The By-Laws of the World Medical Tennis Society
ARTICLE I Scientific Programs:
The WMTS will cooperate with the Sports and Preventive Medicine Society in the presentation of scientific programs at the annual meetings.
ARTICLE II Tennis Programs:
| A) | The World Medical Tennis Championship will be conducted under the rules of play of the ITF (International Tennis Federation). | |
| B) | The World Cup format shall be as follows: | |
| 1) | Categories for female and male physicians – SINGLES: Open, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, 80+, 85+. | |
| 2) | Categories for female and male physicians and their spouses – DOUBLES and MIXED DOUBLES: Open, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, 80+, 85+. | |
| 3) | Categories for non-MD spouses – SINGLES: female Open, 40+, 50+, 60+, 70+, male Open. | |
| 4) | If the number of participants in any Singles/Doubles age group (except 40+) is <3, it should be combined with younger age group. If 40+ age group has <3 participants, it should be combined with 45+ age group. | |
| 5) | Singles/Doubles format of play: 8 or more players or doubles teams – a knockout draw with consolation tournament; 4-7 players or doubles teams – the event organizers may choose either a knockout draw with consolation tournament or Round Robin format: 4-5 players – 1 group, 6-7 players – 2 groups with final match; 3 players or doubles teams – Round Robin format. | |
| 6) | Each contestant is limited to 3 events: 1 singles, 1 doubles, and 1 mixed doubles. Depending on the event organizers’ decision and courts availability players may be allowed to participate in 2 same category events in different age groups (WD, MD, or XD), the maximum number of categories is 3. | |
| 7) | Consolation competition for players who lost in the first round shall be scheduled in all events. If a player draws a bye and then loses in 2nd round, he/she is eligible for consolation tournament. If a player wins the first match by w/o, he/she is eligible for consolation tournament. Players must report their intention to participate in consolation tournament to the Tournament Referee immediately after the lost match. | |
| 8) | Scoring: 2 tie-break sets, and 10 points match tie-break instead of a 3rd set, no-ad in doubles. Both sets in Consolation matches start from 2:2. The host nation may adopt special scoring if necessary to complete the tournament. Change of ends in tie-break after every 6 points. | |
| C) | The Nations’ Cup format (male and female): | |
| 1) | Categories: Open singles, 55+ singles, and 45+ doubles. | |
| 2) | The Nations’ Cup events shall start on Monday. | |
| 3) | Scoring: 2 tie-break sets and a 10-point match tie-break instead of a third set. | |
| 4) | Any country may choose to play 2, 3, or 4 players/round. | |
| D) | Eligibility: | |
| 1) | Participation is restricted to physicians, dental doctors, spouses, and significant others. Children of physicians, dental doctors can only participate in separate children’s tournaments which are highly recommended. | |
| 2) | Non-MD spouses may only compete in non-MD singles tournament and in one doubles’ tournament joining his/her spouse. | |
| 3) | Participants represent countries of their citizenship. | |
| 4) | The official delegate of each nation in attendance shall be responsible for certifying the eligibility of the members of that nation’s contestants. | |
| E) | WMTS rankings: | |
| 1) | Annual WMTS rankings (singles, doubles, mixed doubles, Nations’ Cup) are made and accepted by the EC of the WMTS and shall be used by the tournament organizers in seeding of players/teams. | |
| 2) | The last 5 WMTS tournaments shall be considered for all rankings. In singles, doubles and mixed doubles only the best 3 player’s results are counted. In Nations’ Cup all last 5 years are counted, and the points value decreases each year. | |
| 3) | Allocation of ranking points: singles, doubles, mixed doubles – knockout draw: winner – 20, final – 14, semifinal – 10, (no win – 5), 1/4 final – 8 (no win – 4), 1/8 final – 6 (with win), 1/16 final – 4 (with win). Consolation winner – 4, final – 3 (with win), semifinal – 2 (with win). Participant who has played in the tournament – 1. Players from semifinal and 1/4 final with no win who play consolation receive additional consolation points (at least 1). w/o counts as a win. | |
| 4) | Allocation of ranking points: singles, doubles, mixed doubles – Round Robin draw (1 group): winner – 20, 2nd – 14, 3rd – 11, 4th – 9, 5th – 8, 6th – 7, 7th – 6. Round Robin (2 groups): 2nd in a group – 10, 3rd in a group – 7,5, 4th in a group – 6. If player has no wins – 50% of points. w/o counts as a win. | |
| 5) | In singles the total ranking points are the sum of player’s best 3 singles results in the last 5 WMTS Championships. | |
| 6) | In doubles and mixed doubles the total ranking points are the sum of player’s best 3 doubles (or mixed doubles) results plus 50% of singles points. | |
| 7) | If the player moves to the older age category 100% of ranking points are moved too. | |
| 8) | Allocation of ranking points: Nations’ Cup: winner – 100, final – 80, semifinal – 60, 1/4 final – 40 (no win – 20), 1/8 final (with win) – 20, participation – 10. Calculation of points: 100% for previous year, 80% 2 years ago, 60% 3 years ago, 40% 4 years ago, 20% 5 years ago. The Nations’ Cup ranking points are the sum of calculation from all last 5 years. | |
| F) | Seeding: | |
| 1) | Players in MD singles categories are seeded accordingly to their ranking positions (points). | |
| 2) | If any age group is combined with the younger age group or if any player decides to play in younger age group the amount of ranking points used for seeding is deducted by: 1 age group – singles 30%, doubles 15%, 2 age groups – singles 60%, doubles 30%, 3 age groups – singles 90%, doubles 45%, more – singles 100%, doubles every group – another 15%. | |
| 3) | Players who have won in one of last 5 WMTS singles championships with ranking position lower than 3 should be seeded starting from #3. High level players who have not participated at the WMTS championships and have been ranked WTA or ATP top 1000 or ITF Seniors top 100 in the current year can be seeded from #3 by the decision of the WMTS EC. | |
| 4) | In doubles and mixed doubles the sum of players’ ranking points is used for seeding. | |
| 5) | The number of seeded players/doubles teams: 3 participants – no seeds, 4-10 participants – 2 seeds (or 3 if 7 participants in Round Robin), 11-20 participants – 4 seeds, 21-40 participants – 8 seeds, 41 and more participants – 16 seeds. | |
| 6) | The order of seeding: 1; 2; 3-4; 5-8; 9-16. | |
| 7) | At the drawing procedure seeded and other players from the same nation shall be distributed as much as technically possible to avoid meeting each other in early rounds. | |
| G) | Awards: | |
| 1) | The organizers decide the kind of awards. Medals or prizes are awarded to main tournaments’ winners, finalists, and semifinalists and to consolation winners and finalists in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. | |
| 2) | Nations’ Cup winners, female and male, receive Challenge Cups. Up to five players of the winners’, finalists’, and semifinalists’ teams who have played or registered for playing in the Nations’ Cups are awarded medals or prizes. | |
| H) | Disputes: | |
| If disputes arise, the Tournament Director shall inform the Executive Committee members present. The Tournament Director will have cell phone numbers of the Executive Committee. The EC shall settle the dispute | ||
ARTICLE III The Host Nation:
| A) | To secure the privilege of hosting an annual meeting of the WMTS, a member nation shall submit a written proposal to the Board of Directors at any official meeting. The proposal shall spell out the capability of the petitioner to supply an adequate number of courts, lodging, and other necessary items to conduct a successful meeting. |
| B) | The host nation is responsible solely for the fiscal arrangements of its meeting. The WMTS officers and directors are not responsible for the fiscal arrangements. |
| C) | The host nation shall arrange an appropriate meeting place for the annual meeting of the Board of Directors. |
| D) | The host nation shall pay 5 EUR for each player (MD and non-MD) to the WMTS account to cover expenses for website maintenance and other WMTS expenses during the year. |
| E) | The host nation shall waive the registration fee for both the WMTS President and Executive Secretary. |
| F) | The host nation shall require participants to sign waivers that they are responsible for their own health and are participating at their own risk. |
| G) | If no sponsor(s) can be found to host the Presidents’ Dinner, then each President must pay for his/her own dinner. |
| H) | On any WMTS application/booking form including personal data have the following statement: I have read and understand the privacy policy statement with the WMTS Constitution, and I agree to it. |
| I) | The host nation shall serve as the organizer of the Sports and Preventive Medicine Society scientific sessions. |
June 2025