The goal is to have balanced tournaments as much as possible, in which all players are challenged and have an opportunity to win or at least reach later stages of the tournament. There is not much benefit for a new tennis player facing an advanced one. It becomes a one-sided match that is not fun for either party.

To keep this balance, a few things have been implemented:

• Ranking system
  • This is our main tool to keep a balanced tournament. Players are ranked based on how many points they have, which are earned by playing tournaments and reaching different stages of such tournaments.
  • Ranking points are accumulated for the last 4 tournaments only, which reflects a player’s performance for the last year.
    • At the beginning of a 5th tournament, points accumulated on the 1st tournament as phased out, allowing points earned in the 5th tournament become the new 4th tournament (4-tournament point system). This process repeats for every new tournament being played.
• Divisions
  • We have a wide range of players’ skill levels, from those new to the game to those who have been playing for many years. To avoid beginners facing advanced players, we have implemented Divisions.
  • Divisions simply divide players more according to their skill level. For example, Division 1 is comprised of more advanced players, Division 2 of intermediate players, Division 3 of beginner players, etc.
  • Tournaments are played by Division, meaning that players only face others in their same Division and there is a winner for each Division (The Championships is the only tournament exception to this).
  • Players are placed in Divisions according to their ranking. A lower-ranked player cannot be placed on a higher Division than a higher-ranked player.
  • At the end of each tournament, Divisions are rebalanced based on the updated rankings. This means that some players will move up while some players will move down in Divisions.
    • Exception 1: Tournament award winners (those players who finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place) will automatically earn promotion to the next Division, even if they don’t have the points necessary to move up.
      • If necessary, their points will be increased to the same number of points as the lowest-ranked player in the Division they got promoted to.
    • Exception 2: A player can only move 1 Division higher or lower from the last one they played in, even if their Ranking Points place them somewhere else.
    • Exception 3: Females and minors can choose to stay in Division 2 or lower, even if their Ranking Points qualify them for Division 1.
• New players placement
  • We get new players every tournament. Just like current players, new players can be beginners to the game or seasoned players.
  • To continue keeping the balance, new players are placed in a Division that makes the most sense for their skill level based on whatever information we know about the new player. In some cases, a “try-out” match is scheduled to better determine their level.
• New players points
  • Ranking points are accumulated for the last 4 tournaments. This means that new players (with no ranking points) are at a huge disadvantage as other players would have hundreds or even thousands of points already.
  • This creates a problem since new more advanced players would not have enough points to stay in a higher Division, which would cause them to drop to a lower Division and create an imbalance there.
  • To remediate this, new players are automatically given, to start, the same number of points as the lowest-ranked player in the Division they enter. For example, a new player entering Division 1 would receive, to start, the same number of points as the lowest ranked player in Division 1. If such player has 1000 points, then the new player receives 1000 points as well.
  • Starting points for new players are divided across the 3 tournaments prior to the one the start playing on. This allows points to be phased out in equal measure following the 4-tournament point system.
• Returning players
  • We’ll have situations in which players will not participate on a tournament (injury, travel, etc.), but then return for another tournament.
  • Similar to new players, this can create a problem in which more advanced players don’t have enough points (due to missing tournaments) to stay on a higher Division and in turn create an imbalance on a lower Division.
  • To remediate this, previous players who opt-out of a tournament, will still receive the Base points for such tournament.
  • Players who miss 4 consecutive tournaments are treated as a new player upon return.
• Base points
  • Base points are given to all players at the start of a tournament.
  • The amount of base points receive varies by Division, with higher Divisions receiving more.
  • Without base points, about half of the players from a lower Division would receive more points than half the players from a higher Division. This would create a high movement of players between Divisions, contributing to an imbalance. Base points help to narrow the gap and contribute to the overall balance between Divisions.