Summer, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Phillips Academy is located at 180 Main Street (Route 28), Andover, Massachusetts. The campus is south of Andover center, and the varsity tennis courts are toward the southern end of the campus, behind the Pan Athletic Building, and are not visible from the road.

    Coming from the north on Main Street: Pass through Andover center and the northern part of the the Phillips Academy campus. Take the second left after the bell tower onto Dwight Street, and park behind the Pan Athletic Building.

    Coming from the south on Main Street: Before reaching the Phillips Academy campus proper, take the first right after Hidden Road (which enters Main Street only on the left), then take a right on Dwight Street, and park behind the Pan Athletic Building.

    Map of Phillips Academy: https://www.andover.edu/map

  • The Andover Tennis Club welcomes players of all skill levels. That said, most members who play regularly have NRTP ratings between 3.0 and 4.0. Essentially, if you can just rally consistently with some pace, you'll fit in toward the low end. If you are or were a strong college player, you probably won't feel consistently challenged.

  • Before you begin, you will need a link inviting you to join the Andover Tennis Club WhatsApp community. You’ll get an email with the link after you join ATC. (It’s not automated, so it may take a day or two.) Members can also email Jeff Brooks at JeffBrooksATC@gmail.com to request an email with the invitation link.

    [1] Install WhatsApp on your phone:

    • On your phone, install WhatsApp from the app store and create an account for yourself.

    [2] Join the Andover Tennis Club WhatsApp community:

    • On you phone, open your email program, and open the invitation link email.

    • Click the Andover Tennis Club WhatsApp Invitation link. (This opens a web page in your phone's browser.)

    • Click "Open App" in the web page. (This opens WhatsApp to a screen asking if you want to join the ATC community.)

    • Click to confirm that you want to join. (This opens the ATC community screen where you'll see a number of group chats.)

    [3] Every community member is automatically enrolled in two chats:

    • Announcements: Messages from the ATC community administrators

    • General: Chat for all ATC community members

    [4] Join any of the "Doubles" chats you are interested in:

    • Click on the chat you want to join. (This opens a screen asking you if you want to join the chat.)

    • Click to confirm that you want to join the chat. (This opens the chat screen, which will be blank at first. WhatsApp only shows you messages that are sent after you join a group.)

    [5] Opting in and out:

    • You can opt into or out of any of the "Doubles" group chats at any time.

    • You can opt out of the ATC community at any time, too, but you'll need an invitation to opt back in.

    • If you opt out of the ATC community, you'll also be removed from all the group chats in the community.

  • The National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) is a classification system that identifies and describes general characteristics of tennis-playing ability. If you want to play ATC "competitive" doubles, it's good to know your NTRP rating so the organizer can match you with other players of similar abilities.

    There are numerous NRTP self-rating resources available online. Two that we’ve found accessible are:

  • At the end of the summer, all ATC members will receive a communication with details about Sunday evening mixed doubles and asking whether the member would like to participate. Payment for each evening is done on arrival at the courts. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact Kim at andovertennisclub@gmail.com.

  • ATC organizes "competitive" doubles to ensure, as much as possible, that the people playing on each court are matched with others of similar abilities. People generally enjoy tennis most when this happens: Play is even ("competitive"), and no one feels over-matched or under-challenged. How well people can be matched depends on who signs up for any given evening, but we do our best. We also try to vary court assignments so individuals can play with a variety of other people.