From Autumn & Winter 2023/24 we revived the club's Singles Ladder. 

The 23/24 grand final was between Rob and Chris on Friday 26th April, with Rob prevailing.

The ladder now continues in the usual way through 2024-25.

The initial group of members were placed on the "Ladder", in a random order drawn by Fatima and David on Sunday 17th. September. 

All members must be prepared to play regularly and ideally at least once every 2 weeks or lose their position.

General rules for challenges & playing matches

Any current ladder player may challenge any other player up to 4 places above. 

The challenge must be accepted and the match played within 2 weeks, or the challenger will be deemed the winner and the challenge expunged.

The winner of each match will swop places with the loser, if the loser was higher on the ladder. If not, the players remain in their same positions. 

At any time, players can have only one live challenge match in progress.

No-one can challenge the same player more than twice within any 4 week period. 

Matches will be one long set only, first to 8 games by 2 clear games, with a tie-break at 8-8 if required.  (So someone could win 9-7 without going to a tie-break).

New entrants that want to join after the initial launch can “challenge in” at up to 4 places from the bottom of the ladder but need to notify David in advance. 

Special rules came into force for the last two weeks of the current competition.

From close of play on 17th March 2024, the four players on the top 4 rungs of the ladder were not able to challenge each other, but were obliged to accept one last challenge from eligible players (those within 4 places) who were outside of the top four. Challenging up to four places above rule still applied.  If the challenger won, they would take the place in the top 4 - however the loser could then challenge them back within 7 days to try and regain their place .

By April 7th., the top 4 players were decided.  Number 1 (David)  played Number 4 (Rob), and Number 2 (Chris) played Number 3 (Adrian) in the two-semi-finals in early April.  The two semi-final winners (Rob & Chris) met in a grand final on 26th April.  Rob was the ladder champion for 2024. 

The ladder will now continue to roll on throughout the year, with the aim being for a champion to be crowned on the 1st May every subsequent year. 

The ladder board is displayed in the hut and it is the responsibility of the challenge winner to update any positional changes as soon as the match is completed. It would help if the winner could also take a photo of the board after the update and share via the WhatsApp group (or email). In that way we should have good "point in time backups" should we need them. 

At this point in time there is no requirement to record the match scores, although it would be good to share details of proposed challenges and results with other members (via email or ladder WhatsApp groups). 

Except where stated above, usual rules of tennis apply.

Any queries or disputes over the rules should be directed to the ladder organiser (David B) and his glamorous assistant (John Bright via email) , whose decisions will be final.

Matches played: