04 / Rules

Flat League — rules

  1. Tournament Format
    1. The tournament is held in a mini-league format.
    2. Each participant plays one match per week.
    3. Match format — best of two sets (first to win two sets).
    4. If the set score is 1:1, a super tie-break is played to 11 points with a 2-point advantage.
    5. Full sets:
      1. Play is conducted with deuces (advantage scoring).
      2. At 6:6 — a tie-break to 7 points, also with a 2-point advantage.
  2. Venue
    1. Matches are played at any tennis club and on any surface, by mutual agreement between the participants.
  3. Registration and Results
    1. Participants register matches and enter results on the “Raketo” platform themselves.
  4. Serving and Rotation Rules
    1. A tie-break begins with a serve into the first (deuce) court.
    2. The serve alternates every game, in accordance with standard rules.
    3. At the start of a new set, the player next in the serving rotation serves first.
  5. Rules of Play
    1. Play is conducted in a gentlemanly style:
    2. Outs, faults, and disputed points are resolved by mutual agreement.
    3. A let (replay of the point) is permitted by agreement.
    4. If participants could not agree on a meeting time, the match is recorded as an administrative draw 0:0.
    5. If an agreement was made but only one player arrived at the court, the match is recorded as a technical win 1:0 in favour of the player who appeared.
  6. Breaks and Rest
    1. A break is permitted after every 3 games, and also at the end of each set.
    2. The rest duration is by agreement, but no more than 5 minutes.
    3. Toilet breaks and other personal needs are permitted within the bounds of gentlemanly rules and common sense.
  7. Playoff
    1. Playoff Composition
      1. 8 players advance to the playoff. The composition depends on the number of groups in the tournament:
        • 2 groups: the top 4 from each group (4 + 4 = 8).
        • 4 groups: the top 2 from each group (2 × 4 = 8).
    2. Playoff Qualification Criteria (within a group)
      1. Group standings are determined by the following criteria in order of priority:
        • Criterion 1: Number of points earned.
        • Criterion 2: Set difference (sets won minus sets lost) across all group matches.
        • Criterion 3: Game difference (games won minus games lost) across all group matches.
        • Criterion 4: Coin toss, conducted publicly by the organiser.
      2. Head-to-head record is not applied as a tiebreaker in the Flat League — the round-robin group format provides sufficient clarity through set and game differences.
    3. Playoff Seeding
      1. Group power is calculated as the average Raketo ELO rating of the group’s participants on the tournament start date.
      2. Groups are ranked from strongest (#1) to weakest.
      3. Playoff seeding is assigned in waves:
        • Wave 1: 1st-place finishers from all groups — ordered by group power (1st place of the strongest group → 1st seed, 1st place of the next group → 2nd seed, and so on).
        • Wave 2: 2nd-place finishers from all groups — in the same order.
        • Wave 3 (2-group configuration only): 3rd-place finishers from all groups.
        • Wave 4 (2-group configuration only): 4th-place finishers from all groups.
      4. This distribution minimises the probability of a rematch between players from the same group before the semifinal (in the 2 groups × top 4 configuration) or before the final (in the 4 groups × top 2 configuration).
    4. Playoff Bracket (8 players, single-elimination)
      • Quarterfinals:
        • QF1: 1st seed vs 8th seed
        • QF2: 4th seed vs 5th seed
        • QF3: 3rd seed vs 6th seed
        • QF4: 2nd seed vs 7th seed
      • Semifinals:
        • SF1: Winner of QF1 vs Winner of QF2
        • SF2: Winner of QF3 vs Winner of QF4
      • Final: Winner of SF1 vs Winner of SF2
      • Third-place match: Loser of SF1 vs Loser of SF2
    5. Playoff Match Format
      1. The same as in the group stage: best of two sets with deuces (advantage scoring); tie-break to 7 points at 6:6; super tie-break to 11 points at 1:1 in sets.
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