Tournament Formats

Open Tournament 

An “open” tournament is one that is open for any USTA member that meets the age and gender requirements for that tournament.

 

Closed Tournament

Entries to “closed” tournaments are restricted, normally by a requirement of residency within a specified geographic area. Some tournaments also require that a player be endorsed for participation by the player's District or Section.

 

Single-Elimination Events (SE)

The most common kind of tournament draw, and the one you’re probably familiar with when watching the pro tours. If you lose, you're out. If you win, you go on.

 

Designated Events

Selected tournaments have been Designated so as to guarantee quality ranking information by forcing more head-to-head competition among top players in a particular division.

 

Consolation Events

These player-friendly formats guarantee competitors at least two matches. ADVERTISEMENT There are several types of consolation formats.

 

• FMC: First Match Consolation - A consolation draw in which the losers in the first round and those second round losers who advanced to that round by virtue of a bye or default are entered into the consolation draw.
• FMLC-First Match Losers Consolation -  Same as/Used interchangeably with FMC format.
•  FRLC-First Round Losers Consolation - A consolation draw in which only the losers in the first round are entered into the consolation draw. (Note: This differs from FMC/FMLC in that a player receiving a bye in the first round of a tournament will not be fed into the consolation draw if they lose their first match.)
• FIC-Feed-in Consolation - A consolation draw in which the losers from the main draw are fed back into another draw against players who lost in earlier rounds of the tournament thru the Semi-finals of the main draw.
• MFIC-Modified Feed-in Consolation -  A consolation draw in which the losers from the main draw are fed back into another draw against players who lost in earlier rounds of the tournament. (Note: A MFIC differs from a FIC in that it generally does not complete the consolation draw OR players which lose the same rounds will feed into separate consolation draws.)

 

Compass Draw Events

Player-friendly formats guaranteeing players multiple matches, even if they lose every match. A non-elimination format that is so named because players advance in four to eight different directions depending upon when they lose their first match and when they lose their subsequent matches.

 

Here is a round by round description of a traditional Compass Draw tournament:

• At the end of round 1: the winners go east; the losers go west.
• At the end of round 2: the east losers go north; the west losers go south.
• At the end of round 3: the east losers go northeast; the north losers go northwest; the west losers go southwest; the south losers go southeast.
• At the end of round 4: the losers are out of the tournament (unless it is announced in writing before the start of the first match of the tournament that there will be semifinal play-offs); the winners play the

 

Round-Robin Events

A player-friendly format, these draws guarantee competitors multiple matches as they play against every other players in their draw or flight. Flights typically consist of three to four players/teams. 

 

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Tournament Resources

• Midwest Tournament Rankings Regulations
• Midwest Tournament Standings Lists
• Midwest Tournament Grievance Form
• Friend at Court
• Super Senior Info
   

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Tournament Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Definition
M	Men
W	Women
FS	Father/Son
MD	Mother/Daughter
MS	Mother/Son
FD	Father/Daughter
S	Singles
D	Doubles
Mxd	Mixed Doubles
FMLC	First Match Losers Consolation
FRLC	First Round Losers Consolation
FIC	Feed-in Consolation
SE	Single Elimination