2025 Social Tennis Program

Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:30-9pm
(Weather Permitting)

The Maple Ridge Tennis Club (MRTC, hereinafter also referred to as the “Club”) has created the social tennis program to promote the growth of our sport, community engagement and inclusion for many skill levels. Our ranking system and format of play matches players of similar skill-level, to provide competitive play that adjusts routinely to ongoing player results.

The format of social tennis is updated in 2025 from its last iteration in 2024. We will return to a 12-game Set format with rotating partners, similar to the format that was used prior to 2024. The main modification from the pre-2024 format is that we will aim to have three 12-game Sets played each social tennis evening, instead of the previous two-Set format. This format hopes to facilitate:

• Well-organized Sets that maintain groups of players of similar skill level by reducing the overall court movement from the 2024 “Fast-4” system
• Ample movement up and down courts in one evening, by having 3 Sets instead of the 2 Set format from the pre-2024 12-game system
• Increased variation in doubles partners and opponents, while maintaining consistent matchups of skill-level.
• Ample playing time for players who sign up (1.5-hour minimum playing time for registrants, improved from 1-hour minimum playing time from 2024 system)

Rules of Play

The basic format is a 12-game Set with partners rotating every 4 games (within the same court). Each player will serve for one game in each 4-game rotation. Each Set is expected to take no more than 45 minutes to play out, allowing 3 Sets to be played in an evening. These Rules may be modified as needed to improve the flow of play.

Warm Up and Starting Positions

• Courts will be available for warmup as of 5:30PM.
• Registered players must arrive by 5:50PM
• The first session will start at 6PM.
• Starting Court placements and first pairing for the 1st Set will be determined by MRTC Ranking (any new Club members without a ranking will automatically be started on the lowest court).
• No first-serve rule, players are encouraged to warm up their serve during regular warm-up time

Gameplay

• All pairings and order-of-play on each court is determined by the MRTC Social Tennis Online Platform (STOP).
• The first pairings determined by the STOP play 4 games, then rotate to the next pairing provided by the STOP for 4 more games, then rotate to the final pairing for the remaining 4 games.
• Players change sides after every 2 games (after each even-numbered game).
• No first-serve rule, players are encouraged to warm up their serve during regular warm-up time.
• Each player will serve for one game in each 4-game rotation.
• No Ad scoring (aka sudden-death deuce) in games reaching deuce (40–40).
• A Set is complete when all 12 games are complete, or when the 45-minute time limit is reached.
• Record the total games won by each player on the STOP system.
• IMPORTANT: incomplete games when the 45-minute time limit is reached are not scored on the STOP system, only record completed games won by each player.
• IMPORTANT: only 1 player on each court should record results on the STOP system.

 Rotation Between Sets

• Please enter results of the 12-game Set into the STOP.
• A winning player and losing player are determined at the end of each Set based on total games won.
  • If there is a tie for the most games won, the winning player is the player with the higher existing MRTC ranking.
  • If there is a tie for the least games won, the losing player is the player with the lower existing MRTC ranking.
• The winning player moves up a court, with the exception of Court 1 where the winning player stays.
• The losing player moves down a court, with the exception of the lowest court occupied where the losing player stays.
• Each court has up to 45 minutes to play a Set (i.e. the first Set concludes no later than 6:45) at which point the wining/losing player will move up/down regardless of whether the Set has been completed.
• STOP will provide the new pairings and order-of-play for each Set.

 Substitutions After 2^nd Set

• Substitutions occur at the end of the 2^nd
• The 2^nd Set will end no later than 7:30.
• Please do not leave until the 2^nd Set has been completed as it is not fair to the other players on the court.
• Players who wish to be substituted into the 3^rd Set must arrive at the courts and check in with the organizer no later than 7:30.
• Substitutions will be assigned to courts for the 3^rd and final Set based on MRTC Ranking.
• The 3^rd Set will start no later than 7:45pm, to allow the previous Set to finish and Substitutions to briefly warm up. Substitutions are recommended to warm up their serve since there will be no first-in serve rule.
• Substitutions for those waiting to come on court will be determined as follows:
  • Substituting player’s court is determined based on MRTC ranking:
    • Court 1: MRTC ranking >5
    • Court 2: 4.5 > MRTC ranking >5
    • Court 3: 3.5 > MRTC ranking >5
    • Court 4: 2.5 > MRTC ranking >5
    • Court 5: 1.5 > MRTC ranking
  • The lowest ranked player on each court will be substituted first, then the 2^nd lowest, and so on, as needed, until all substituting players are assigned to a court.
  • The MRTC reserves the right to override the above substitution guide if there are players who voluntarily leave after the 2^nd Set, or if a player to be substituted was substituted out from their last attendance of MRTC Social Tennis.
• The 3^rd Set format will then be run in the same way as the first two Sets
• Only the 3 Sets will be scored. If players wish to continue playing afterwards, they are welcome to do so on their own.

 Ranking

 How MRTC Ranking is determined

• A Night Score is determined based on all Sets played in a MRTC social night.
• The Night Score is the average of all courts played on during the particular evening and includes the court they would have played on after their last Set played. The average is therefore taken for up to 4 courts in an MRTC social night (the 3 courts played on during the 3 Sets, plus the result of their final Set). For example, if a player played on court 3 for their last Set of a particular night and they won their matchup, they are considered to have finished on court 2.
• Where all 5 courts are not in use during a Set, court 5 is dropped first and so on. This means lower ranked players will accrue high court scores when we do not use all 5 available courts. It is more appropriate to boost lower-ranked players than to penalize higher-ranked players.
• The score for a particular court is calculated as six minus their court number:
  • Court 1 has a score of 5
  • Court 2 has a score of 4
• A player who is the winning player on Court 1 will receive a bonus 0.25 point.
• A player who is the losing player on Court 5 (or the lowest participating court in the Set) will have an 0.25 point deducted.
• The Night Score is calculated as six minus their average court and adjusted for any bonus or deduction.
  • The highest Night Score possible is 5.75
  • The lowest Night Score possible is 0.25
• MRTC Ranking is the average of a player’s 4 most recent Night Scores.
• Players who were members of the Club last year and had an MRTC Ranking will have their prior year’s MRTC Ranking counted as a first Night Score in the new season:
  • Their last year’s MRTC ranking determines what court they start on their first night in the new season.
  • After their first MRTC social night, their last year’s MRTC Ranking is considered as a MRTC social night played in the new season and will be averaged with their newly accumulated Night Scores in the new season until they’ve accumulated 4 Night Scores in the current season, at which point last year’s MRTC Ranking is dropped from the calculation. Specifically, last year’s MRTC Ranking for each player is weighted:
    • 50% (1/2) after they’ve played their first MRTC social night
    • 33% (1/3) after they’ve played their second MRTC social night
    • 25% (1/4) after they’ve played their third MRTC social night
    • 0% (nil) after they’ve played their fourth MRTC social night

Examples

 Night Score:

^Player was the winning player in the previous Set.

*Player was the losing player in the previous Set.

**Player lost Set 3, but if other players have left after Set 2 and we no longer have 5 courts, the player does not drop to court 5.

***Player left after Set 2 but their result from Set 2 is recorded as their Set 3 Court.

 MRTC Ranking:

*Nights are listed chronologically.

**Average of most recent 4 Night Scores.