Tag Team Tennis Competitions
(presented by Mike Barrell, Great Britain)
What is Tag Team Tennis?
Tag Team Tennis is a singles tournament but played in pairs. Players switch places after every 4 points. Matches are organised in a round robin box.
Organiser tips
COURTS AND PLAYERS: Put all players into pairs and then give each player a number, either 1 or 2. Then give each pair a letter (eg A, B, C). Put all pairs into round robin boxes of 4 or 5 pairs (use 2 boxes if you have too many players).
SCORING: Each match is best of 3 tiebreaks to 7 points. Players play singles but swap with their partner after every 4 points, the tiebreak score keeps going (eg Player 1 from pair A plays against Player 2 from pair B, the score gets to 3-1 and then Player 2 from each pair takes over – they get to 5-3 and the Player 1’s come back on)
SCORESHEETS: Enter scores in round robin boxes (see next page)
Activity
ORDER OF PLAY: Follow the order of play on the scoresheet (see next page). At the start of the first tiebreak in each match it should be the Player 1’s from each pair who start. In the second tiebreak it should be the Player 1 from 1 pair and the Player 2 from the other. This ensures that each player plays both opponents from the opposite pair.
Make sure you enforce the order in which players start on court, and that they switch after every 4 points in a tiebreak
AT THE END: The winner of each box is the one with the most match wins. If tied, then decide the winner on:
- % of tiebreaks won (calculation = tiebreaks won divided by total tiebreaks played x 100) if still equal…
- Match result between the 2 tied players
If running more than 1 box, you can run a final for the winning pairs, but for younger children this is not suitable.
NB – The % of matches won calculation is very simple to do, don’t be scared by the maths
Adapt the Format
Many formats can easily be adapted to suit players aged under 10, mixed ages, teams and to be a more or less competitive event.
Download ‘ADAPTING COMPETITION’ for a quick and easy guide to adapting this format to suit your needs.
Themes
Many competitions are more fun and easier to promote if they have a theme such as Davis Cup, Olympics or Family Day attached.
Download ‘ADDING THEMES’ for ideas.
Sample Round Robin Boxes – (Photocopy for extras)
