Summer, 2026

Formats of Play

The Andover Tennis Club allows open play whenever the Club has reserved the Phillips Academy varsity tennis courts. The club also offers organized doubles three evenings each week. (See the Schedule page for days and times.) This page provides information on the different formats of play.

Open Play

As mentioned, ATC members may play at Phillips Academy whenever the courts have been reserved by the club. ATC organized activities (open house, organized doubles, tournaments) have precedence, but if these events do not use all of our courts, the remaining courts may be used for open play.

Generally, open play is "drop-in". No signup is required, and anyone who shows up is included. We recommend that members coordinate with others to ensure enough people will be at the courts. ATC uses WhatsApp chat groups for this purpose.

However, members are also allowed to schedule matches with specific people. If you drop by the courts and see members playing, definitely feel free to ask if you may join them. Most often, they'll be playing "drop-in" and you'll be included. If they've scheduled their match, they should politely let you know, and you should politely accept their decision.

Organized Doubles

The Andover Tennis Club offers three evenings of organized doubles each week:

  • Monday: Mixed Social Doubles

  • Wednesday: Women's Competitive Doubles

  • Thursday: Men's Competitive Doubles

All organized doubles start at 6:00 PM and end at 8:00 PM (or sunset, whichever is earlier).

The social doubles format has people change courts and partners periodically so everyone plays with and against a number of other people. No signup is required, everyone who comes on Monday plays. And you don't need to let the organizer know you're coming. Enough people show up on a regular basis that we can always play.

The competitive doubles format assigns players to courts so the players on each court have similar levels of skill, aiming for everyone on every court to have a challenging match at their level of play. A signup for each week is required so the organizer can make court assignments and designate subs if not enough players remain to complete the last foursome. We use WhatsApp chat groups to get the weekly signups and to send the court and sub assignments.

More details about the social and competitive doubles formats follow below.

Social Doubles Details

Social doubles starts at 6:00 PM with whoever is there at that time. People pick their own opposite sex partners and courts. If the genders aren’t balanced, any same sex partners go the last open court. Any latecomers go to the last open court and start playing when they get a full foursome.

We play four rounds of 30 minutes each. A whistle signals the end of each round, and play stops on each court after the current point is done. The winners on each court move up, toward court 1, and the losers move down, away from court 1. (The winners on court 1 stay there, and the losers on the last court stay there.) Partners always split so they play as opponents during the next round.

Winners on each court are determined by:

  1. The score of completed games. If this is tied, then:

  2. The score of the current game. If this is tied, then:

  3. One tiebreaker point. The point is served by the person who normally would serve the next point. The receiving team decides who will receive the serve.

If someone must sit out the first round, they substitute in for the second round. In subsequent rounds, anyone sitting out substitutes in for someone who has not yet sat out (so no one sits out more than once). People can volunteer to sit out, of course, but if no one volunteers then substitution is for the player of the same gender from the losing side of the last court. If that person already sat out, then substitution is for the player of the same gender from the losing side of the next court up, etc.

Competitive Doubles Details

Competitive doubles requires people to sign up each week so the organizer can make court and sub assignments.

Early in the week, the organizer posts a poll to the relevant WhatsApp chat (ATC Men or ATC Women) asking members if they want to play competitive doubles that week. The poll closes at 5:00 PM on the day before your competitive doubles evening.

  • If you want to play that week, tap "Yes" in the poll itself. A green dot will appear to indicate that you selected "Yes". (Tapping "Yes" a second time de-selects it.)

  • If you don't want to play, you can ignore the poll or answer "No".

After the poll closes each week, the organizer takes the list of the people with "Yes" responses, assigns them to courts or as subs, and posts the lineup to the appropriate chat group.

  • If you are given a court assignment, it is a commitment to show up and play the match. If you cannot play, you are responsible for finding a sub. If subs were listed in the lineup, you can message them directly. If not, you can message your chat group as a whole to ask if anyone can step in. Just asking isn't enough, though. Your efforts to get a sub should respect the three other people on your court who are expecting to play.

  • If you are designated a sub, you are not obligated to play if someone asks you to sub in. You can leave the evening open in hopes of playing, but you may also make other plans that preclude you from playing.

Matches consist of three sets. The players on each court together decide on partners with the expectation that the sides will be evenly matched. The players also determine whether they switch partners between sets, again with the expectation that the sides will be evenly matched. Common schemes are:

  • Same partners for the entire match. If one side wins the first two sets, they win the match, but consider switching partners for the third set.

  • Decide after each set. If the set is close, keep the same partners. If the set is lopsided, switch partners.

  • Change partners after each set. This has each player partner with everyone else on their court.