The Tour is a Social Network and League that allows you to connect to tennis players all over the US.

There are two components:

1. Always FREE Players Gallery and Exhibition match play
2. Tennis Tour Leagues - many FREE

 

Overview - About the Tour
Players Gallery

Find a Match
Find a Match

Connect with Players
Events
Groups
5 List
Instructors

Exhibition Match Play
Exhibition Match Play
Point System
TennisTour Points Levels
Peer Ratings

League Play
Leagues
League Schedule
League Benefits
Peer Ratings

Sign Up - New Tennis Tour Members

Overview

The original concept of the Tennis Tour was created around 1995 by myself, Brent Weyer. I didn't like the fact that the only way to find players to play was to join a tennis club. I wanted a way to find players to play at local public courts. So I created the Puget Sound Tennis Tour originally for Seattle players. This has been a hobby of mine that I've enjoyed doing for the past 15+ years. Around 2007 the Tennis Tour expanded Nation wide and has quickly grown to over 7000 players.

The goal of the Tennis Tour is to make setting up and playing tennis as easy as possible by providing multiple player connection tools with a bit of friendly competition mixed in.

The majority of the website will always be free with the goal of making everything free. The only charges are for the leagues/events that require someone to specifically review scores, manage events, or pay for courts, prizes etc.

Take a look around and check back often. New features and upgrades are always being added.

Enjoy the tennis

Sincerely,

Brent

 

FREE Players Gallery - Find Players to Play Today

• Set up your own network of tennis friends
• Receive friendly invitations to play matches from the automated match scheduler
• Search and contact players based on match time and location preferences

Find a Match

• Use this page to find someone to play
• The page will send email invitations to everyone matching your time and location preferences
• Tip: If you are in a small league you should send invitations to all players, not just league members
• Logon and Find a Match

TennisTour Events

Players can create Tennis Tour events and signup for events. Events can be used for tennis instruction, drop in tennis events, mixers, or other type of events. You can join events by going to the events link and signing up.

Go to Events

TennisTour Groups

Groups are set up in most cities. Anyone can create a group. You can post messages to group pages that get emailed to all group members. Groups can be set as private for use with USTA teams or other local groups.

Go to Groups

5 List

The 5 closest players sorted by last login near you. This is a great list to start with when trying to find someone to play. This shows up at the players gallery.

Peer Ratings

Players rate their opponents after each match using a form that is emailed out automatically after the winner reports the score. The rating system uses the previous 10 ratings. This is a good way to find out if an opponent is rated fun to play and the level their opponents have rated their game.

Instructors Near You

See the instructors near you. Players are invited to identify them as instructors for FREE. Tennis Tour players are always looking for instructors. This is a great way to make yourself available.

FREE Exhibition Match Play

• Each player that signs up to the TennisTour starts with 1000 Tour Points.
• Play a match against any player then visit their page to submit an exhibition match win.
• Earn TennisTour ranking points for each win. Points are based on the Elo points system with additional points awarded for winning in straight sets and winning more games.
• Every league match win also counts for TennisTour ranking points in addition to league ranking points.

Point System

P-Rank (points ranking) is based on the Elo ranking system.

The factors taken into consideration when calculating a player's new point rating are:

• The player's current points
• The number of sets and percentage games won
• The result of the match
• The expected result of the match
• The current ladder ranking

The new points are based on the following formulae:

Rn = Ro + KG(W − We)

or

P = KG(W − We)

Where;

Rn	= The new player total points
Ro	= The old player total points
K	= Weight index regarding current ladder ranking
G	= A number related to sets won and % games won.
W	= The result of the match
We	= The expected result
P	= Points Change

G - Bonus for strength of win

If match goes 3 sets then G = 1, regardless of number of games won.

If it's a straight set win:

G=2 if percentage games won is over 80%

G=1.5 if percentage games won is between 70-80%

Otherwise G =1.25 for a straight set win

K = 20

 

Result of match

W is the result of the game (1 for a win and 0 for a loss).

Expected result of match

We is the expected result from the following formula:

where dr equals the difference in points. So dr of 0 gives 0.5, of 120 gives 0.666 to the higher ranked team and 0.334 to the lower, and of 800 gives 0.99 to the higher ranked team and 0.01 to the lower.

All players start out with 1000 points. So at the beginning of the season everyone is ranked No. 1 with regards to points.

TennisTour Points Levels

• 2200+ | Elite-Master
• 2000-2199 | Master
• 1900-1999 | Elite
• 1700-1899 | Veteran
• 1500-1699 | Pro
• 1300-1499 | Semi-Pro
• 1100-1299 | Amateur
• Below 1100 | Rookie

The point levels will be used increasingly to match players up. This feature was added Jan 2010. See Exhibition play section for more information on the point system.

Tennis Tour Leagues - Track your Rankings and Play Competitive Tennis in every major city

Sign Up
You can add on a tennis tour league membership to your basic tennis tour account from your Players Gallery profile page.

Format
The first months of the league sessions are open challenge play. You challenge players to earn points and move up in the rankings. The final month and a half include round robin playoffs in masters cup format, just like the pros.

The league works great for active players because it provides the best flexibility to schedule and play as many matches as you like at locations you agree to play. You set up the matches convenient to you by using one of the many website tools like Challenge Mail, Match Finder, Player's Message Boards, and Direct Email. I think you find this league style format works great for singles competition because it provides you with complete control of your tennis schedule and competition.

Time Commitment
You can play as much or as little as you like. You might play once a week or every day. You set the schedule. If you are away on vacation, no problem, just set your status to UNAVAILABLE to avoid challenge mail and match requests. You will want to play at least once very two weeks to stay at the top of the rankings in the most active leagues to avoid dropping due to the two week rule.

Commitment to Play
If you sign up be ready to play and also be ready to respond to email requests to play.

Locations
You choose where you play because you set up the matches. If you challenge someone it's typical to play at a location most convenient to the person you challenge.

Skill Levels
We break the league into three levels.

A (4.0+) High School Varsity to College Level
B (3.0-3.5) Intermediate
C (below 3.0) Beginner Always FREE

Tiers
As you can see the levels are fairly broad. That's why we have Tiers which are groups of eight players. As the season progresses the players move into the appropriate levels by playing matches. You will find that competition is very close within a Tier by the end of the season. The playoffs are set up based on the Tiers.

Ranking System
The ranking system combines simple ladder ranking with a points based system. Your Tour Rank is the average of your ladder rank and your point ranking. Here is a detailed look at the ranking system and rules.

Masters Cup Playoffs
Finish it off like the pros. Eight person draws are set up for everyone based on the current tour rankings. Play three round robin matches to qualify for the semi finals rounds.

Tour Features:

• Automated Match Scheduler to send invitations to players matching your match location and time preferences
• Challenge Email - Encourages response to your challenges. Players have one week to respond or drop three spots :)
• Weekly Newsletter
• Detailed Player Stats - Compare player performance by Tier. Great for Scouting.
• Masters Cup Format Championship Tournament
• Play anyone in your division - You might start at the bottom of the rankings but you can play the top players.
• Unlimited Tennis
• Players show up to play - Because players agree to the match time and location no-shows are rare.

Schedule
Aussie Session Feb-Aprill
Feb-March 15th: Challenge Matches
April: Playoffs in Master Cup Format
Sign up anytime prior to April 1st

French Session May-September
May-August 15th: Challenge Matches
September: Playoffs in Master Cup Format
Sign up anytime prior to August 1st

US Open Session Oct-Jan
October-Dec 15th: Challenge Matches
January: Playoffs in Master Cup Format
Sign up anytime prior to Dec 1st