Tennis Ladders

SUN-N-FUN TENNIS LADDERS

The Wednesday tennis ladder runs from January through March.

The Thursday tennis ladder starts in November and ends in March.


All of us have limitations in tennis and sometimes the Ladder is very frustrating at all levels. There is a lot of movement especially in the months of December through March. Anytime a player is inserted it affects all players in the groups below. Some weeks you may go up due to players dropping out for various reasons and other times you will go down because several players have been inserted above you. It appears most of the insertions during the season are in the upper and middle groups and the lower groups keep getting pushed down. Try and have fun and once you are in an area, your goal should be to try and move yourself ahead of other players you generally play with and not concentrate on the group letter you are in.


“Ladder” Purposes:
● Fun: Group players by skill level laddering them up or down a rung each week based on performance.

● Learning: Play by USTA rules.


Prerequisites: Except for substitutes, ladder players must be SNF residents or guests who will participate for four or more weeks and pay $5.00 Club dues; they must know most of the rules including how to score; they must be familiar with “The Code” (of tennis etiquette), and they must be able to serve and sustain a rally. The ladder is not a proper place to learn how to play.


Wednesday Ladder Director and Contact Information:
Bonnie DeSiro at 941-342-4565


Thursday Ladder Director and Contact Information:
Mark Eshleman, 717-476-7843, eshmaba@embarqmail.com


Definitions:

● Coman tiebreaker: First team to win at least seven points and lead by two points wins. First team serves for one point starting in the deuce court. Then each team gets to serve for two points starting in the ad court. [Note each person will serve on the same end of the court they were serving on during the eight games.] After one, five, nine, thirteen, etc. points, teams change ends.

● “Groups” : The four person letter-designated groupings; not a rating number. Example, it’s Bill, John, Joe, and Joyce; not 3.5.

● Theoretical Groups/Score sheet: This is the next week’s ladder groups and scoresheet if there are no insertions or deletions.

● Theoretical Group you left: The “theoretical group you left” is the last three people you were grouped with in the theoretical grouping the week after you last played.

● Mini set: Eight, no-ad games and one 7-point Coman tiebreaker. Each game earns the winning team a point and the tiebreaker earns the winning team a point.

● No-ad scoring: Points are called 1, 2, 3, and game. The first team to win four points wins the game. If a game score is tied at three to three, the receiving team gets to select who receives the serve.

● Notification deadline: 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday for the following Tuesday ladder.

● No Show: A person who doesn’t show up for their match and didn’t get a substitute player to fill in for them.


Director’s Responsibilities:

1. Collect scores: Collect scores and publish scores and theoretical groups on the snftennnis.com website and notice boards or E-mail as soon as convenient.

2. Set Groupings and Assign Courts and Times: After Friday at 5 p.m., assign players into groupings of four people each based roughly on skill level. By Monday morning, communicate the groupings, play times, and court assignments by posting them on the SNFTennis.com website and tennis notice boards or E-mail.

3. Establish the groupings for the next week based on the following:

● Highest score moves up a group and lowest score moves down a group.

● If two players in a group report identical high scores, move the player with the higher position up.

● If two players in a group report identical low scores, move the player with the lower position down.


The first ladder of each season is the base ladder and will be set using the theoretical season-ending ladder. Players not listed in the season-ending ladder will be inserted based on their last theoretical play.