Tennis Rules & Formats

1. The basics: court, kit and the point of the game

Tennis is played on a 78ft by 27ft court (widening to 36ft for doubles), divided across the middle by a net that stands 3ft 6in at the posts and dips to 3ft in the centre. Each half is split into a back area and two service boxes. You play either singles — one against one, the default — or doubles, two against two on the wider court.

The kit

A racket, a tin of balls, and shoes with the right sole for the surface (smooth-ish for hard courts; never black-soled on indoor flooring). That's genuinely it to play. Balls are pressurised felt spheres that lose their bounce within a few sessions once the tin's open, which is why clubs get through so many.

The objective

Win the point by making the ball bounce twice in your opponent's court, or forcing them to hit it out or into the net. A point starts with a serve, hit diagonally into the opposite service box. The receiver lets it bounce once, then it's live — after that, either player can volley (hit it before the bounce) or play it off one bounce, but never after two.

How a game works

One player serves for an entire game, alternating which service box they aim at each point (starting from the right, the "deuce" side). The serve switches to the other player for the next game, and so on. You get two serves per point: miss the box with the first and you take a second; miss again and it's a "double fault", losing the point. A serve that clips the net cord and still lands in is a let — replayed, no penalty. String enough points together to win a game, enough games to win a set, and enough sets to win the match. The scoring of all that is the bit that needs its own section.

2. Tennis scoring, explained properly

Tennis scoring is three nested layers — points make games, games make sets, sets make the match — and it's the points layer that throws everyone the first time.

Points within a game

You don't count 1, 2, 3. You count 15, 30, 40, game. Zero is called "love". So the first point you win is 15, the second 30, the third 40, and the fourth wins the game — provided you're at least two points clear. The server's score is always called first, so "30–15" means the server has two points to the receiver's one.

If both players reach 40, that's deuce, and now you must win by two clear points. Win the next point from deuce and you have the advantage ("ad in" if it's the server, "ad out" if it's the receiver); win the point after that and you take the game. Lose it and you're back to deuce. A tight game can swing through deuce half a dozen times.

Games within a set

The first player to six games wins the set, but must lead by two — so 6–4 wins, but 6–5 does not. At 6–6, almost all modern tennis plays a tie-break: first to 7 points (counted plainly, 1, 2, 3…), win by two, with players swapping serve every two points and ends every six. The tie-break can run well past 7 if it stays close — Wimbledon's famous marathons live here.

Sets within a match

A standard match is best of three sets — first to win two sets takes it, which is ClubLono's default for tennis. (Men's Grand Slam singles use best of five, but no club night should.) To shorten a deciding set, many formats replace the third set with a match tie-break: first to 10 points, win by two.

ClubLono scores tennis exactly this way — 15/30/40, deuce and advantage, sets to six with a tie-break at 6–6, best of three — so the standings on the app match what's actually happening on court, and you never have to settle a "what was the score?" argument from memory.

3. The rules people get wrong

Most club-night disputes come down to a handful of rules that are genuinely easy to misremember. Knowing these saves arguments.

• The serve must clear the net AND land in the diagonal box. A serve into the wrong box, or that lands in your own court, is a fault — not just "long". You get a second serve; two faults loses the point.
• A foot-fault is real. Touching or crossing the baseline before you strike the serve is a fault, even though almost nobody calls it at club level. Worth knowing exists.
• The ball can clip the net during a rally and still be in play — a net-cord winner counts. The "let" replay only applies to the serve touching the net.
• You can't catch or block a ball that's heading out. If you touch it before it bounces, you lose the point even if it was sailing long — let it bounce and call it out.
• In doubles, the serve still goes to alternating boxes, but only the designated receiver for that box can take it. Receivers can't swap mid-game.
• You change ends after every odd game (after the 1st, 3rd, 5th…). Forgetting and playing the wrong end is a common social-tennis muddle that's easy to sort if you track games properly.
• "40–40 is deuce, not game point for both." You must win by two from there. Conceding the game at the first point after 40–40 is the most common beginner scoring error.

4. Running a fair social session

A social tennis night lives or dies on rotation. Tennis matches naturally run long, and courts are scarce, so the failure mode is obvious: two evenly-matched regulars play a 90-minute three-setter while six people watch. A good format breaks games into short, rotating chunks so everyone plays a lot and nobody is stranded.

The recommended format: round robin

For a social session, a round robin is the format to reach for, and it's ClubLono's default for tennis. Over the night each player works through a series of short matches against different opponents (and, in doubles, with different partners), so by the end everyone has had a proper spread of games. The trick is keeping each match short enough to rotate — a single short set (first to four games), a single set to six, or a 10-point match tie-break per round. Set a clear "winners and losers both move on after one set" rule and the courts keep flowing.

Fair matchmaking

Rotation alone isn't enough if the draw is random — a beginner drawn against the club's best player has a miserable night. Pair players of similar standard where you can, and in doubles balance the teams (strongest with weakest) so the match stays competitive. ClubLono's built-in rating updates after every match and feeds the round-robin pairings, so groupings self-correct as the evening goes on without you running the numbers on a clipboard.

Sensible alternatives

• American doubles / "Canadian doubles" — quick rotating doubles games, great for uneven numbers and a livelier social feel.
• Winner-stays-on (king of the court) — the winning pair holds the court; losers rotate off. Fun and competitive, but it can leave weaker players queueing, so use a timer and a hard rotation cap.
• Timed rotations — everyone moves on every 12–15 minutes regardless of score. The bluntest tool, but unbeatable for guaranteeing court time when numbers are high.

5. League formats for individuals

Once you've a core of regulars who want more than a social hit, a structured competition gives the season a spine. Tennis is an individual sport, so these formats run player-versus-player (or pair-versus-pair in doubles) rather than team-versus-team.

Ladders

A ranked list where players challenge those a place or two above them; win and you swap positions. Pros: self-organising, runs all season, players arrange their own matches. Cons: the inactive drift down and keen players can get stuck behind someone who won't accept challenges. A "challenges must be played within two weeks or forfeited" rule keeps it honest.

Box leagues

Players are sorted into small "boxes" of four to six of similar standard; everyone in a box plays everyone else over a fixed period (a month, say), and the top one or two are promoted to the box above while the bottom are relegated. Pros: guaranteed games against your own level, clear deadlines, the most popular club format in British tennis for good reason. Cons: more admin to set up and to chase unplayed matches — exactly the part software should own.

Round robins

Everyone in a group plays everyone else once; most wins takes it. Ideal for a one-day club championship or a small division where you want a clear, complete table. It guarantees every entrant the same number of matches — nobody's knocked out after one bad set.

Knockouts

The classic club championship bracket — lose and you're out. Pros: simple, produces a champion, builds towards a finals day. Cons: half the field is gone after round one, so it works best as a season finale on top of a box league or ladder rather than as the only thing on offer. A plate competition for first-round losers softens the blow.

6. How ClubLono runs tennis

ClubLono is built around the way tennis actually plays. It scores the full system — 15/30/40, deuce and advantage, sets to six with a tie-break at 6–6, best of three by default — and lets you shorten to a single set, a short set or a match tie-break for social nights. You score on your phone as you play; the app keeps the running call and the standings so nobody has to remember whether it was 30–15 or 15–30.

For a social session it runs a round robin by default, pairing players from a queue nobody can jump and rebalancing as a built-in rating updates after each match. Switch the doubles toggle on and the same roster runs a doubles social instead — handy when numbers are high and you want four to a court. Standings update automatically, so the leaderboard at the end of the night is just there, no spreadsheet required.

Full leagues — ladders, box leagues, knockouts and round-robin divisions with automatic tables and fixtures — are a Premium feature. ClubLono is free for a single club with no time limit and no feature cliff, and on paid sessions the host receives the payment less Stripe's 1.5% + 20p and a 5% platform fee. Premium (£19.99/month or £199.99/year, with a 14-day free trial) drops that platform fee to 1% and unlocks leagues, multi-club hosting, kiosk mode, cross-club stats and DUPR export. So you can run a fair, fully-scored social night for nothing, and add a proper club ladder or box league when your regulars are ready for it.