REGULATIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF LAWN-TENNIS PRIZE MEETINGS.
1.—At Prize Meetings promoted by associations or clubs affiliated to the Lawn-Tennis Association, the laws of lawn-tennis for the time being sanctioned by the Lawn-Tennis Association, and the regulations hereinafter contained, shall be observed.
2.—All details connected with any Prize Meeting shall be settled by the Committee of the club holding the meeting, or by a Committee specially appointed for the purpose, of whom two, or such larger number as the Committee may determine, shall form a quorum.
3.—A circular shall be issued by the Committee specifying the conditions of the competition (see Recommendation 5).
4.—No cheques, orders for money, or cash payments in any form shall be given as prizes, and the amount actually paid for each prize shall in no case be below the advertised value of the same.
5.—The Committee shall elect a Referee, with power to appoint a substitute to be approved by them.
6.—The Referee, or such other member or members of the Committee as may be selected for the purpose, shall have power to appoint Umpires, and the Referee shall decide any point of law which an Umpire may profess himself unable to decide, or which may be referred to him on appeal from the decision of an Umpire.
7.—The Referee shall, during the Meeting, be ex-officio a member of the Committee.
8.—The Courts shall be allotted to the Competitors, and the Competitors shall be called upon to play, by a member or members of the Committee, to be selected for the purpose, and in case of disagreement the Committee shall decide.
9.—The Committee shall help to keep order on the ground, and shall consult and decide upon any question arising out of the competition, if summoned for that purpose by the Referee or by any two of their number; and they shall have power, when so convened, the misconduct of a Competitor having been reported to them by a member of the Committee or an Umpire, to disqualify the offender, and further to order him off the ground, should his misconduct appear to them to justify such action, but before such action shall be taken, an opportunity of offering an explanation shall be afforded to the Competitor whose misconduct has been reported to them.
10.—It is the duty of an Umpire—
a. To ascertain that the net is at the right height before the commencement of play, and to measure and adjust the net during play, if asked to do so, or if, in his opinion, its height has altered;
b. To call the faults (subject to Regulation 11);
c. To call the strokes when won, or when he is asked to call them, and to record them on the Umpire's second sheet;[9]
d. To call the games and the sets at the end of each, or when asked to call them, and to record them on the Umpire's scoring sheet;
NOTE.—At the end of each game the games should be called with the name of the player who is in advance, thus: "2 games to 1, B. wins," or "B. leads." If the games are level the score should be called thus, "3 games all," or as the case may be. At the end of each set the sets should be called in like manner.
e. To direct the competitors to change sides, in accordance with Law 23;
f. When appealed to, during a rest, whether a doubtful ball is "in-play" or not, to call "Play it out," and at the conclusion of the rest, to give his decision (subject to Regulation 11) or direct the Competitors to play the stroke again;
g. To decide all doubtful or disputed strokes, and all points of law (subject to Regulations 11 and 12);
h. In handicap matches to call the odds at the commencement of each set;
i. To sign the Umpire's scoring sheets, and to deliver them at the conclusion of the match to such person as the Committee may authorize to receive them;
Provided, that no omission of any of the foregoing duties on the part of an Umpire shall of itself invalidate a game or match.
11.—It is the duty of a Line-Umpire to call faults and to decide strokes relating to the line for which he is appointed Umpire, and to such line only.
12.—The decision of an Umpire shall be final upon every question of fact, and no Competitor may appeal from it; but if an Umpire be in doubt as to a point of law, or if a Competitor appeal against his decision on such a point, the Umpire shall submit to it the Referee, whose decision shall be final.
13.—The Referee shall not bet on a match, nor shall an Umpire on a match in which he is acting, and if an objection for this or any other reason be made to a Referee or Umpire, either before or during the match, by a member of the Committee or a Competitor, the match, if begun, shall, if necessary, be at once stopped by the Referee or two members of the Committee, who shall take the opinion of the Committee on the objection, and the Committee shall have power to remove or suspend the Referee or Umpire so objected to; provided that the decision of the majority of the Committee present shall be final, and that the Referee or Umpire so objected to (if a member of the Committee) shall not be at liberty to vote on the question.
14.—No competitor may transfer his entry to another player.
15.—Competitors shall have a right, by themselves or their deputies, to be present at the draw.
16.—The draw shall be conducted in the following manner:—Each Competitor's name shall be written on a separate card or paper, and these shall be placed in bowl or hat, drawn out one by by one at random, and copied on a list in the order in which they have been drawn.
17.—When the number of Competitors is 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, or any higher power of 2, they shall meet in pairs, in accordance with the system shown by the following diagram:
| 1st Round. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | } | 2nd Round. | ||||
| } | ——————B | } | ||||
| B | } | } | 3rd Round. | |||
| } | ——————D | } | ||||
| C | } | } | } | |||
| } | ——————D | } | } | |||
| D | } | } | ||||
| } | ——————D | |||||
| E | } | } | ||||
| } | ——————F | } | } | |||
| F | } | } | } | |||
| } | ——————F | } | ||||
| G | } | } | ||||
| } | ——————H | } | ||||
| H | } | |||||
18.—When the number of Competitors is not a power of 2, there shall be byes in the first round. The number of byes shall be equal to the difference between the number of competitors and the next higher power of 2; and the number of pairs that shall meet in the first round shall be equal to the difference between the number of Competitors and the next lower power of 2. The byes, if even in number, shall be divided, as the names are drawn, in equal proportions at the top and bottom of the list, above and below the pairs; if uneven in number, there shall be one more bye at the bottom than at the top. Thus, in