The 41th edition of the finals for the season 2018-2019 was held  at Tennis 13 on April 26 2019.

See the testimonials.

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Draw to make-up the groups

Question: How are the groups divided?

Answer: The first 4 positions of the regular season are placed as heads of each group (A1, B1, C1 & D1), this is row #1. The next 4 make-up the second row and are randomly selected to be in one of the groups (A2, B2, C2 & D2). From the regular season's standings, teams in 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th positions are randomly put in row #3 (A3, B3, C3 & D3) and so on the fourth row is done in the same way. That leaves the last 2 teams in 17th & 18th. Since the last team in a standing usually play against team with the highest ranking, they are placed randomly in groups A & B (A5 & B5). 

The draw to make-up the groups will be done at the captain's meeting at the end of the regular season. Captains draw for positions in the order they finished the season.
See: rounds for 18 teams
See: rounds for 10 teams

Post season series

Preliminary rounds & final (2019)

  1. The same "rules of competition" followed during the regular season apply throughout.
  2. The teams are ranked according to the results attained during the regular season. An even number of teams play in the 2019 post season series. EX: in a level having 19 teams, only the first 18 teams play for the gold medal. LOOK up "How positions are decided in the standings".
  3. The team with the highest standing is always the receiving team. If its club cannot receive due to court availability, then the opposing team receives.

Series' format

In 2017-18 a new format took place instead of the playoffs: a post season series. The 2019 series are similar with some amendements.

The peculiarities are:

  1. An even number of teams per level will participate to have an equal number of matchs for each team. There will be no bye.
    • In 2019 levels 2, 3 & 4 will have 18 teams participating in the series. In level 1, 10 teams will compete.
  2. At least three rounds of matches for each participating team in levels 2, 3 and 4. At least 4 rounds of matchs for participating teams in level 1.
  3. At the end of these 3 or 4 matchs, the teams are ranked according to a predetermined sorting.

To qualify for the series

 

Any player registered in the league must have played for her team a minimum number of matches during the regular season to be eligible for the series and finals. A bye doesn't count and must be excluded from the total number of matches. For the player having :

  • 20 matches on her schedule, 6 times
  • More than 20 matches on her schedule, 7 times
  • The player with a "5.5" profile (level I) must have played at least 30% of the matches for which she is allowed to participate. (AGM 2017)

Note: A match lost by retiring because of an injury does not count in the number of times played for both partners. See Rule on retired match.

  1. Finals

Finish or concede a match

During the series leading to the finals, the administrative committee of TFIM request that all matches be finished in the same manner as the regular season. All matches count towards the ranking.

However, the committee recognizes that it is ultimately up to the players involved to decide if they want to continue or not. To maintain our transparency and how the CRA is calculated in Tenniscores, it is absolutely necessary to have actual scores and to identify the winning team on three courts.

The following guidelines are suggested to determine the winners of a match being conceded or unfinished:

It must be decided: Which team concedes the match?
The team that concedes loses the game; the victory is awarded to the opponents.
If both teams cannot agree on who concedes the match, the game must continue to determine the winners in the same way as during the regular season.

NOTE: follow the rule of the day at the finals.

In Tenniscores:

For each finished match: The score is entered normally and the winning team is selected from the drop down menu.

For a conceded match: "not finished conceded" is entered in the COMMENTS box. The team declared the winner is selected from the drop down menu. The score for a set must be greater in number for the winners of the set. If the team who concedes was losing when stopping the score is entered as such. If the team who concedes led when stopping, they concede the number of games necessary for their opponents to have a majority of games for each set. EX: the score when stopping was 6-4, 4-2 becomes 6-4, 4-5 and 0-1.

FAQ - post season

Series' rounds

 Questions: How are the matches made? Is it a round-robin?

Answer: Normally in a round robin with 16 teams one match is played against the other 3 teams in the group. In a normal round robin, there is an order to respect following the standing. TFIM chose a format close to a round-robin with differences: a format of 3 rounds with a draw at random to form the groups. See Draw to make-up the groups.

With 18 teams participating, two groups of 5 (uneven) and two groups of 4 (even) and 3 rounds per group. Between groups A and B, one match per week is intergroup. Two teams form the same row never play against each other; there is one exception "A3 vs B3". 

ROUNDS for a tournament with 18 teams
Round #1   Round #2   Round #3  
A1 receive A5 A1 receive A3 A1 receive A2
A2 receive A4 A2 receive A5 A3 receive A4
B1 receive B4 B1 receive B3 B1 receive B2
B2 receive B5 B2 receive B4 B3 receive B5
A3 ? B3 A4 receive B5 B4 receive A5
C1 receive C4 C1 receive C3 C1 receive C2
C2 receive C3 C2 receive C4 C3 receive C4
D1 receive D4 D1 receive D3 D1 receive D2
D2 receive D3 D2 receive D4 D3 receive D4

Which team receives during the post season series?

The team that has the highest ranking at the end of the regular season will always host. The number in front of each team name signifies it's ranking at the end of the regular season.

Ball distribution

How are the balls distributed for the post season tournament?

The team that had the highest ranking, during the regular season, receives. At the captains' meeting these teams are given the balls for the whole tournament.

What is the consequence if an unqualified player is in line-up?

Rule 2.7.4 stipulates that only qualified players can play in the playoffs. You must declare a default as during the regular season if you do not have enough qualified players. Any enfringement to any TFIM rules may lead to loosing that playoff round.

How positions are decided in the standings

The standings are sorted in the following order:

1. the team that won the most matches prevails,

2. the team that has the most set points

If there is still a tie, head to head matchup between these teams and:

3. the team that has the most matches prevails,

4. the team that has the most set points.

Finals' journal

La petite Bretonne

babolat

Café-Brossard

Caprina

Milles Merci! Gaétan Bono