Ultimate Tennis

Playoff Match Procedures

If your team qualifies for the tournament, you will see an actual Playoff Schedule located underneath your Regular Season Schedule. The dates for each round are listed including the finals weekend. Do not start the playoffs if your team cannot complete all rounds of the event - default immediately! Defaults in later rounds ruin the tournament for other members.

You may view your actual playoff draw by click the "View Playoff Draw" button located on your Playoff Schedule Page. To view playoff draws for other events, click the "Results" tab off of your Overview Page, then select the Skill Level on the left, the Year at the top, then the event you wish to view.

Your team captain should contact your 1st opponent immediately. Click the "Contact Info" button located next to your opponent's name. Don't play phone tag! Leave a message on all possible contact numbers. Both teams are responsible for contacting each other. If both your team and your opponents have a "Bye" into the second round we recommend that you begin playing your next round ahead of schedule. To protect the privacy of our members, you can only view contact information for one round of the draw at a time.

If your opponent is unavailable to compete in the tournament for any reason: Your team must report the default. Select the "default" option under the "Scores" tab. This will advance your team on to the next round. Contact your next opponent. Please do not contact the league office.

If your opponent is unresponsive after calling all listed phone numbers and you have reached the deadline, please default your opponent advancing yourself to the next round.

Select the match site The higher seeded team receives the "Home court" selection and provides the balls. The number next to each team name on the draw indicates a team's seeding position. In the spirit of the playoffs, players must be prepared to drive to away matches. As in all sports, the reward for hard work during the regular season is home court advantage during the playoffs.

Schedule the match The match is to be scheduled at a mutually agreeable time. The match should be scheduled as early in the period as possible to allow for rainouts. Once scheduled, a playoff match may not be rescheduled if it is within 4 days of the end of the round unless both teams are in agreement. Due to the reserved dates of the finals, there will be no rain extensions in the playoffs. Don't let bad weather force a coin toss to see who advances.

Complete the match on time. Playoff matches must be completed within the given time periods, or one of the two teams will be disqualified. In cases where teams' schedules are in conflict, the team who was available for more days in the round will advance. To determine the team who is most available, both teams must count the days they were not only available but actually offered to play. Only days that include reasonable and customary Match Start Times count towards availability. If teams are available for the same number of days, you must contact the Customer Service for a coin toss to determine a winner. See notes below for a "Possible Playoff round Extension".

Report scores on time. The winner must submit the scores by midnight on the last day of each play-off period. Note - Teams may not use a "Late Pass" to report late scores in the playoffs. The Late Pass is only applicable during the regular season.

Contact your next round opponent. Playoff Schedules are updated instantly as match scores are reported. Contact your new opponent immediately.

You must wait until a score is reported to view your opponent's contact information. If your next round opponent has not reported their match scores by the deadline, each day they play into the next round will be counted against their availability in the event of a scheduling conflict. Teams will not receive extra time to complete the next round due to late scores. If the lack of match resolution has been due to scheduling, the team who has been more available will always advance.

Final Round Matches The location and tournament format for the final rounds will vary based on your city region. Refer to your playoff draw to determine whether your finals will be played out under the flexible format or held on site a host tennis facility.
Finals that will be held at the host facility are shown with a set date on the draw. "When announced" the name of the host facility will be listed under the round. Semi's and Finals that are to be played under the flexible format will contain a range of match dates.

Once you determine your final round format from your draw, please select the appropriate link below for your match procedures.

One day tournament - The finals only will be held at a host facility.
Flexible tournament - The semi-finals and finals are played at the higher seeded player's court

Start times for Championship matches played at a host facility may range from 8:00am-5:00pm and will be posted at least one week prior to the Championship Weekend. Start times will be located in the middle of the draw bracket and shown in red. Check the draw to confirm that there have been no changes. For host facility information and directions click the link at the top of your draw.

Important

We have limited access to host facility courts and in most cases all the courts are booked solid for the tournament. For this reason, we do not have the flexibility to schedule matches around other leagues, tournaments, or sporting events. If your team is not going to be available all day during the entire Championship round posted on your schedule, please make your team "unavailable" for the playoffs. Defaults ruin the tournament for other members!

Possible Playoff round Extension

To be used in extreme cases only. If your team and your current opponents cannot complete your match within the scheduled time due to rain or availability, it is possible that you may borrow a day or two from your next round. You must contact Customer Service to obtain the contact information for your potential next round opponents. You may ask the players if they would be willing to let you utilize a day or two in the next round so you can complete your current match. If they agree to shorten their next round, the league office will permit you to play late with the following stipulations:

Your team and your current opponent must be in agreement to exercise this option. If both teams are not in agreement to explore this option the more available team will advance if the match is not complete within the time limits.
Your next round opponent cannot be forced into giving up part of their playoff round. The days that you are asking them to give up may be the only days they have available to play the next round, so they have every right to decline your request.
If they grant your request, make sure that you confirm they will be available to play in the remaining days of the next round. If the next round match cannot be completed for any reason, (rain, can't agree on a match time, etc.) then your opponents will advance by default.
If they decline your request, and your time period is over, then your team and your current opponents must determine who advances in the draw. Our rules state that the team who was available for more days in the round advances. In the case of an even number of days, you must contact the office for a coin toss to see who advances.

We want to see matches decided on the court whenever possible. However, due to weather and personal schedules this is not always possible. The above option should only be used in extreme cases and when it does not inconvenience other members. We still support the rule "that matches must be completed within the specified time periods" and only allow this deviation at the discretion of both your current and your future round opponents.

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