm, however players should ensure they are available on both days 9am – 6pm to account for a large number of matches or weather conditions. It is not possible to cater for individual requests about match scheduling over finals weekend.

The Tournament Organiser/Committee will only consider re-scheduling matches on finals weekend due to:

Bad weather, or

Exceptional circumstances of individual players.

Exceptional circumstances DO NOT include inability to play due to:

Injury

Holiday

Work

Social commitments

The Tournament Organiser / Committee will make the final decision

Rescheduled finals weekend matches will usually take place on the weekend after finals weekend.