/ Microsoft
Rules of Sufika tennis club
1 (14)
29 October, 2014
Rules of Sufika Tennis Club
/ Microsoft
Rules of Sufika tennis club
2 (14)
29 October, 2014
Table of contents
1.
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................................... 4
2.
COMMUNICATION - WEB AND EMAIL ..................................................................................................................... 4
3.
WEEKLY TENNIS SESSIONS, INDOOR (WINTER) SEASON ................................................................................. 4
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
THE WEEKLY TENNIS SESSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 4
HOW THE TENNIS SESSIONS ARE SHARED?..................................................................................................................... 5
DISTRIBUTING THE TENNIS SESSION LISTS ..................................................................................................................... 5
INFORMING YOUR OBSTACLE INFORMATION ................................................................................................................. 5
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ASSIGNED TENNIS SESSIONS ......................................................................................................... 6
CHECKING THE AVAILABILITY OF YOUR OPPONENT ...................................................................................................... 6
ONE PLAYER UNABLE TO PLAY - SELLING HALF SESSIONS ........................................................................................... 6
BOTH PLAYERS UNABLE TO PLAY - SELLING FULL SESSIONS ....................................................................................... 7
ADDITIONAL CLARIFICATION ON PAY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SESSIONS .................................................................... 7
MATCH REPORTING ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
INVOICING..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
APPEAL PERIOD ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
PENALTIES AND COMPENSATIONS AFTER NO-SHOW ...................................................................................................... 8
PENALTIES AND COMPENSATIONS AFTER LATE CANCELLATION .................................................................................... 9
TENNIS SESSIONS CANCELLED BY THE TENNIS HALLS ................................................................................................... 9
SOME EXAMPLES OF APPLIANCE OF SUFIKA RULES ..................................................................................................... 9
4.
WEEKLY TENNIS SESSIONS, OUTDOOR (SUMMER) SEASON .......................................................................... 11
5.
RANKING ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
PURPOSE OF THE RANKING LIST .................................................................................................................................. 11
INTRODUCTION OF THE SUFIKA RANKING SYSTEM .................................................................................................... 11
SUFIKA RANKING RULES ........................................................................................................................................... 11
PLAYERS WITH NO ACTIVE RANKING ........................................................................................................................... 13
6.
ACTIVITY COMPETITION .......................................................................................................................................... 13
7.
THE OFFICIAL RULES AND CODE OF TENNIS ..................................................................................................... 13
Revision history:
Date
What was updated
Who updated
8.12.1999
14.12.1999
17.12.1999
11.04.2000
Translation from Finnish to English
Some corrections mainly to English language
Finishing – to be published to members
Ranking rules slightly modified + small editorial
corrections
Administrators changed
Chapter 3 updated
Chapter 17 added
Administrators updated.
Lot's of outdated information removed or updated.
Information about www-pages added.
Administrator list updated
Ranking rules (chapter 12) updated
Alignment with information in www.sufika.com
Updating the rules
Whole document restructured & updates in all chapters.
New activity competition rules added.
Chapters 3.10 & 3.11 updated
Chapter 3.5 updated
Chapters 3.10 & 3.11 updated
Spelling&Grammar check
Small corrections to chapter 6 & 3.4
Updates to activity competition rules (chapter 6)
Updates into ranking rules (chapter 5.3).
Chapters 3.13 + 3.14 - noshow/late cancellations - updated
Mail reflector address corrected.
Tali bubble sessions changed to be in the hall
New Tuesday evening sessions in Tali (starting 4.3.2003)
added
Update of sessions, late cancellation time change (chapter
3.14)
Tennis sessions during outdoor season (chapter 4)
New Meilahti tennis sessions added, and Friday morning
session in Esport removed.
Two first Saturday morning sessions in Tali and the last
Friday evening session in Meilahti removed
Session 16 changed
Distribution lists removed.
Three tennis sessions removed. Session numbering
updated into chronological order.
Added the penalty 5EUR for missing/delayed bills.
Removed 9 sessions
Removed 13 sessions + editorial updates
Monday session selling guidance added (chapter 3.9)
Earlier chapters 3.8-3.11 modified in accordance with the
new reporting and billing system introduced and sanctions
defined for delayed payments. Chapter 3.10 added. A few
minor edits on top of these.
MM Pitkänen
Jukka Vialen
MM Pitkänen
Jukka Vialén
21.04.2001
8.10.2001
10.12.2001
11.4.02
25.7.2002
31.7.2002
31.7.2002
5.8.2002
6.8.2002
7.8.2002
9.8.2002
4.11.2002
13.12.2002
8.1.2003
17.2.2003
23.10.2005
30.8.2007
15.Nov.2008
14.Jun.2009
03.Aug.2009
17.May.2010
19.Jun.2010
19.Nov.2010
21.Jun.2011
20.Jun.2012
1.Mar.2013
29.10.2014
Jukka Vialén
Jukka Vialén
JVi
JVi
Tko
JVi
SMa (+JVi)
MeMa
JVi+TVi
JVi
JVi+SMa
JVi
JVi
TKo
JVi
TKo
TKo
MM Pitkänen
S Kallio
S Kallio
MM Pitkänen
S Kallio
MM Pitkänen
S Kallio
S Kallio
S Kallio
T Larmia
1.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to describe the operational rules of SUFIKA tennis club.
The 'official' rules (e.g. basic information about annual meetings, board duties, etc…) that are required for each
Nokia's hobby club are described in a separate document (in Finnish) which is available on request from the
club's contact persons.
If you cannot find information that you are searching for from this document, please see www.sufika.com.
There you can find at least the club's contact persons to whom you can direct your question(s) if needed.
2.
COMMUNICATION - WEB AND EMAIL
All relevant information is stored in SUFIKA's www-pages (www.sufika.com), which are accessible from
anywhere. In addition to being storage for up-to-date information of club activities, the www-pages are used
for reporting match results and sold sessions as well as for updating obstacle and contact info. For match
result and session sale reporting and for some sensitive data, each SUFIKA member has a user-id and
password.
By using Sufika’s own email-distribution list, club@sufika.com, you reach all club members.
3.
WEEKLY TENNIS SESSIONS, INDOOR (WINTER) SEASON
3.1
Introduction
Sufika has 20 regular weekly sessions during the winter time (Mid August – May) in tennis halls in Helsinki
and Espoo. This chapter describes the basic rules how these sessions are shared, used, reported and invoiced.
3.2
The weekly tennis sessions
The indoor tennis sessions are numbered 01…20:
01 Monday 1730 Tali
02 Monday 1730 Tali
03 Monday 1830 Tali
04 Monday 1830 Tali
05 Monday 1930 Tali
06 Monday 2000 Meilahti
07 Tuesday 1700 Tapiolan Tennispuisto
08 Tuesday 1700 Esport Center
09 Tuesday 1800 Esport Center
10 Wednesday 1630 Tali
11 Wednesday 1630 Tali
12 Wednesday 1730 Tali
13 Wednesday 1730 Tali
14 Wednesday 1900 Meilahti
15 Thursday 1700 Esport Center
16 Thursday 2000 Esport Center
17 Friday 1800 Tali
18 Saturday 1400 Esport Center
19 Sunday 1700 Tali
20 Sunday 1800 Tali
Court 2
Court 1
Court 1
Court 2
Court 2
Court 8
Court 7
Court 2
Court 1
Court 9
Court 10
Court 10
Court 9
Court 7
Court 3
Court 7
Court 18
Court 3
Court 5
Court 5
3.3
How the tennis sessions are shared?
The tennis sessions are shared (by lottery) normally for a period of four weeks. Main input parameters for
this lottery are the obstacle information of each player and SUFIKA ranking list. Two players are assigned
for each session. The target is that the players assigned for each session would be roughly at the same
playing level. The maximum difference in (Sufika) ranking of the assigned players depends on the ranking
positions as described below:
SUFIKA ranking
1 - 25
26-35
36-55
56-67
68-
vs. max.difference of assigned opponent's ranking:
-7 / +7
-7 / +10
-10 / +10
-10 / +12
-12 / +12
The general target is that each player gets one tennis session each week. In practice, a player may get 0-2
tennis sessions per week depending on the number of her/his absent weeks, number of unsuitable tennis
sessions, the total number of absent players in each period and the number of tennis sessions cancelled by the
tennis halls.
If someone has many unsuitable weekly sessions, this may be a reason why (s)he does not have an
opportunity to play against a certain player(s). Note that you may check the obstacle information of other
SUFIKA players from the web pages. This is also the usual reason why certain players get the same weekly
hours every week and/or even the same opponent for several weeks in one list (although the algorithm
sharing the sessions tries to find you different opponents and also different sessions for each week). A long
list of unsuitable weekly sessions may also mean that the amount of tennis sessions per period will be
smaller.
3.4
Distributing the tennis session lists
A tennis session list for a new period will be published and sent to the members about one week before the
period starts (normally in the middle of the previous week before the new period). Normally the period lasts
four weeks. The notification of assigned sessions for the new period is delivered by email with a link to the
new session list available in Sufika web pages.
If you have not received the new session list in time (during the previous week before the new period starts),
you should ask for it from the administrators or from the other players. Even if a tennis session is not used
because the assigned players did not get the tennis list via email in time, the players are in charge for
the session according to the list!!
3.5
Informing your obstacle information
Each member is responsible for updating her/his obstacle information (unsuitable weeks and unsuitable
weekly sessions) via www.sufika.com. The administrators will inform a deadline for each period. Your list
of unsuitable weekly sessions is valid for the whole period in question, thus you cannot set different
unsuitable sessions for each week.
In the obstacle-reporting page you can also change your status information between 'active' and 'inactive'.
'Active' means that you will have an active SUFIKA-ranking and will be given tennis sessions according to
your obstacle information. 'Inactive' means that you are inactive for the time being and do not have active
SUFIKA ranking at a moment. You will not be given any prebooked tennis sessions, but you are able to buy
tennis sessions that are being offered for sale via SUFIKA's mailing list.
If you change your status between 'active' and 'inactive' (in either direction) PLEASE SEND ALSO AN
EMAIL NOTIFICATION to the Sufika administrator(s). This will greatly help us when processing the tennis
session lists.
If you do not fill the obstacle information in time, your obstacle sessions from the previous period will be
used and you are assumed to have NO obstacle weeks (i.e. you are able to play ALL weeks in the new
period).
3.6
Responsibility for assigned tennis sessions
The players should check the whole tennis session list – even his/her own absent weeks – because there is a
big number of players and absent information notifications, and decent errors are possible when the
administrators process the information. A player is responsible for all her/his tennis sessions on the lists,
even if a tennis session is an unsuitable one or during an absent week.
3.7
Checking the availability of your opponent
You must contact your opponent well before each tennis session and confirm with her/him that (s)he is
coming to play. If you do not do this and the opponent does not come to the tennis hall, the tennis
session will be charged normally – both of you pay half of the session. You must pay your half because
you did not contact the opponent in advance.
3.8
One player unable to play - selling HALF sessions
If you are not able to play a tennis session assigned to you, you are responsible to find a substitute player.
Before starting to search for a substitute for yourself (or to sell the session), you must ask the opponent
whether (s)he wants to take the whole session under her/his responsibility. If not, then you should start
searching for the substitute in the following order:
1. From Sufika member list
2. Inside Nokia or Microsoft
3. Outsiders (friends, etc.)
A practical way in searching for the substitute is to send an email using the Sufika members email
distribution list club@sufika.com. In this way all Sufika members get your notification of the free half tennis
session. When searching for a substitute for yourself, remember to take into account the rankings.
In case another Sufika member accepts to substitute you for the session, you must prepare a corresponding
‘Half session sold’ report in Sufika www-pages. This ensures that half the session charge will be assigned to
the substitute player in the invoice for the period. An e-mail of this sold session report is automatically
generated to the concerned Sufika member (“Buyer”) and the other remaining player of the session, to enable
them to verify that the report was made correctly. Optionally, the session sold info can be selected to be sent
to all Sufika members.
If you fail to make this report by the reporting deadline given by the Sufika administrators there can be the
following two scenarios happening: 1) the match result for the session is reported normally => the invoicing
will use the match report information and you are fine, or 2) there is no match report prepared for the session
by the reporting deadline => the invoicing will assign half the session charge to both players in the (ref. 3.10)
session list. This means that you have to contact your substitute and reclaim half the session charge from him
directly.
Please note that this report only works if the substitute player is from Sufika. In all other cases you will
receive half the session charge in the corresponding Sufika invoice and need to reclaim this back from the
person acting as your substitute.
3.9
Both players unable to play - selling FULL sessions
If neither of the players is able to play (or the one who initiated the substitution process is not able to find a
substitute for him/herself) the full tennis session need to be offered for sale. The selling should be done in the
following order:
1. Send an email to Sufika distribution list to offer your full session to all SUFIKA members
2.
If you manage to find a SUFIKA buyer for the full session, please prepare a ‘full session sold’ report in Sufika
www-pages. This ensures that full session charge will be assigned to Buyer in the invoice for the period in case
of a missing match report. Otherwise you may need to pay for the charge in the invoice and reclaim the charge
back from the Buyer. An e-mail of this sold session report is automatically generated to the concerned Sufika
member (“Buyer”) as well as to the other earlier Player for the session, to enable them to verify that the report
was made correctly. Optionally, the session sold info can be selected to be sent to all Sufika members. If the
Buyer uses the session with another Sufika member (s)he can report the match result in the usual way, which is
then used as the basis for session invoicing.
3. If you do not find a buyer from SUFIKA members, you can either offer the session to your Nokia or Microsoftcolleagues or to your private friends or call to the tennis hall and let your tennis session for sale. If the tennis
session was let for sale in the tennis hall, you must always check whether it was sold there or not. The
match reporting can be done only after this check.
Note: You can put Sufika Monday sessions 01-05 for sale in Tali only by e-mail to
asiakaspalvelu@talintenniskeskus.fi.
If the tennis session was not sold, you must indicate clearly in the match result report, which player is
responsible for the payment. If both players were unable to play, then both are also responsible.
Note also that payer of a SUFIKA session must always be SUFIKA club member, thus if you sell your
sessions to outsiders, you must take care of their payments and then mark yourself as a payer to the match
report.
3.10
Additional clarification on pay responsibility for the sessions
It may, of course, happen that a certain half or full session is sold more than once. The program
updates the session list each time when ‘half/full session sold’ is reported in Sufika www-pages.
This updated session list is used for assigning charges for sessions where no match report has been
prepared by the reporting deadline. For half sessions sold the charges will be divided 50/50 between
the two players and for full sessions sold 100% charge will be assigned to the buyer (who can ensure
that his Sufika playing partner for the session, if any, gets 50% of the charge by submitting the
corresponding match report).
3.11
Match reporting
All played matches need to be reported in www.sufika.com where each SUFIKA member has access via
user-id and a password. All tennis sessions in each period must be reported within one week after the period
has finished. The match report submission automatically generates an e-mail to the opponent to enable
him/her to verify that the match result and session charge responsibilities have been correctly reported and, if
so, saves the effort from him/her to report the match result a second time.
It is strongly recommended that a match report is prepared for each used session, even though an unreported
session no longer acts as a show stopper for invoicing. The player benefits from reporting the match results
in the following ways:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The match results are used to update players’ rankings. The more results are
missing the more inaccurate a player’s ranking is. This leads to widening gap in playing strength in
session sharing.
If a player has bought a full session and uses it with another Sufika member,
s(he) can avoid the trouble of asking money from his/her playing partner by reporting the match (as
with this report an accurate invoicing can be prepared for the session).
If the session has been successfully sold by the tennis hall, the player can avoid
the charge in the invoice, which otherwise needs additional clarification efforts both from the player
and Sufika administrators.
If other than the default 50/50 charge allocation for the session applies (i.e. if
one player fully pays, or if a compensation payment is required etc.)
The payer of a Sufika session must be a member of Sufika club. Thus, if you play with an outsider (person
who is not in the SUFIKA club - no matter whether he/she works for Nokia or Microsoft or not) you must
pay for the whole session (inform yourself as a payer in the match report) and charge your friend by yourself.
3.12
Invoicing
The current subsidized charge for each tennis session is 18 euros. In addition an annual membership fee of
20 euros is charged from each Sufika member. Charging for the used tennis sessions is done in the following
sequence:
1.
2.
Firstly according to the match results reporting
In case of missing match reports according to the session list. The session list
is updated after each half or full session sold report.
You must pay the bill before the due date. If the bill is not paid, there will be an extra payment (5EUR) to be
paid by you. If you don't respect the due dates, you may be removed from club's tennis session lists and
mailing list. This penalty is first temporary, but if disregarding of due dates continues, your Sufika
membership can be even canceled.
3.13
Appeal period
Any appeals for changes to the bills must be sent to SUFIKA administrators immediately when you receive
the bill, latest in 30 days after invoicing date. If you have not sent your match results before the billing has
been done, you have very small chances to get any corrections to the bill.
3.14
Penalties and compensations after no-show
Triple payment will be charged from a player if (s)he does not come to the tennis hall, e.g. (s)he has
forgotten the tennis session, overslept, read the tennis session list wrongly or traveled out of city without
informing the opponent. Correspondingly, one tennis session is compensated to the opponent, because (s)he
has come to the tennis hall for nothing. So, the opponent gets one free (SUFIKA) tennis session. The triple
payment can be avoided only if the opponent requests it in the match result notification (i.e. does not
select the option "Player x pays the cost plus compensation") – in case (s)he thinks that the harm was not so
big.
In addition to triple payment, the opponent gets a w.o. which must be marked as result "3-0" when reporting
the tennis session. The opponent can decide by him/herself whether he/she wants to use this w.o. rule.
The penalty&compensation is marked in the match report by selecting the option "Player X pays the cost
plus a compensation".
3.15
Penalties and compensations after late cancellation
"Late cancellation" means situation when your opponent cancels the tennis session less than 8 hours before
starting time AND no substitute is found.
The "triple-payment" rule (ch 3.13) is NOT applicable in this situation, but the w.o. rule is, with the
following note: If the player who cancelled the match offers you another playing time that would not cost to
you more than the original SUFIKA-session and you accept the offer, w.o. is not applied. Note that you are
not obliged to accept this kind of offer. (Match results from non-SUFIKA sessions cannot be reported via
web, but can be reported by email and inserted manually)
Naturally, the one who cancelled, is responsible (of the payment) of the original SUFIKA session.
3.16
Tennis sessions cancelled by the tennis halls
The tennis halls cancel tennis sessions few times a year because of tournaments and holidays. If you notice
any information of forthcoming cancellations when visiting the halls, please inform the administrators asap.
This will help us in avoiding situations that the players go to the hall for nothing (there has been some
unfortunate examples when the tennis halls have forgotten to inform us about cancelled hours beforehand).
3.17
Some examples of appliance of SUFIKA rules
Case 1
Pat Cash has offered the tennis session for sale by the tennis hall, but he did not inform his opponent Björn
Borg about this. Björn went to the tennis hall, and luckily, he met his friend John McEnroe there and they
played together. The tennis session was still on sale in the hall, so Björn bough it and played with John.
Björn said to the tennis hall’s receptionist, that the tennis session could be charged normally from Nokia.
In this case, Pat is responsible for the whole tennis session. We must remember the principle of the Finnish
Winter War: “do not leave your pal”! In addition, Björn is entitled to compensation (one free tennis session),
which Pat should pay.
The decision may be different, if Pat has really tried to reach Björn before leaving the tennis session for sale
in the tennis hall. The general presumption is that both players come to play according to the tennis session
list. As written in chapter 3.7, you must contact your opponent before each session just to make sure that
(s)he is coming too.
Case 2
Steffi Graf used a tennis session with her husband Andre Agassi (the opponent Monica Seles had a force
majeure and could not get a substitute).
A question: how much Steffi should pay for the session?
The answer: it depends on what Steffi agreed with Monica.
If Steffi promised to Monica that she will take the responsibility of the whole tennis session, Steffi should
also pay the whole session, i.e. twice the charge she pays for a half of a tennis session, e.g. 2 x 9 EUR = 18
EUR. Monica does not need to pay anything.
If Monica promised to find an opponent for Steffi, and nobody came to the tennis hall, then Monica will pay
the whole tennis session. What Steffi actually did in the tennis hall does not matter – even if she played with
her husband. In addition, Monica will pay a penalty and Steffi get a compensation. This should naturally
never happen, since if Monica promised to find an opponent for Steffi, probably Steffi goes to the hall only if
receiving some information from Monica.
Naturally it is also possible to charge the tennis session normally, one half for both – Steffi and Monica, if
the players agree on this.
Case 3
At once after the new tennis list is published, Pete Sampras phones to Andre Agassi and informs that a tennis
session of them next week is not possible to him. Andre promises to Pete that he will take the whole session
for his responsibility and find an opponent by himself. After a couple of days a change comes to Andre’s
plans and he must cancel the session. He tries to sell the session first inside Sufika, and finally he informs to
the hall that they can sell the session. Finally the session is not sold in the hall.
A question: who must pay the session?
The answer: Andre must pay the whole session because he had promised to Pete to take care of the whole
session. Even if Andre gets later an obstacle and can not play, he can not claim that “Both of us had an
obstacle – so both of us must pay, half of the charge for both”, because he had already promised to Pete that
he will take care of the session. Note that Pete can avoid this argumentation totally by submitting a full
session sold report indicating Andre as a Buyer.
Case 4
Petra Thoren has filled her obstacle information in time and marked there that she does not want to play in a
certain week. The administrators make a mistake and give her a tennis session for that week. Petra does not
check the published list. Her opponent, Nanne Dahlman, goes to the tennis hall and finds out that Petra is not
there. In the match report Nanne informs that “Petra should pay the whole cost plus a compensation”.
Anyhow, Petra is able to prove that she had informed of the absent week in time and there should have been
given no tennis sessions for on that week.
A question: who pays for the tennis sessions?
The answer: both Petra and Nanne. In addition, Nanne does not get any compensation.
Why this decision? Petra is charged because she should have checked the tennis list (even if she had
informed about the absent week) and made immediately a complaint after the list was published – well
before the tennis session. Nanne is charged because she went to the tennis hall without contacting Petra in
advance.
Case 5
Olli Rahnasto agreed with Veli Paloheimo before the tennis session that Veli is coming to play. Although
Veli had promised to come, after all he did not come to the hall. Olli found a tennis opponent in the hall and
played with him.
A question: who must pay the session?
The answer: it depends on what Olli informs in his match report. He has a full right to make Veli to pay for
the whole session plus one penalty (which is then a compensation to Olli).
4.
WEEKLY TENNIS SESSIONS, OUTDOOR (SUMMER) SEASON
Sufika doesn’t offer any tennis sessions during outdoor season.
5.
RANKING
5.1
Purpose of the Ranking list
SUFIKA club's ranking list is mainly used for sharing the weekly tennis sessions during indoor season.
The ranking list can also be used e.g. when selecting players for friendly matches or to Nokia's team(s) in
business competitions (e.g. BMW Business Tour).
5.2
Introduction of the SUFIKA ranking system
It is recommended that Sufika tennis sessions would be used for playing ranking matches according to rules
listed below. By this way the ranking list will reflect the current status of playing levels best. However,
playing ranking matches is not mandatory - you can use the sessions for practice as well.
The ranking list is submitted to players via email after each update. It is also available at the club's www
pages (www.sufika.com)
The ranking system of Sufika has features from both the ATP and STL (Finnish Tennis Association) ranking
systems. Main differences are that in Sufika system it is possible to play a draw. Furthermore, Sufika points
are calculated as an average over the last 10 matches (ATP & STL : 1 year). SUFIKA points do not expire
like ATP and STL points do. The main issue in our ranking system is that when calculating ranking points
the frequency of playing should not have any meaning. Naturally no system can compensate if those playing
infrequently drop anyway in the ranking list because their level of play gets worse ;-)
The ranking list is updated for every new (4-week) period during the indoor (winter) season. This requires
that all results will be reported in time.
5.3
SUFIKA ranking rules
1. Only matches between two players in the active SUFIKA ranking list are
counted.
2.
All applicable parts of the official rules and code of tennis (see chapter 7)
must be respected in SUFIKA matches. SUFIKA-specific rules (bullets 3-12
below) overrule corresponding parts of the official rules.
3.
If the players do not agree anything else, the warm-up time is max 10
minutes and a match finishes when the bell rings. Unfinished game is not
calculated to the result, even if the crucial point is being played when the bell
rings. The total number of games form the match result, e.g. 9-7. Sets are not
counted.
4.
W.o. - due to noshow or late cancellation - is marked 3-0. Situations when a
w.o. can be applied (noshow/late cancellation) are described in chapters 3.13
and 3.14.
5.
To win a match, you must get a difference of at least two games. If both
players have an equal number of won games or the difference is only one
game, the result is a draw.
6.
Each ranking position has its own position points, marked as “winning
points” in the ranking list.
7.
If you win the match, you get the 'winning points' related to the ranking
position of your opponent. However, if the winning points of your opponent
are lower than your own average points, you get the bigger of : your own
average points and your oldest result (result number 10). Target of this rule is
to compensate situation, when winning a player lower in the ranking list
would have negative effect to your own ranking.
8.
If you played a draw, both players get opponent’s average points.
9.
The lost player gets the smaller of:
- 80% of his/her own average points
- opponents average points minus ten
However, if you lost to a player whose ranking is at least 14 positions above
you, no ranking points will be recorded to you.
10. Ten latest matches are taken into account in your ranking points. The
average of these ten matches is the player’s 'own' points. The order in the
ranking list is set according to these points (read also bullets 11 and 12
below).
11. When updating the ranking points the following ascent and descent
limitations will be followed:
Nbr of played matches in a period
max ascent / descent in the ranking list
0-1
2
3
4
5 or more
Ascent / descent max 2 position
Ascent / descent max 3 positions
Ascent / descent max 4 positions
Ascent / descent max 5 positions
Ascent / descent max 6 positions
Note that in some situations the ranking program cannot follow exactly these
limitations, thus there can be few deviations per each ranking update.
12.
Because of the 11th rule, the players’ own points (as calculated in rule 10)
can be affected by 'correction points', which may be positive or negative.
These correction points can be found from the detailed ranking lists
(submitted together with the 'normal' ranking list). The correction points are
valid only for one period, thus before next result update, all correction points
are set first to zero. The published ranking list contains also results of all
matches that have affected the rankings. The players can check from this
match result list that their results are correct and that the ranking program has
worked correctly. If necessary, the players can request a correction to the
results and ranking.
13.
5.4
Players' rankings can be changed also manually. Thus, if someone notices
by him/herself that he/she is too high or low in the ranking list, please ask
from the suitable SUFIKA administrator to make a correction.
Players with no active ranking
If you know that you are not able to play for several weeks or months (more than one 4-week period), it is
highly recommended that you mark yourself being 'inactive' (can be done in the web-page). This will move
you to the "players with no active ranking" list. This is very important, since it helps the sharing of tennis
sessions for the 'active' players (due to the limited number of players (ranking-range) where opponents are
searched from). When you are moved to "no active ranking" list, you can still pick cancelled tennis sessions
(from the email reflector) and your latest ranking is saved, so that if you later decide to join back to the actual
ranking list, you are allowed to start from the same ranking position where you left (with the exception that if during your absent period - new players are added to the list (to positions at or above your latest ranking), this
will be taken into account).
It is also allowed to stay in the "no active ranking" list longer times (or even always) if you are not interested
to get prebooked hours but only want to pick cancelled hours or participate to other events (competitions,
friendly matches, courses, …).
6.
ACTIVITY COMPETITION
All SUFIKA ranking matches (which are played according to rules described in chapter 5 and reported
accordingly via www.sufika.com) contribute to the "Activity Competition" that starts every year in the first
indoor period in autumn (normally starting from week 33/34) and continues to the second last indoor period
in spring (end of May). (The last indoor period in May is not counted for this, to be able to deliver the prizes
(see below) before the outdoor season starts).
Activity points are given of every ranking match as follows:
- Win = 3 points
- Draw = 2 points
- Defeat = 1 point
Note that the activity points are NOT dependent on the player's ranking position thus the winner of this
competition can be as well number 1 or number 100 in the actual ranking list !!!
The order in the Activity Ranking List is based on the activity points. If activity points are even, the order is
based on: the number of matches reported, the number of matches won, the number of draws, games won
minus lost and as a last criteria, the number of games won. If all these criteria would be even within the top20 in this list, then the position is shared.
The top players in this activity-ranking list will be awarded at the end of each winter season.
This is annual 'competition' thus the activity points are set to zero before the first indoor period in autumn.
7.
THE OFFICIAL RULES AND CODE OF TENNIS
The official rules of tennis can be found e.g. from: http://www.usta.com
The rules translated into Finnish: http://www.tennis.fi
The Code of Tennis is here:
(possible updates can be found e.g. from the usta web pages)
The whole Code of Tennis should be known and followed by all players, but (perhaps) the most
important parts regarding to making calls in a tennis match (which is played without officials) are
copied here for your convenience:
The Code of Tennis - MAKING CALLS
…
6. Opponent gets benefit of doubt. When a match is played without officials, the players are
responsible for making decisions, particularly for line calls. There is a subtle difference between
player decisions and those of an on-court official. An official impartially resolves a problem
involving a call, whereas a player is guided by the unwritten law that any doubt must be resolved in
favor of the opponent. A player in attempting to be scrupulously honest on line calls frequently will
find himself keeping a ball in play that might have been out or that the player discovers too late was
out. Even so, the game is much better played this way.
…
8. Ball that cannot be called out is good. Any ball that cannot be called out is considered to have
been good. A player may not claim a let on the basis of not seeing a ball. One of tennis’ most
infuriating moments occurs after a long hard rally when a player makes a clean placement and the
opponent says: "I’m not sure if it was good or out. Let’s play a let." Remember, it is each player’s
responsibility to call all balls landing on, or aimed at, the player’s side of the net. If a ball can’t be
called out with certainty, it is good. When you say your opponent’s shot was really out but you offer
to replay the point to give your opponent a break, you are deluding yourself because you must have
had some doubt.
…
10. Treat all points the same regardless of their importance. All points in a match should be treated
the same. There is no justification for considering a match point differently than the first point.
…
12. Out calls corrected. If a player mistakenly calls a ball "out" and then realizes it was good, the
point shall be replayed if the player returned the ball within the proper court. Nonetheless, if the
player’s return of the ball results in a "weak sitter," the player should give the opponent the point. If
the player failed to make the return, the opponent wins the point. If the mistake was made on the
second serve, the server is entitled to two serves.
…
16. Opponent’s calls questioned. When a player genuinely doubts an opponent’s call, the player may
ask: "Are you sure of your call?" If the opponent reaffirms that the ball was out, the call shall be
accepted. If the opponent acknowledges uncertainty, the opponent loses the point. There shall be no
further delay or discussion.