ABOUT US
During 1980, SFTPL was formed as an independent, non-USTA affiliated, social tennis league for women’s Doubles team tennis in the San Francisco Bay Area and down the Peninsula. To this day SFPTL hosts teams home-based from San Francisco down into southern San Mateo County. The main tenets of SFPTL still hold today as they were confirmed since the League was formed: To promote and provide competitive and socially enjoyable ladies’ Doubles team tennis with the Regular Ladies tier and an additional age-appropriate tier – Seniors for 50 or + year old players - with the multi-divisional structure. The players’ abilities spread among the Divisions range from beginners up through very experienced and successful players, i.e., US Open (highest division) to Indian Wells (lowest tennis division). Within each Regular Ladies Division, the players’ abilities are grouped more narrowly to ensure that matches played are sociably enjoyable but still competitive and successful for each team.
Since SFTPL is an independent and not a formally incorporated league, the Board acknowledges annually the Division TEAM winners and TEAM losers via each season’s total accumulated team points. In most instances, the Divisional team winner – the team which has accumulated the most team points - ascends up to the next Division and the team loser – the team which has accumulated the least team points – usually descends down to the next Division for the following match play season.
SFPTL annual match play season is from September through the following May. Matches are scheduled on Mondays through Fridays with morning-hour start times. Each year by mid-June, new or returning teams register with the SFPTL Board by submitting a preliminary team roster, completed Team Registration application and the SFPTL assessed annual team registration fee. Qualifications of a SFPTL team player include but not limited to:
a) a woman over 25 years of age;
b) may be a beginner tennis player; may have played in college tennis;
c) interest and can play DOUBLES team tennis.
Although team captains may field team players with varying levels of playing experience or use USTA rankings to formulate their teams, the SFPTL Board, upon review of submitted team rosters, reserves the right to deem any player be appropriate or excluded from a sanctioned SFPTL team. Lastly, the SFPTL reviews the Rules and Regulations (R&R) annually with reference to ITF guidelines if necessary and holds a mandatory All Captains Meeting in August to review changes to the R&R and distributes the new season’s match play schedules.