Playoff Qualifications
The Ultimate Tennis Playoffs are reserved for the top teams at each skill level. Approximately 50% of the teams will earn the right to compete in the post season tournament. Qualifiers will compete against top teams from other divisions throughout their playing region.
Accurate playoff seeding is based on your final point total and divisional standing at the end of the season. It is your responsibility to confirm that all point totals have been correctly reported to the league office by the scoring deadline. Playoff draws will not be adjusted for scores submitted after the deadline.
Eligibility
Your team must complete a minimum of 3 matches against the assigned opponents on your schedule to be eligible for the playoffs. Matches started but not completed against an assigned team, such as retired or incomplete matches will count towards the 3 match minimum. Averages and defaults DO NOT count toward the 3 match minimum.
If a team earns a rating of +8.0 or higher in their first season of play they will be ineligible for the playoffs if they contain one of the following players.
- New league members
- Past league members with an expired rating = (have not played in 2 or more years)
Automatic Qualifiers
The size or number of teams in each division determines the number of automatic playoff qualifying spots.
- In divisions of 4-6 teams, the top 2 point finishers per division will qualify*
- In divisions of 7-8 teams, the top 3 point finishers per division will qualify*
- In divisions of 9-10 teams, the top 4 point finishers per division will qualify*
- In divisions of 11-14 teams, the top 5 point finishers per division will qualify*
*Note: Events with over 300 players will have the number of qualifying spots shown above are reduced to fit the maximum draw size of 128 players per level. For Doubles and Mixed Doubles the maximum draw size will be 32. Read Maximum draw size below.
Wild Cards
After the automatic qualifiers have been selected, additional wild card spots are usually awarded at each skill level. The wild card teams selected will be the teams with the highest point totals after the automatic qualifiers have been selected. Wild cards are awarded only when there are available spots in the draw and teams with sufficient points/ratings.
Wildcards are added to the playoff draw for two purposes.
- To include teams with high point totals that just missed the playoff cut.
- To balance the brackets of the draw and reduce the number of 1st-round byes.
Wildcards are assigned after the playoff draws have been prepared. This means potential wild card qualifiers must wait until the draws are published to see if they have qualified for the tournament.
Draw Size
The size of each playoff draw is dependent on the number of teams and divisions at each skill level. A draw can contain anywhere from 2 to 128 teams. When a draw increases to a larger size it will contain numerous "byes". The highest seeds will earn the "byes".
Note: To maintain the 50% playoff qualifying ratio, "byes" are not free spots to be filled by interested teams but rather the normal result of a draw expanding to the next larger size. Once a draw has been published, it is almost never altered as it would affect seeding positions for the entire draw.Maximum Draw Size
The maximum size of a draw is 128 teams per skill level. Once the maximum draw size has been met, no further teams will qualify for the playoffs. This supersedes all qualifying rules listed above. A 128 draw requires 7 rounds to complete which is equivalent to playing an entire new season. A maximum draw size was established to limit the number of rounds and the duration of the playoffs.
Note: Teams who are ranked #140 or more may still qualify for the tournament. Lower seeded teams will move up in the standings due to "ineligible" and "unavailable" teams being removed from the league standings.