The Ladder Rules

• Players must be 10 years or older.
• A new player joining the ladder will enter at the bottom of the ladder with a free challenge (FC), and can challenge any other player on the ladder for their first challenge. If it is a successful challenge then the winner takes the place of the person they beat on the ladder and the defeated player and all players ranked below the defeated player will shuffle down one place on the ladder.
• All subsequent challenges can only be made within a set number of places ahead of the challenger, represented by the tennis balls on the ladder.
• All games should be scheduled within 7 days and played within 15 days of a challenge being made (players challenged should respond to challenge texts as soon as possible to organise this). If there are clearly extenuating circumstances why a match cannot be played in this timescale, common sense should prevail and the match should be played within a grace period of five days after that deadline. If a game has still not been completed within this extended period it will be deemed forfeited by the player who is challenged unless that player notifies the administrator with an acceptable reason for their inability to play. If the game cannot be played because the challenger is unable to play then the challenge should be cancelled by the challenger.
• If the player challenged gives a walkover, that player will fall to the place below the challenger on the ladder. The challenger will only rise one position up the ladder. In this case the challenger should cancel the challenge and contact the ladder administrator to update the walkover. However, a match, once commenced but then conceded through injury or whatever reason (except disagreement over scores - see further below), is counted as a match played for the purposes of ranking changes.
• The challenger is free to cancel a challenge at any stage with no consequences, although he should provide his opponent with as much notice of the cancellation as is practicable. If a match has not been cancelled (or rearranged), and one player is more than 20 minutes late in attending the agreed match time without prior contact then the late or non-attending player is deemed to have forfeited the challenge and loses the match, with whatever consequences that has on the ranked positions of both players.
• All games will comprise of two full tie-break sets and a championship tiebreak will be played, if required, as a deciding third set. The championship tiebreak is won by the player who is the first to ten points, to win by two (i.e., 10-6, 11-9, 12-10 etc.). Please enter the score of any championship tie-break and not the standard tie-break score.
• Umpires may be used but must be independent and not related to either player. It is the players' responsibility to arrange an umpire. If a match is being played without an umpire and the players cannot agree on the score, the match should be stopped and replayed in full with an umpire.
• Spectators should watch matches only from the balcony.
• Challenge match results should be input on the website by the winner, unless the winner agrees that the defeated player can input the result.
• A player who loses a challenge cannot challenge the same player again until a different challenge has been completed.
• Players who are not available to play due to injury or holidays should make themselves 'unavailable' on the ladder (using the availability option on the ladder), and make themselves available again as soon as possible thereafter. A player who is likely to be unavailable for a period exceeding one month should notify the ladder administrator to remove them from the ladder (as this may limit other players ability to challenge), and will be reinstated at the bottom of the ladder with a free challenge (FC) similar to a new player.