Night Tennis Competition Rules
Men’s and Mixed Grade Matches
1 Match Rules
All matches will be played according to the rules of tennis together with any guidelines applicable to procedures, etiquette etc, as endorsed by Tennis NSW (TNSW). Interpretation of the above is vested in TNSW and the Bowral Night Competition Administrators (The Administrators).
In the event any player or team is in breach of these Rules and Conditions, the breach may be drawn to the attention of the offending player/team immediately the breach is detected and acted on forthwith. If a breach related to play is only detected sometime after the breach occurs, the match shall stand up to the time of detection.
The Competition Administrators may subsequently adjudicate accordingly.
The Night competitions are doubles only events.
2. Club Memberships:

All players must be financial members of Bowral Tennis Club to be eligible to play. Any teams that have unfinancial members at the conclusion of the final round of the competition will incur a penalty deduction of 5 points per unfinancial player prior to semi- final eligibility being decided.
3. Team Entry Conditions - 4 player events:
i. Registered teams MUST consist of at least 4 (four). The first 4 members listed on the team entry will be used to grade the team into the appropriate Grade in the case where large entry numbers require multiple grades to be constructed.
ii. Entries must be received by the stipulated closing date on the website www.bowraltennis.com.au
iii. Entries for individuals and full teams should be made via the website
4. Finals Series Player eligibility and Reserves:
i. To be eligible for the finals series a player must have participated in a minimum of 30% of played rounds over the course of the preliminary rounds competition. The Xpoint software will be used to provide this report to the Competition Administrators.
ii. There is no maximum number of players that can be entered into a team however Rule 2ii needs to be met by players so large team entries should be carefully managed to ensure finals series compliance.
iii. In the normal playing of Round matches reserves can be obtained from other teams in the same grade if required.
iv. In finals series, if a reserve is required, the reserve must have competed in a minimum of 30% of the total rounds played and cannot have an iPR higher than that of the player being replaced.

5. Finals Series special conditions:
i. In the case of Semi-finals, Finals and Grand Finals, if the sets and games are equal, the team that qualified with the highest points will be declared the winner
6. Team Gradings
i. The Administrators shall decide in which Grade any team shall compete.
ii. Where multiple grades are required in a competition team gradings will be initially decided by tallying the iPR’s of all players in a team and then dividing by the number of players to obtain a ‘team average iPR’. Teams will then be allocated to grades from the highest to the lowest. (Note: iPR information provided in Point 10 of this document)
iii. The Administrators may at their discretion refuse the nomination of any players or team without an obligation to give a reason. At any stage of the competition the Grade Committee may require any player to be regarded, where in its opinion, the player was significantly under- graded due to erroneous or omitted data accompanying that player's nomination. In the case of players who become subject to this rule, the Administrators have the right to forfeit any sets won by the player where such action is deemed to be appropriate.
iv. A player once classified shall not play in a lower Grade.
v. The Administrator may at any time suspend a player from participation in Grade Matches for unsatisfactory conduct considered by it to warrant such suspension. Any charge against a player must be made in writing and forwarded to the Administrator within seven days of the match being played. The reported player shall be notified in writing of such charge within seven days of the receipt of the charge by the Administrator. The player will have the right to appear before the Administrator Committee to answer any charges and the person or a representative of a Team making the charge shall also be in attendance.
7. Entries/Fees
i. Entries can be made online at www.bowraltennis.com.au
ii. There is no cost at time of online entry.
a. Weekly Match fees are payable upon arrival at the venue in the Pro Shop.
b. Match fees shall be determined by the Administrators and revised annually.
8. Weather
i. Normal Rounds: In the case of wet weather the Administrators will make a decision as soon as practically possible and notify team Captains by SMS.
ii. Wet weather matches up to a maximum of 3 per competition shall be rescheduled to the end of scheduled draw rounds on the Xpoint system if sufficient spare weeks are available at the end of the competition. This is at the discretion of the Administrators and shall be established and teams notified at the commencement of each new competition.
iii. Semi-Finals Series/Finals/Grand Finals:
a. in the event of a total washout the higher placed team shall progress through
b. in the event that hard courts are washed out but synthetic grass courts are playable the semi-final will proceed on the synthetic grass courts. This may occur before or during the match. This decision will be made by the Administrators.

9. Facilities/Playing Attire
ii. Balls & scoresheets are provided and can be collected from the Pro Shop when paying match fees.
Playing Attire
i. All players must wear correct tennis footwear and suitable tennis clothing.
10. Court format/ Start Time / Late arrival
i. Every attempt will be made to provide 2 courts per match. If this is not possible then any spare courts must be shared equally across all matches being played
ii. Teams should have a pair ready to play and on the court by 7.30pm. At 7.40pm a team can claim a first set forfeit, at 7.55 a second set forfeit and at 8.15pm a full match forfeit. Times will be determined by the Administrator timepiece.
11. Forfeits
i. Full match forfeits will incur a 5 point deduction from a team’s total pointscore
ii. Matches cannot be forfeited prior to the time at which the courts are declared playable or unplayable for the day
iii. In the event of a team being able to field only one pair, that pair must play their sets and forfeit the remainder.

12. Injury
i. In the event of any player becoming incapacitated through injury or illness during the progress of the match, all remaining sets must be forfeited.
13 Match scoring
i. The normal tennis scoring system applies to all matches
ii. When a set reaches five (5) games all, the 12 point Tie Break system shall apply.
iii. Teams will receive 1 point for each set won and 2 bonus points for an overall win on games.
iv. Teams will receive ½ a point for all unfinished sets.
v. Washout points will be shared equally
vi. The Xpoint competition software shall be used and points are automatically allocated when results are entered into the system
10. iPR rating system
The Xpoint system uses the iPR (International Player Rating) system. The data collected is fed into the Tennis Australia data base and your rating can be used across the country when playing competitions to assess your standard for grading purposes. In simple terms the system works as follows:
• The iPR’s of you and your partner are compared to that of your opponents.
• The system then predicts a result (you can go to your comp draw screen, hover over an upcoming match and the predicted set results will appear)
• If you perform better than the prediction your rating will rise (note: thus you can lose a match and still get a rating increase if you performed better than the prediction. Conversely you can get a rating decrease if you win by less than the prediction)
• Ratings movements are weighted so that movements are small – this allows for unusual results in the case where you may be ill or just had a really bad day. It usually takes about 20 set results for most players to find their level.
• It makes no difference whether you are playing against a very strong player or a very weak player to your chances of a rating improvement. The system predicts a result that needs to be attained to hold your rating.
The iPR system has been in place for about 6 years and has around 50,000 players and growing fast in Australia. It is becoming the key grading tool in many Sydney competitions as there is no subjectiveness in the rating process; just results based data to perform the calculations much like in golf.
RULE: Foot-faults

It is desirable that players should pay special attention to the observance of the ITF Foot-fault rules, which read as follows:

Immediately before commencing to serve the Server shall stand with both feet at rest behind the baseline and within the imaginary continuation of the centre mark and side-line, Therefore, until the service has been delivered he shall:
a. Not change his position by walking or running.
b. Not contact the baseline or the court inside the baseline before the ball is struck.
A player cannot be foot-faulted by an opponent. A player may request the court Administrator to watch a player perceived to be foot-faulting. The administrator will explain the rule to the player in question and proceed to watch the player serving for 1 game duration during which the Administrator may call foot-fault(s) on the player. Every effort should be made to avoid foot-faults.

XPOINT RULES
1. INTRO
The rules set out below are specifically developed for events hosted by the Xpoint live-to-web management system. However, players are advised that individual Event Providers will have rule variations from time to time which will be displayed on the 'Event' > 'Draw' & 'Leaderboard' > 'Notification Boards' for each event.
2. SCORING
*Points/Games - normal tennis game scoring will apply except when the game score reaches deuce the Xpoint (sudden death) will apply
*Xpoint (Sudden Death) - the deciding point played at deuce or 6/9 points all in a tie-break or super tie-break. The receiver/s choose the side of the court they wish to receive the serve on the Xpoint
*Tie-Break - first to 7pts and at 6pts all the Xpoint decides the set
*Super Tie-break - first to 10pts and at 9pts all the Xpoint decides the set
*Set - consists of first team to 6 games and if required a tie-break at 5 games all
* Set (Partial) - are either a certain number of games or points
*Match - is either a full/partial/tie-break/super tie-break set or certain number of games/points or a completed format of sets
3. LEADERBOARD SCORING
*Sets - 1 point for each set won
*Team Points - 2 points for match winning team. This is determined by the team that wins the most number of (i) Rubbers (ii) Sets & (iii) Games if required
*Split Points - refer to Cancelled or Unfinished Matches. Note the Team Points must be split at the abandoned or declared match time, unless a team has secured a match winning margin
*Additional/Penalty Points - refer to your Event Providers Event > 'Notification Board' as certain events may contain these points in the scoring
*Leaderboard - team positions are determined by the number of Team Points. In the scenario teams have the same number of Team Points then positions are determined by (i) Matches percentage won/lost (ii) Sets percentage won/lost (iii) Games percentage won/lost (iv) Head to head result of last match played & then if required (v) Playing of a tie-break.
4. RULES & CONDITIONS
*Player Entry - players must enter an event via the Event Provider or a participating facility prior to the entry closing date and abide by the Event Providers 'Conditions of Entry'. Note in team events if a player can't organize a partner/s then the Event Provider and/or the Facility Manager will assist the individual player to find a partner/s.
*Event Entry Fee - refer to specific Event Providers 'Event' > 'New' - to view the displayed Entry Fee
*Xpoint Player Access Fee - All players are required to pay the Player Access Fee (annual). The Fee is displayed in New Events, My Accounts or Renewal Notifications each year. Your Player Account provides access to your My Event Providers, My Play, My Info, My Accounts and Supervisor (if required). Your 'My' sections deliver all your personal events activity content and functionality which is listed on the Player Access flyer. Upon the Player Access Fee becoming due, players will be redirected to Player Access Due page, to execute payment.
*Player National / State Registration - Event Providers determine whether players are required to be registered for their events
*Team Numbers - a team may enter all formats with up to two additional players
*Age Eligibility - will be displayed on the 'Event' > 'New' > Important Information for age related events
*Player Gradings - the IPR system will determine all player/team gradings in conjunction with the Event Provider and Facility Managers
*Inclement Weather - in the case of inclement weather a decision will be decided by the Event Provider in consultation with the Facility Managers 1.0hr prior to the scheduled starting time. Players are advised to either (i) Check www.xpointsports.com > Your Event Provider > Event > Draw (ii) Check email &/or mobile for a notification or SMS message or (iii) Call the facility where their match is drawn
*Cancelled or Abandoned Matches - if play is cancelled or abandoned due to inclement weather, then the Event Provider will either (i) Declare the match or (ii) Re-schedule the match. In either circumstance all scores must be 'Submitted' into the Xpoint system. Note in the case of a re-scheduled match the teams will continue at the abandoned score position of the match
*Unfinished Matches - if a match is not completed by the scheduled finishing time, then play may continue if both captains agree & if courts are available. Otherwise the match is declared and the unfinished set/s and winning team points will be shared between the teams unless a team has secured a match winning margin
*Re-scheduling - if matches have to be re-scheduled. Then the Event Provider will send a notification by sms &/or emailed with the re-scheduled match day/time
*Substitute Player/s Required (normal) - if a player requires a substitute, then the player must contact the Event Provider 48hrs prior to the scheduled match time requesting a substitute. A player can contact the Event Provider by either by: (i) 'Find-a-Substitute Icon' (if active) – click on and select the unavailable player and 'Send'. This triggers a notification request to players on the ‘Find-a-Sub’ list for the appropriate day/time, iPRs and CC's the Event Supervisor or (ii) 'Find-a-Substitute Icon' (not active) - then player calls or texts Event Supervisor
*Substitute Player Required (matchday) - if a player requires a substitute due to sickness or injury on matchday then they must immediately call the Event Supervisor upon knowing they are unable to compete.
*Substitute Rules - (i) Substitute player selection will be +/- 1.0 iPR rating level or as deemed by the Event Provider (ii) If the team member doesn't contact the Event Provider requesting a substitute player. Then the team will be forfeited and pending the Event Supervisors investigation the team may be penalized an additional five(5) leaderboard team points. (iv) If a player has a match 'no show' on two(2) occasions in an event, they will be removed from the event.
*Injured Player - in the case of a player becoming injured or ill during play then the following will apply: (i) The player may request a 3 minute injury time from the facility operator and if granted the player must resume play following the 3 minutes of injury time (ii) In the event of the player being unable to continue following the injury time or at another stage of an individual match then that individual match will be forfeited (iii) If a player has forfeited an individual match due to injury or illness then that player is entitled to play their remaining individual matches if they recover in time so as to not delay the remaining matches
*Forfeits - players are required to be ready for play 10 minutes prior to the scheduled match start time. If a player is not ready for play by the scheduled match start time, then they will forfeit the first individual set/match after 15 minutes and all remaining individual sets/matches after 30 minutes. Note if a player doesn't arrive for their scheduled match on two(2) occasions during the event season then the Event Provider following investigation may choose to withdraw the player &/or team from the current &/or ongoing event/s.
*Submitting Scores/Result Any player &/or Event Supervisor can 'Submit Scores/Result' either during or at the match completion. If the 'Submit Scores/Result Icon' is active players can click on:
(Step 1) Add substitute player/s (if required) by typing the player name/s in the 'Add Substitute' cell and as the correct name appears select to drop into team
(Step 2) 'Drag & Drop' or use 'Up/Down' arrows (mobiles) to position the substitute player/s in the correct team order and 'Save Teams'
(Step 3a/b) (a) 'Live Scoring' (blue link) can be utilized to record games during the set or (b) 'Submit Score' for individual sets
(Step 4) ‘Submit Result’ – select either 'Normal', 'Washout/Unfinished', 'Home Team Forfeit' or 'Away Team Forfeit' followed by entering all individual full or partial sets/games scores (if required) and 'Submit Result' before leaving the facility or within 24hrs.
Note if a match result has not be 'Submitted' within 48hrs then the team points will be split.
*Disputed Results - any player may dispute a result.
(Step 1) Select the 'Dispute Result' link on the 'Match Result Submitted' notification
(Step 2) List Event, Round, Match and disputed Players or Score/s and Send.
Upon this action the Event Provider will contact a player from both teams to verify scores. Following this action the Event Provider will either rule for the (i) Result to stand or (ii) Be adjusted and their decision is final
*Draws - the Event Provider in consultation with the facility operators will finalize event draws, and day/times of play. All relevant information will be posted on www.xpointsports.com prior to the start date
*Match Time - the match must start on time (as per displayed draw) and play will be continuous until the match is completed in the allocated time
*Player / Team Serving Order - the visiting team shall serve first in the odd numbered sets and the home team shall serve first on all even numbered sets. For all finals the team finishing lower on the ladder shall be deemed to be the away team
*Modified Servicing - first serve to be performed as per normal serving action. On the second serve a player must bounce the ball and play a forehand drive to the appropriate service box to commence a point. Note this rule will apply to the modified or lower division leagues at the discretion of the Event Provider
*Qualifying Rounds - can vary depending on number of teams and how many weeks are available therefore refer to the Event > Draw
*Finals Series Format (10) - is displayed on the event draw below the last qualifying round
*Teams Qualifying For Finals Series or Playoffs - Leaderboard positions at the end of the qualifying rounds determine the teams upcoming matches and opponent teams for Final Series
*Players Qualifying For Finals - players must play a minimum of 25% of qualifying round matches to qualify for the finals series. Note however the Event Provider under special circumstances has the right to waive this minimum for a player and their decision is final
*Balls - two or three new balls will be provided for every match. The Event Provider will either (i) Organize the supply of the balls prior to the commencement of the event to facility operators or (ii) authorize the home team to supply the balls for the matches throughout the event
*Event Reward Points Level - are displayed on the 'New' and 'Active' Events screens
*Rewards Points Allocation & Conditions - (i) Reward Points are automatically allocated by the Xpoint system as part of the 'Enter Results' process of the finals series. Refer to 'Help' for full Rewards details