Rules of Tournament

46. ELIGIBILITY:-

Tournaments shall be open to all L & W LTA Registered Members of Clubs belonging to the Association as for Rule 10.

47. MANAGEMENT:-

  1. Tournaments shall be organised by a Sub-Committee consisting of the Hon. Tournament Secretary and other members as maybe appointed by the Committee.  The Sub-Committee may at their discretion abandon any tournament for which less than 8 singles or 16 doubles players have entered.
  2. The Committee reserve the right to accept or reject any entry into the tournament.

48. ENTRANCE FEES:-

To be fixed at the Annual General Meeting, and duly submitted with the application form.

49. CLOSING DATE:-

All entry forms must be in the hands of the Hon. Tournament Secretary by the date agreed by the Committee together with the appropriate fees.

50. DRAW:-

The draw shall be arranged by the Sub-Committee as soon after the closing date as possible.  They shall then decide the date by which each round shall be completed.  No extension beyond these dates shall be allowed and both competitors in the match concerned shall be eliminated.

51. ARRANGEMENT OF MATCHES:-

  1. The Hon. Tournament Secretary shall notify all competitors of their opponent(s) in each round, stating the Home player(s) and the date by which the round shall be played.  Home players shall be required to contact their opponent(s) within three days of the date of notification, failing which the opponent(s) shall constitute themselves the Home players and arrange the match themselves within a further three days.
  2. If after six days the match has still not been arranged, and neither has withdrawn, appeal can be lodged with the Hon. Tournament Secretary within the next forty eight hours.  
  3. Home players shall provide a court and at least three new balls of current year manufacture, as approved and specified by the Leigh & Westcliff L.T.A.
  4. No match may commence before 9:00am or after 7:30pm unless mutually agreed.

52. MATCHES:-

All matches shall consist of the best of three sets.  Tie-Breaks shall operate at 6 – 6 in all sets.  In the event of a match being stopped by bad light, weather or other conditions, the score shall stand, and the match completed at the first opportunity.  

If a player or doubles pair do not arrive within 30 minutes of the agreed starting time, the match is forfeited by default.

Any player or players who are unavailable for the Final must concede at match point in the Semi-Final.  Any unavailable finalist(s) shall be replaced by the losing Semi-Finalist(s).

Competitors conceding their first match are not eligible for the Plate event

53. RESULTS:-

Winners of each round shall notify the Hon. Tournament Secretary of the result within 48 hours of the match being played.

54. FINALS :-

The Finals for the Summer Tournaments shall be held on the Sunday of the third full weekend, to be known as the L&WLTA Super Weekend, in September at a venue to be decided by the Committee.

The Finals for the Winter Tournaments shall be held during April at a venue to be decided by the Committee.

A Sub-Committee shall be responsible for the arrangements for the finals.

In the event of a match reaching one set all, a championship tie-break will operate to decide a winner.  This shall apply to all events on Summer & Winter finals days.

55. PENALTIES:-

Any competitors failing to conform to these Rules shall be disqualified.  The Sub-Committee’s decisions shall be final.

56. DISPUTES:-

  1. A report of any dispute concerning a match which cannot be mutually resolved by the players concerned shall be forwarded in writing letter/text/e-mail to the Hon. Tournament Secretary within 48 hours.
  2. Such disputes shall be decided by the Hon. Tournament Secretary and any two representatives of disinterested clubs. These two representatives are to be appointed at the discretion of the Hon. Tournament Secretary.  The decision of this Sub-Committee communicated in writing letter/text/e-mail is final.