Guidelines for Time Controlled Round Robin Tournaments
By Dan O'Connell (ITF Development Officer for Pacific Oceania)
Tennis tournaments often demand the full weekend with players spending most time off-court rather than on-court. The round robin system described below will provide all players a great amount of tennis in only two to three hours. Follow these guidelines (with your variations) and your players will enjoy a quick, competitive and efficient round robin tournament.
1. BE ON TIME:
If a player is late for a round robin tournament s/he will not play. All juniors’ and their parents must understand this point. The clock ticks the same for everyone – avoid disappointment, arrive fifteen minutes early, not one minute late. All players also need to inform the tournament director once they know they will not participate.
2. NO ADD SCORING:
When playing a pro set of seven, nine or eleven games the disadvantage of deuce scoring is the "waiting time" between the end of all matches in one round and the beginning of the next round of matches. No add scoring reduces the amount of dead time.
3. THE RATIO OF COURTS, PLAYERS AND NUMBER OF PRO SET GAMES DETERMINE THE APPROXIMATE COMPETITION TIME:
How much time is needed to complete a round robin tournament? Examples:
A. 2 courts - 5 players - 11 game pro set (44 games each) = 3 - 3 1/4 hours
B. 3 courts - 6 players - 9 game pro set (45 games each) = 3 - 3 1/4 hours
C. 3 courts - 7 players - 7 game pro set (42 games each) = 3 hours
Reduce A, B or C pro sets by two games: competition time = 2 1/2 hours
D. 2 courts - 5 players - 5 game pro set (20 games each) = 1 1/2 hours
E. 3 courts - 6 players - 5 game pro set (25 games each) = under 2 hours
F. 3 courts - 7 players - 5 game pro set (30 games each) = 2 - 2 1/4 hours
4. FOLLOW THE SCORING SHEET ORDER OF PLAY CORRECTLY:
A five-person round robin will have five rounds of play, with each player receiving a bye round. If the correct order of play has not been observed a time management problem will occur in the final rounds. The correct order of play will see the #1 and the #2 seeded players compete against each other in the final round. The best players deserve to play each other in the last round. The order of play appears on the scoring sheet below.
5. THE TOURNAMENT WINNER IS DETERMINED BY GAMES W/L RATIO NOT BY MATCHES W/L:
A five person round robin with a pro set of eleven games means 44 games are played by all. If player #1 wins 30 games and loses 14 games his/her score is +16. If player #4 wins 15 games and loses 29 games his/her score is -14. On the scoring sheet "games won" are totaled under the + column and "games lost" are totaled under the - column. This format encourages players to win all games!
6. COUNT THE SCORE CORRECTLY:
Often the score is not counted correctly. Double check! In a completed scoring sheet, under the column "score" add up the plus scores and add up the minus scores. The total of each will equal the same number. If these two scores do not equal the same number a mistake has been made - recount everything!
7. PLACE PLAYER NAMES ON THE SCORING SHEET PROPERLY:
The order in which the names appear on the round robin scoring sheet will make a difference to the players. It is important to place players in the order of strength (#1 strongest and #6 weakest). The final results of the previous weeks round robin is seen by the players as a fair way to seed the players on the scoring sheet.
8. PRO SETS MUST BE OF AN ODD NUMBER OF GAMES:
Imagine player #1 and player #2 are tied with a +16 score. With an odd amount of games played in their head-to-head match a winner will be determined, however if an even amount of games were played and split these players are still tied. In a competitive situation all matches need to produce a winner - never a tie.
9. 75% PLAY AND 25% WATCH:
If five players are playing their round robin on two courts all players play 80% of the time and they sit and watch 20%. Once the "watching time" become more than 25%, the tournament becomes less enjoyable. Players come to play, not to sit.
10. ROUND ROBINS - LARGE GROUPS VS SMALL GROUPS:
Large groups are normally not as efficient. However, a ten-person tiebreaker round robin is a good way to divide the players for the next round robin. The tiebreaker results place the players into the stronger group (Pool A) or the weaker group (Pool B). Smaller Pools of players allow longer length pro sets and they are composed of players with a similar ability.
11. ROUND ROBINS WITH THREE OR FOUR POOLS:
An eight-court facility can be divided into four, two-court round robin Pools. With five players in a Pool, 20 players can participate. A six-court facility has the option of three, two-court round robin Pools or two, three-court round robin Pools. Of course, all Pools start matches at the same time and all Pools should also finish the round robin tournament at the same time.
12. PLAYER MOVEMENT BETWEEN POOLS:
The winner of Pool B will be placed in the bottom position of Pool A in the next round robin and the low score of Pool B will be placed in the top of Pool C. In a short time this movement between Pools arranges skill level evenly.
13. THE WEEKEND ROUND ROBIN RESULTS DETERMINE PAIRINGS FOR THE WEEKDAY CHALLENGE MATCHES:
Time permitting a weekday challenge match can fine tune the system mentioned in point #11. In the five-person Pool A round robin, the #1 and #2 finishers will play a weekday challenge match as will the #3 and #4 players. The #5 finisher will play against the winner of Pool B. The winner of that match will be placed in Pool A in the next weekend round robin and the loser will become the #1 seeded player in Pool B. Weekday challenge matches are also arranged for the players in Pool B and Pool C.
14. ROUND ROBINS WITH MYSTERY GUESTS:
In order to provide fresh, new competition invite players from the community to play in the round robins. One mystery guest can be placed into each Pool. Mystery guests often provide the competitive lesson juniors need and sometimes the younger player will surprise the local adult. Win or lose, the invited guest system builds teamwork between players of all tennis programs.
15. AFTER MATCH PROCEEDURES:
Balls are placed on the service line, the players shake hands and the winner immediately reports the score to the tournament director. Players will begin their next round robin match within five minutes. Get ready tiger!