What is a Leaderboard?
The British Tennis Leaderboards are a mathematical method of ranking players who compete in a competition circuit over a specific period of time.
Every player who has competed in the qualifying, main or consolation draw of a British Tennis Competition Circuit will be included in the relevant British Tennis Leaderboard. The one exception is the British Tour leaderboard which includes points acquired in main draws only.
Since 1 September 2016 the Regional Tour and County Tour leaderboards have been removed at all ages in line with the changes to Mini Tennis. Leaderboards are in operation for players competing National Tour (Grade 2) events. The British Tour and University Tour also have leaderboards.
Postal competitions and leagues do not fall into these categories.
When do results and Leaderboards get published?
The results should be entered in the system within 72 hours of the tournament end date. Once entered, all tournaments remain in the system for the circuit period.
The British Tennis Leaderboards will be published no later than the mid point of the season and then run weekly on a Friday.
Leaderboards only take into account results from matches played 5 days prior to the weekly Leaderboard updates unless otherwise stated.
How does a competition become part of a circuit?
Competitions must be agreed in advance by the LTA to be part of the relevant British Tennis Competition Circuit and Leaderboard. All competitions which are part of a British Tennis Competition Circuit must follow LTA rules and guidelines.
How are points allocated?
For the National Tour Leaderboard, regardless of how many tournaments a player plays in, only results from a player’s top 3 tournaments will go towards his/her final total.
Points are allocated based on tournament grade (Grade 6 & 7 tournaments do not carry Leaderboard points).
The minimum size for an event to count for Leaderboard points is 5 singles players and 3 doubles pairs.
In the summer competition season points acquired in National Tour doubles events will count towards leaderboard totals for players in age groups 12U - 18U. A player's points tally will comprise his/her best singles results plus his/her best doubles results,
The overall figure will be calculated according to a 75% / 25% split: three quarters of a player's points will come from singles events and the remaining quarter from doubles events. This change is designed to promote participation in doubles.
Doubles points will not count in relation to the British Tour or University Tour leaderboards.
Points can be earned from qualifying, main and consolation draws. Points are assigned according to the round reached in a draw and a player must win a match in a draw in order to receive points respective to that particular draw stage. Where there are multiple draws in an event, a player will be given the highest single set of points earned. Occasionally leaderboard points will be adjusted where corrections are necessary.
Note: a compass draw has its own inbuilt consolation (left hand side of the draw) and therefore no additional consolation draws are eligible for points; these will count for ratings only. In an 8 player compass main draw the player who loses his/her first match and wins the next two will receive consolation winner points, not 5# points.
If a draw is not completed players will receive Loser points for the round reached.
The format of the tournament is at the discretion of the organiser/referee and this can influence the allocation of Leaderboard points. Organisers and Referees are given guidance about recommended draw formats to ensure that competitions are delivered as consistently as possible.
What happens if players are tied on the Leaderboard?
Where players are tied they are shown on the Leaderboard in alphabetical order. For selection purposes, when two or more players have the same total number of points, ties shall be broken as follows:
- Fewest tournaments played; up to a maximum of six as only best three results for National Tour are counted and if still tied, then:
- the highest number of points from one single tournament, then, if needed, the second and if still tied, then:
- Drawn by lot
Will Leaderboard points ever be adjusted?
At times Leaderboard points may need to be adjusted if an error has occurred in the allocation of points.
Also if a player contravenes LTA Competition Regulation 3.10 on playing two tournaments in one week then Leaderboard points from both tournaments will be removed.
What happens at the end of the competition season?
At the end of the 10U National Tour circuits the top players on the leaderboards will qualify for the National Tour Finals.*
The Leaderboards will be reset to zero at the start of the next competition season.
* This includes players who are 'playing up' in their next ball colour since these players, whilst playing up for experience, are eligible to feature on the leaderboard listings.