Totteridge Tennis Club Tournament Rules 2026

The Over-Riding Rule: This is a club competition designed for friendly, competitive tennis to be played in the spirit of Totteridge Tennis Club.

1.   Match Times:

a) All players need to be very pro-active, and all are obliged to contact their opponents and offer a minimum of three possible times (including at least one on a weekend and one in an evening) to play the match before the round deadlines. All parties should make every effort to get the match played within the spirit of the competition. Any disputes are to be emailed to ttctournament@gmail.com at least one week before the round closing deadline.

b) If a match isn't played (without, in the opinion of the Tournament Committee,  good reason) then the Tournament Committee may restrict the number of events a member can enter the following year(s).

2.  Dates:

a) All rounds are to be completed on or before the designated date. If matches cannot be played, the Tournament Committee will decide the outcome.

b)  Where a date for a match has been agreed and confirmed in writing and one of the players cannot play on the agreed date because of injury or any other reason, that player will forfeit the match unless their opponent agrees a new date which must be on or before the designated date for that round and a court is then booked for the match on or before the designated date.

3.     Late arrivals: the match will be forfeited 20 minutes after the scheduled start time.

4.     Players must allow sufficient time for matches to be completed:  2.5 hours for both handicap and open matches should be sufficient.  Failure to complete matches may lead to forfeiture, at the Tournament Committee’s discretion.

5.     Surface and Bookings: The first named player(s) shall choose the surface and must book the court. All players can initiate contact to book matches as time is of the essence!  There are 3 options to book a court:

a)     A court can be reserved as per normal using the online court booking website: https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/TotteridgeTennisClub/Booking.

b)     If required, courts can be booked for tournament matches 16+ days in advance of them becoming available by emailing ttctournament@gmail.com with the subject heading "Tournament Court Booking Request".

c)     A court will be reserved for tournament matches (normally tiger turf court 9. First come first served. If you want to use this court, then email ttctournament@gmail.com with the subject heading "Tournament Court Booking Request".

6.     Balls and Floodlights: On the mutually agreed match date, all players are to bring sufficient floodlight tokens and new balls with costs to be split between the players/pairings on completion of the match.

7.     In the Men's and Ladies Singles Open events, for all rounds (including the final): 

a)    Matches are best of 3 sets.

b)   In all 3 sets, if a set reaches 6-6 it is to be decided by a standard 7-point tie break (even the 3rd set). 

c)   A single point deuce is to be played in all games,  receiver to nominate whether the serve is to the deuce or advantage court.

8.   In all other Open events (Men’s Open Doubles, Ladies Open Doubles, Mixed Open Doubles, Men’s 40+ singles, Ladies 40+ singles, Men’s 40+ doubles, Ladies 40+ doubles, Mixed 40+ doubles, Men’s 60+ doubles, Ladies 60+ doubles, Mixed 60+ doubles), for all rounds (including the final):

a)    Matches are best of 3 sets.

b)   In the first 2 sets, if a set reaches 6-6 it is to be decided by a standard 7-point tie break.

c)   If the sets are tied at 1-1 a championship tie break (first to 10 points and 2 points clear) to be played to determine the winner.

d)   In all open events, single point deuces – receiver(s) to nominate whether the serve is to the deuce or advantage court – to be played. In all mixed open doubles events including those with minimum age requirement, at single point deuce the server serves to the opponent of the same gender.

e)   For all age-related open events, condition for entry is to be the relevant minimum age as of 1 March 2026.

9.    In Handicap events, for all rounds (including the final):

a)   If the players have the same handicap, then it is effectively an Open match, and they shall play by the rules in Rule 8 accordingly.  If the players have different handicaps, then they shall follow these Handicap rules.

b)   Matches are best of 3 sets.

c)   In the first 2 sets, if a set reaches 6-6 a ‘handicap tie-break’ is played. A “one game tie breaker” is played to give a 7-6 set result.  This is also a “short deuce” game.  Whoever’s turn it is to serve should serve all the one game tie-break and should use the same game handicap they used when serving previously in that set. 

d)   If the sets are tied at 1-1 a “one game tie breaker” is played to determine the winner.  This is also a “short deuce” game.  Whoever’s turn it is to serve should serve all the one game tie-break and should use the same game handicap they used when serving previously in that set. 

e).   In all handicap events, single point deuces – receiver(s) to nominate whether the serve is to the deuce or advantage court – to be played. In the mixed doubles handicap event at single point deuce the server serves to the opponent of the same gender.

10.  The winners of each match must enter the results on the club tournament website www.clubmanager365.com/Club/Tournament.aspx. Hopefully everyone entering has working sign-ins to the website. For anyone without, or still struggling with signing in, please speak to the Club Manager, Richard Carlowe, to get some assistance on logging-in. As a last resort you could send your result to ttctournament@gmail.com within 48 hours of the game having been played. The results must be published before the deadline for the next round.

11.  Any disputes whatsoever are to be emailed to ttctournament@gmail.com. The Tournament Committee’s decisions are final.

12.  All finals will be played on Finals Day. For 2026 it is planned to be Sunday 20  September 2026. Any injuries or absences will result in your defeated opponents from the semi-final replacing you. If your defeated opponents from the semi-final are unable to replace you then there won't be a final and the other finalists will be declared the winner.

13.  Once individual handicaps are published you will have five (5) days to appeal to the tournament committee at ttctournament@gmail.com only should you have reasonable grounds to challenge the handicap awarded as being unfair.

Handicaps

-15: start on -15 in each game

-30: start on -30 in each game

-40: start on -40 in each game

+15: start on +15 in each game

Each game must be started from the appropriate court, so that service at deuce is from the right court as usual. If both sides have an “owe” or both sides have a “receive” handicap, the handicaps should be netted off, e.g. -30 v -15 is netted to -15 v 0. However, plus and minus handicaps are NOT netted, e.g. +30 v -15 remains. 

If you have any queries on how a game should be scored, please email ttctournament@gmail.com at least two days before the game is due to be played.