DIVISIONS

The GLTA has developed division standards for the following purposes:

• To assist players in deciding which division to play

• To assist Tournament Committees in assigning players to more uniform ability classifications

• To make more uniform use of the tournament results in the GLTA Player Points System.

The GLTA has adopted basic tournament division standards for all sanctioned tournaments. The GLTA recognizes that larger and smaller tournaments may choose alternative formats to meet their situations and the needs and desires of local club players. Tournament Directors must get approval from the GLTA Tournament Standards Chair before offering other divisions or formats.

A. GLTA Division Standards

The GLTA Division Standards are shown below, along with the equivalent ratings. To assist in keeping a more uniform understanding of the definitions of each ability category, it is suggested that the rating be used along with the division (i.e. "B/3.5-4.0", "C/3.0") on entry forms and tournament information.

The basic divisions apply for both men and women, and the GLTA requires that a tournament offer all basic men’s events if any men’s events are offered and all women’s events if any women’s events are offered on the entry form. Divisions may be combined if the minimum number of entries is not received as defined by the entry form policy. In addition, if appropriate women's events are offered and held at a tournament, then women may not play men's events in that tournament. Women who enter men’s ability or ability/age events are eligible for the division one level below their normal division.

The division standards should appear on all GLTA entry forms. If abbreviated in any way, you must ensure that division guidelines are understood by all players. It is still the responsibility of the players to enter the appropriate division, but tournament directors should undertake their best efforts to ensure that all players entering comply with these standards by reviewing requested divisions against the GLTA Player Seeding databases. The latest GLTA Seeding databases will list each player’s “Minimum Play Level” in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, which will be available on the Internet at www.glta.net.

B. Optional Divisions

All GLTA sanctioned events must follow the "Basic" ability divisions format shown above, but there are options that are left to the Tournament Committee with regard to age divisions, mixed doubles and consolation draws. For instance, an organization with no women members may have a difficult time promoting and/or filling a separate women's division. Another organization with a very large "senior" membership may choose to add one or more age divisions (40+, 50+, 60+) at their event. Tournaments that want to expand but cannot increase the size of their basic division draws may elect to add 40+A, 40+B, 40+C, and 40+D divisions. Most clubs with limited court space/time have had to weigh the tradeoff between holding consolation draws and the optional divisions, or total draw size. These types of decisions are again left to the tournament Committee. However, the Director MUST contact the GLTA Tournament Standards and Seeding Chairs prior to publishing their entry form to see how any new division would be rated and how or whether the division would fit into the GLTA Seeding Points System.

C. Requirements For Entry in Divisions

1. Ability Divisions

Each division (singles, doubles and mixed doubles) has a separate GLTA Seeding Points database that operates independently from the other divisions. Players may have different minimum play levels for different divisions. Players are allowed to play in different divisions as long as this is permitted by the tournament. Tournaments with one site should permit split divisions. No player may play down more than one level from his or her highest ranking. For example, a player who is rated as “Open” in doubles and “B” in singles cannot play below the “A” level. No player shall be allowed to play a lower division than that which he/she is listed under in the latest GLTA Seeding Point database. This includes a right-handed player, who enters a tournament “left-handed”. A player with a current valid ranking by an ITF-Affiliated National or Regional tennis association may not play in a division lower than that ranking regardless of his or her GLTA ranking. He/she does NOT forfeit his or her tournament results by playing with another hand, and shall NOT be treated as a “different player” by this declaration. It is the responsibility and authority of the Tournament Director to see that player placement in divisions complies with the above rules, and is fair to all entrants.

2. Age Divisions

A player may enter any senior division (40+, 50+,60+, etc.), if the player will have reached the minimum age for that division by December 31 of the calendar year in which the tournament starts. Starting in 2005, the change was made from 35/45/55 to 40/50/60 because the 35+ category was usually redundant with the Open category and very few tournaments were electing to offer age categories under the earlier framework.

3. Ability/Age Divisions

These optional divisions (40+A, 40+B, 40+C,40+D) were created for the 2005 season onward to allow larger tournaments to expand their participation without creating oversized draws which could not be played within the time constraints. It also reduces the number of rounds that more senior players are required to play.

Players who qualify for these divisions may elect to play in their regular ability division or in the ability/age division. Tournament committees may offer any combination of singles, doubles, or mixed doubles for these divisions and may set rules on split divisions as they see fit.

4. Graduation to Higher Divisions & Division Points

Graduation to a higher division occurs when a player’s points pass a pre-determined threshold.  When a player’s ranking equals or exceeds the following “Maximum Rating” thresholds, he or she is promoted to the next higher division: