Guide
How to run a platform tennis league
By Michael Montalbano, founder of Beleeg · Last updated
Most platform tennis leagues are team leagues: clubs enter teams of doubles players, and on match night two teams play three or more doubles courts, with the team that wins more courts taking the match. To run one, set divisions and a match night, collect rosters, build a home-and-away schedule for the winter, have captains set lineups and report scores each week, and keep standings with a tiebreaker order everyone agreed on.
The short version
- 1Set the divisions by level, usually 4 to 8 teams each.
- 2Agree on the match night and how many courts each match uses (three is common).
- 3Collect each team’s roster and name a captain.
- 4Build a home-and-away schedule from late fall through winter, skipping the holidays.
- 5Each week, captains set their pairs court by court, play, and report the scores.
- 6Keep standings with an agreed tiebreaker order, then finish with playoffs.
How does a platform tennis team match work?
In a platform tennis team match, two teams meet at one club and play several doubles courts at the same time. Each court is a full match, usually best of three sets, and the team that wins more courts wins the night.
Platform tennis is played outdoors in the cold months on a small raised deck surrounded by screens. Players may play the ball off the screens, and each server gets one serve. Scoring otherwise follows tennis.
Courts are ranked. Captains put their strongest pair on court 1, the next on court 2, and so on, so the best pairs meet each other.
What should I decide before the season?
A platform tennis league should settle the format, the scoring, the lineup rules, and the weather rule in writing before the first match, and send them to every captain.
- Divisions and how many teams in each.
- Courts per match: three is common; some leagues use two or four.
- Set scoring: regular sets with a tiebreak at 6–6, no-ad games to save time, a 10-point tiebreak instead of a third set, or one pro set to 8.
- How a match is counted: one point for each court won, plus a bonus point for winning the match, is a simple and fair choice.
- Lineup rules: pairs in order of strength, and whether a player may play on two courts in one night (usually not).
- Roster rules: how many players a team may carry, and how many matches a player needs to be eligible for playoffs.
- The weather rule: platform tennis is played in the cold, so decide who calls off a match for ice, heavy snow, or high wind, and by what time.
How should captains set lineups?
Platform tennis captains choose which pairs play on which court before the match, in order of strength, and share them with the other captain at the start of the night.
- Ask captains to confirm their players’ availability early in the week.
- Set a deadline for lineups, such as the afternoon of the match.
- If your league uses ratings, such as the APTA Platform Tennis Index (PTI), use them to decide court order. Check with your regional association about how results reach PTI.
- Keep a record of past lineups so captains can spread playing time fairly over the season.
How do I schedule a season across several clubs?
A platform tennis season across several clubs gives each team a home club, alternates home and away, and fits the matches around each club’s open courts and the holidays.
- Ask each club which nights and how many courts it can give the league.
- Block out Thanksgiving week and the weeks around Christmas and New Year’s before building the schedule.
- Play every other team once at home and once away if the season is long enough.
- Leave at least one make-up date near the end for matches called off by weather.
What does a sample weekly schedule look like?
This sample platform tennis schedule shows the first half of a season for a 6-team division, one match a week on three courts. The second half repeats the same pairings with home and away swapped.
| Week | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team A vs Team F | Team B vs Team E | Team C vs Team D |
| 2 | Team E vs Team A | Team F vs Team D | Team B vs Team C |
| 3 | Team A vs Team D | Team E vs Team C | Team F vs Team B |
| 4 | Team C vs Team A | Team D vs Team B | Team E vs Team F |
| 5 | Team A vs Team B | Team C vs Team F | Team D vs Team E |
| Holidays | No matches | ||
| 6–10 | Same pairings as weeks 1–5, home and away swapped | ||
| 11 | Make-up date |
A typical night: 7:00 warm-up, 7:15 play starts on all three courts, and the last court finishes around 8:45. The home captain reports the scores that night.
How should standings and tiebreakers work?
Platform tennis standings rank teams by points, then break ties with head-to-head, then court difference, then set difference, then game difference.
Court difference is courts won minus courts lost over the season. It rewards teams that win their matches clearly and still counts close losses.
Set and game difference only work if every court’s full score is reported, not just who won. Ask captains to enter the set scores every time.
Where Beleeg helps
Everything above works with a spreadsheet and a group text. If you would rather not keep them up to date by hand, this is what Beleeg does for you:
- Platform tennis is set up already: doubles courts (one to five per match), best of three sets with a tiebreak at 6–6, and no-ad, 10-point third-set tiebreak, or pro set to 8 if you prefer.
- Captains set their pairs court by court, report scores from a phone, and the other captain can confirm or dispute them.
- The schedule builder asks for your first match date, how many games each team plays, how often and on which days, and the start time. Block out holidays and the season moves later so every team still gets all its games. You see the whole schedule, game by game, before you save it.
- Standings count courts won and lost, and break ties in the order you choose: head-to-head, court difference, set difference, game difference, and more.
- Your league decides who may move a match: admins only, the two captains by agreement, or the captains with an admin’s approval.
- Each team gets a chat, and you can email a whole division’s captains at once.
- At season’s end, run the playoffs as a bracket: single elimination, with a consolation bracket, or a three-match guarantee.
- Free for organizers, and we move your league over for you from a spreadsheet.
Choosing software for your league? Read the best league management software for adult and rec leagues, or compare Beleeg with TeamSnap, LeagueApps, or SportsEngine.