How many seeds for 24 players?

Eight. The ITF junior regulations give eight seeds to draws of 24 and 32, and with eight byes in a draw of 32 every seed starts in round two. In JudgeMate the seeds are the players with start numbers 1 to 8.

Can the championship be played in one day on three courts?

Not with 24 players and a full consolation draw. 31 matches on three courts need at least 11 rounds of courts, about 16 hours at 90 minutes a round. One day needs about five courts, short sets to four games, or a smaller field.

Who plays in the consolation draw?

The eight losers of the first-round matches. Seeds who had a bye and lose in round two are not included, because their first match was not a first-round match.

Can the final have a 10-point tie-break at 6-6 in the third set?

No. JudgeMate can play a full third set with a tie-break to 7 at 6-6, or a match tie-break to 10 instead of the third set. The format with a 10-point tie-break at 6-6 in the final set is not available.

We have no chair umpires. Who enters the score?

The organiser. They type the score in the console, or a referee keeps it on a live scoreboard started from that match, which has its own referee QR code, and the organiser confirms it from that scoreboard in one tap. Players do not enter knockout, consolation or third-place results themselves, even if result entry by players is switched on.

Can we run doubles on the same weekend?

Yes, as a second category in doubles mode. The courts are shared by the event, so the doubles schedule fits around the singles matches. Count the extra matches before you promise Sunday's finish time.

Tennis Club Championship Software

Singles, 24 members, three courts and a seeded draw of 32 over one weekend

A club singles championship with 24 entries fits a draw of 32: eight seeds, eight byes, eight first-round matches. Add a consolation draw for the first-round losers and a third-place match, and the weekend holds 31 matches. On three courts that is at least 11 rounds of courts, so the usual answer is a match tie-break to 10 instead of the third set in the early rounds and full sets from the semi-finals.

The weekend, court by court

The plan below assumes 90 minutes per match with a match tie-break and two hours for a match with a full third set.

Saturday 08:30 — the first round starts on all three courts. Sixteen players, eight matches. The eight seeds have byes and do not need to be at the club before late morning.

Saturday, from late morning — second-round matches go on court as soon as their first-round match is finished. The consolation draw starts in the gaps: each of its matches needs two first-round losers.

Saturday 19:00 — the last of 20 Saturday matches ends: eight first-round, eight second-round, four consolation. That is seven rounds of courts.

Sunday 09:00 — the two consolation semi-finals and one quarter-final, then the other three quarter-finals at 10:30. Six matches in two rounds of courts.

Sunday 12:00 — the consolation final.

Sunday 13:00 — semi-finals with a full third set on two courts.

Sunday 16:00 — the final and the third-place match side by side. Prizes around 18:00.

The tight spot is Saturday afternoon. A first-round winner plays twice that day, and one long three-setter on court 1 pushes every later match on that court.

A draw of 32, eight seeds, eight byes

With 24 entries the next draw size is 32, which leaves eight byes. The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Regulations 2026 give eight seeds to a draw of 24 or 32, and in a club field that number works for the same reason: each seed gets a bye and the strongest players do not meet before the quarter-finals.

Decide what the seeding is based on and print it on the entry form. The federation ranking, last season's club result or a ladder all work. Members accept a seeding they can check.

In JudgeMate the seed is the start number. You give numbers 1 to 8 to the seeds and leave everyone else without one. Unnumbered players are drawn into the free lines, and the byes go to the top seeds first, so with 24 players all eight seeds start in round two.

The seeds sit on fixed lines. Seed 1 is at the top, seed 2 at the bottom, and the semi-finals come out as 1 against 4 and 2 against 3. In a main draw of 24 or 32, the Polish federation's tournament regulations (PZT 2025, IV.6.3) put seed 1 on line 1 and seed 2 on line 32, and draw seeds 3–4 onto lines 9 and 24 and seeds 5–8 onto lines 8, 16, 17 and 25. If your club draws among the seeds, draw lots for seeds 3–4 and 5–8 first and assign the start numbers in the order drawn. Our guide to tennis seeding and draws covers the placement rules.

A consolation draw for the first-round losers

Eight players lose in the first round, and for some of them it is their only match of the year at the club. A consolation draw gives them at least one more. The Polish federation's tournament regulations (PZT 2025) draw the consolation event after the first round of the main draw and require at least eight players, which is exactly what 24 entries produce.

JudgeMate offers two versions. Consolation round for first-round losers adds one round: four matches. Full consolation bracket continues with the winners up to a consolation final: seven matches in total.

The pairs are not drawn again. The losers of first-round matches 1 and 2 meet, then the losers of 3 and 4, and so on. Matches won by a bye do not count as first-round matches, so a seed who loses in round two does not go into the consolation. If your rules put first-match losers from round two in as well, that has to be organised outside the program.

Match tie-break early, full sets from the semi-finals

The ITF Rules of Tennis 2026 describe a best-of-three match with a tie-break at 6-6 in each set. The tie-break goes to 7 points with a two-point margin.

Appendix VI of the same rules allows a match tie-break to 10 points instead of the deciding set, played at one set all and also won by two clear points. There is a 120-second break before it. This one change takes the most uncertainty out of a slot: a match tie-break is a dozen or so points instead of at least six games.

The split we use in this plan: match tie-break in rounds one and two, the quarter-finals and the whole consolation draw, full third set in the semi-finals, the final and the third-place match. If Saturday still does not fit, Appendix VI also has short sets to four games with a tie-break at 4-4.

Build the slot from the rules as well. Rule 29 allows up to five minutes of warm-up, 90 seconds at each change of ends (but no break after the first game of a set or during a tie-break) and 120 seconds between sets. Ninety minutes for a match with a match tie-break leaves room for that and for changing players on the court.

Three courts, no chair umpires, scores from the court

At a club championship the players usually call their own lines and the referee walks between the courts. The score therefore has to travel from the court without a clipboard.

The organiser saves the results in the draw, the consolation draw and the third-place match: types them in the console or confirms them in one tap from the scoreboard the referee kept. Players do not enter them themselves, even if result entry by players is switched on. A match gets a referee QR code once a scoreboard is started from it, and scanning the code opens that scoreboard. Scoreboards are started match by match, not for the whole draw at once. The draw on the public page updates as soon as the result is saved, so the next pair knows their court is free.

For the matches people want to watch, start a live scoreboard from the match. It counts points, games and sets, runs the tie-break and the match tie-break, and tracks the server, including the serve order in a tie-break. The format set for that match goes onto the scoreboard with it.

The courts belong to the event, not to the category. If you run a doubles category on the same weekend, the planner reserves the slots already taken by the singles draw, and both draws share the three courts without a double booking.

Setting the championship up in JudgeMate

Allow about half an hour the week before.

Start from tennis in the create menu. The category is singles by default. Choose Knockout as the format and switch on the third-place match and Consolation round for first-round losers. The Full consolation bracket switch appears under it; turn that on too.

Set an entry limit of 24. Further entries go onto the waiting list and you move players up by hand. Mark each entry fee as paid or waived; JudgeMate keeps the record and the money is collected the way your club already does it.

When entries close, give start numbers 1 to 8 to the seeds and generate the draw.

In the draw settings the defaults are the ITF ones: six games per set, tie-break to 7, two sets to win. Switch on Super tie-break in the deciding set. Then open the two semi-finals, the final and the third-place match, turn on Override for this match and switch the super tie-break off. Do it before the match starts, because a scoreboard that is already running keeps its format.

Add three courts with a start time, a 90-minute slot and a rest between matches of, for example, 60 minutes, then run Auto-schedule. The planner packs the matches from that start time with no break for the night, so set the Sunday times in each match card.

Spectators who only want the score of one match can follow its live tennis scoreboard as well.

What JudgeMate does not do for a tennis championship

No advantage set. Every set has a tie-break, including the deciding set. A final set played on until one player leads by two games cannot be set.
No 10-point tie-break at 6-6 in the final set. The super tie-break replaces the deciding set; it does not end a set that reached 6-6.
Match tie-break to 10 only. The 7-point match tie-break from Appendix VI is not available.
The consolation draw is not drawn. Losers of neighbouring first-round matches meet, and players who had a bye never enter it.
No lot among the seeds. Seeds 3–4 and 5–8 sit on fixed lines; the draw is done by numbering.
No overnight break in the auto-schedule. Day two is set by hand.
No payments, no notifications, no rankings. Entry fees are only recorded, nobody is emailed their court time, and federation rankings such as PZT or LK are not read or updated.
No team ties. A club league fixture with several singles and doubles cannot be entered as one match.

Set up your event

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Other scenarios

Junior tennis group tournament

One day, U12 or U14: four groups of four, short sets with a match tie-break, an eight-player draw and live group tables for parents.

Tennis club singles league

A season-long singles round robin: players book their own courts, two sets plus a match tie-break, and the table updates online.