Adult Mixed Singles and Doubles Ladders
Our popular mixed ladders for adults are an easy way for new members to arrange games. They are open to players of all skill levels, from beginner to advanced. Those at the top of the ladder tend to be competitive players, while those towards the bottom are often new to the game and looking for practice and experience. The ladders are included with your membership, and you may start contacting other players to arrange matches from the beginning of June. The ladders operate through the TennisRungs application – refer to the guidelines below for detailed instructions on how to sign up.
SINGLES LADDERS
Mixed Singles – Competitive
Men and women compete against each other based on their ranking in the ladder. This ‘bump’ style ladder is geared to competitive match play, where you gradually move up the rankings by defeating players above you. It’s a great way to develop and test your match play skills. If you are looking for a challenge, this ladder is for you! Your playing ability will determine where you are initially placed in the ladder. The goal is to place players lower than their expected final position to encourage them to play matches in order to advance.
Mixed Singles – Activity
This point-based format is geared to newer members or players who are looking to set up some organized matches and find playing partners. Men and women compete together and you are ranked according to how many points you accumulate. You will be rewarded for actively seeking out matches and it can be a great way to connect with players of a similar skill level.
Format
The ladder listings display a player’s ranking, name, record, points (only for point-based ladders), streak, recent ranking movement, and challenge status. The full KTC ladder member list can be viewed within TennisRungs – this can be used as a resource for finding player’s contact information when trying to set up a match.
The recommended match format for both singles ladders is a pro-set (first to 8 games, tiebreak at 7-7). Alternate formats are acceptable, as long as both participants agree to this in advance, but a match must be completed on the same day it is started. If there is not enough time to finish before end of play (eg. Within the 1 hour court booking time-slot), the score stands at the last completed game. In order to report a score for a match, there must be an agreed-upon winner and the margin of victory must be at least 1 game. In the interest of fair play, you should attempt to finish the match if an open court is available.
After a match is complete, either player can report the score through TennisRungs (but it is generally the responsibility of the winner to report the score). Match scores can also be reported to either the Ladder Admin or to the stewards, who can then enter the result into TennisRungs.
Challenges
Mixed Singles – Competitive Ladder
To move up the ladder, challenges can be issued to the 10 active players listed immediately above you. You may also challenge players up to 25 spots below you. This is a Bump Rank type of ladder. For example, Joe is #16 and he challenged Tom who is #8. If Joe wins, he will become rank #8 and Tom will be bumped to #9. If Joe loses, both players stay where they are and their ranks remain the same. The standings will be constantly changing, so it is encouraged to try and propose, arrange, and complete matches within a short timeframe. You can propose a match with up to 3 different players at once, however; you can only be challenged from 1 player at a time (this is to help prevent outstanding challenges from accumulating against a player).
For this competitive ladder, there are certain situations where you may not be able to issue a challenge with certain players:
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If you are not at a high enough ranking to challenge them.
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If they have already been issued a challenge from another player.
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If you have already issued more than 3 challenges.
Challenges are only valid for 3 days, after which they will expire if the opponent has not chosen to accept, deny or withdraw from the challenge. As the person issuing a challenge, you may withdraw your challenge within the 3-day period. You are obligated to accept any challenge made from a player who is 10 or fewer positions below you. Ducking challenges is not permitted and participants may appeal to the Ladder Admin if they feel their request to play someone is being repeatedly ignored.
Once a challenge is accepted, the status on TennisRungs will change from Pending to Accepted with the date of expiry shown – matches must be completed with scores reported within 10 days of being accepted. The two competitors will need to contact one another to set up a date & time for their match (contact information is available through the Member List tab on TennisRungs). The standings will be constantly changing so it is recommended to try and arrange matches within a short timeframe.
A unique feature to the competitive ladder is the use of Wildcards. You gain 1 new wildcard for every 5 matches you play on the ladder. A wildcard allows you to challenge anyone that has a higher rank than you on the ladder, ignoring all ranking/standing restrictions.
Mixed Singles – Activity Ladder
For this ladder there are no restrictions on who you may challenge. Unlike the competitive ladder, each challenge does not have an expiry date and will remain open/proposed until it is accepted, denied, or withdrawn. Once a challenge is accepted, we encourage players to set up and complete the match in a timely fashion.
Players are ranked according to how many points they have accumulated:
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You receive 1 point for playing a match (win or lose).
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An additional 1 point is awarded for winning a match.
A unique feature for this ladder is the option to Propose a Match. This allows you to specify an exact day and time to play a match, and all the players on the ladder will be notified of the proposed match. If another player can paly at the day/time, they can accept the proposed match and you will be notified. Once a match has been accepted, the players should check the KTC court booking system to see if a court is still available for that date & time.
Note: Before proposing a match to the rest of the ladder, you should double check the KTC court booking system to ensure that there is an available court for that slot. This does not guarantee however that the open court booking will still be available once you find an opponent for your proposed match.
OPEN DOUBLES LADDER
This unique doubles ladder allows players to sign-up individually, not requiring a pre-set partner, and mix & match with other players on the ladder. Everyone competes with and against one another and you are ranked according to how many points you earn by playing matches and winning sets. This ladder gives you the freedom to organize a match if you already know exactly who you want to play, or if you are looking for 1-3 other players to complete a doubles match.
Format
The general format for the Open Doubles Ladder is similar to the singles ladder format above, but the recommended match format for the doubles ladder is a best 2-out-of-3 set match, with each set being up to 6 games (tie-breaker at 7-7).
Challenges
For this ladder there are no restrictions on who you may challenge. You may send out a direct challenge to 3 other players (1 partner and 2 opponents) or issue an open challenge by Proposing a Match. This feature allows you to specify an exact day and time to play a match and all the players on the ladder will be notified of the proposed match. They will be able to see how many of the spots are still available, and sign themselves up to accept a spot for the match. Once all 4 spots in a doubles match have been filled, all players involved will receive a notification and the challenge status will change from pending to accepted. Once a challenge is accepted, we encourage players to set up and complete the match in a timely fashion.
Players are ranked according to how many points they have accumulated:
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You receive 1 point for playing a match (win or lose).
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You receive 1 point for each set you win in a match.
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An additional 1 point if awarded for winning a match.
A WORD ABOUT MATCHES AND FAIR PLAY
Matches can often be close, with the final result hinging on one point, and close Singles matches often get nowhere near an 8-X score within the normal booking time. If you have started a game that is wavering between a tied score or a win, try to finish it. However, the players coming onto your court have the ultimate call as to whether they will wait for you to finish that game. Do not request to finish a tie-breaker if you are one or two points into it – they can take too long. After a close loss, you may want a re-match, but your opponent is not obligated to give you an immediate rematch – there are others to play (although two opponents can play each other as often as they wish).
RAIN-OUTS
If a match is suspended due to rain, participants can agree to award the victory to the player who was leading at the time of the stoppage or withdraw the challenge and not report a winner. If a scheduled match is cancelled outright due to rain, the challenge should be withdrawn, and no score should be reported.
BALLS
Opponents should communicate with one another on which match balls to use. When in doubt, the challenger should be prepared to supply suitable match balls.
NO-SHOWS
If one of the participants does not appear for a scheduled match, it can be recorded as a win for the participant who did show up. During the match score reporting, the match status can be changed to ‘Opponent No Show’ and a score of 8-0 should be recorded. Rankings will still change accordingly.
TEMPORARY DROP
Members can pull themselves from a ladder temporarily (due to injury, out of town/unavailable, etc.). Their ranking will be reserved and when they re-join the ladder, they will be put back at the same spot as when they left. For extended leaves/drops, rankings will not be guaranteed, and members may be dropped down in the ladder upon return.
LADDER INACTIVITY
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After 21 days of no activity – player will be dropped 5 spots
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After 42 days of no activity – player will be dropped 5 more spots
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After 63 days of no activity – player will be dropped out of the ladder
In addition to these built-in ladder features, member activity will be monitored monthly and inactive members may be removed from the ladder.