Ladder Rules:

• Invitations to play (challenges) can come from either the higher or lower-ranked player. Accepting a challenge from another player is fully optional.
• Both players must bring a new can of decent balls to each match and the winner leaves with the unopened can.
• All matches will be best of three sets. The third set should be a 10-point tie-break unless both players prefer to play a full third set instead.
• Sets tied at 6-6 will be decided by a standard 7-point tie-break, which will count as one game as normal.
• The winning player should enter the score into the app as soon as possible after the match. We won't require the loser to formally confirm the result, but if the loser sees a discrepancy, they should resolve it with the winner and one of them should let the ladder coordinator know immediately if a change is needed.
• Only one ladder match result may be entered into the app for each person per day. Your ladder coordinator may decide that playing multiple matches per day is acceptable, in which case the scores would need to be entered the following day.
• You can only play the same player on the ladder a total of five times during the course of the ladder.
• In the event of one person failing to appear for the match, there is no winner and no score shall be entered. Please coordinate with your opponent to prevent this situation.
• In the event a player retires during a match, his opponent is credited as having won all remaining games.
• Play every match to win by the largest possible margin. Do not try to beat the system to artificially maximize points.
• Ladder points will be based on a three-tier point system calculated as follows:
  1. Borrowed Points (if applicable)
     • Initial ranking in the ladder may be established via borrowed points given to each player; the higher a person is seeded, the more borrowed points they will be given. The purpose of borrowed points is to keep similar skilled players near each other in the ladder initially.
     • Borrowed points will decrease evenly over the first few weeks of the ladder. For example, in a ladder with a 6 week borrowed point set up, if someone starts the ladder with 300 borrowed points, each week, they will lose 50 of those borrowed points until they go to zero.
     • Since all borrowed points will go to zero in the course of the ladder, final ranking on the ladder will only be determined by Earned Points (Base Points and Distance Points).
     • Some ladders decide not to use this initial seeding. If your ladder does not, this section does not apply, and all players will begin the ladder at 0 points.
  2. Base Points
     • Winner - The winner of each match will be rewarded 39 points less the number of games won by the loser in the match.
     • Loser - The loser will receive one point for every game won in the match. If a third set tie-break is played, each point won in the 10-point tie break will count as 1/2 of a point, rounded up to a maximum of six points.
     For example, if a match score is 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, the winner would receive 26 points (39 minus 13 games won by the loser) and the loser would receive 13 points.
     If a third set tie-break is played and the set scores are 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 then the winner would receive 25 points (39 points minus 10 games won minus 4 for the tie-break score). The loser would receive the other 14 points.
  3. Rank Distance Points
     • If a winner is higher ranked than a loser, the winner will forfeit 2 points for each rank they are above the loser.
     • If a winner is lower ranked than a loser, the winner will earn 3 points for each rank they are below the loser.
     • Note that distance points only apply to winners, not losers. Losers will always keep whatever base points they earn.
     • Distance penalties cannot take a winner's score to more than 55 or less than 12. In other words, if you win a match, you will always receive at most 55 points and at least 12 points.
     For example, if a number 4 ranked player beats a number 8 ranked player 6-2, 6-4, the winner would receive 33 base points (39 - 6 games won by the loser), but would forfeit 8 of those points as a distance penalty (4 lengths * 2 points per length). The loser would earn 6 base points.
     On the other hand, if a number 10-ranked player beats a number 5 ranked-player 6-4; 5-7; 6-4, the winner would earn 24 base points (39 - 15 games won by loser), but would earn an additional 15 distance points (5 lengths * 3 points per length). The loser would earn 15 points for 15 games won.