The format
Scoring and Deuce Points
Every Deuce Ladder uses the same movement model. A confirmed result creates dated Deuce Points entries. The live total of those entries orders the standings.
There is no positional swap. The platform defaults below are the starting point, and each ladder's organizer can set its own reward and penalty values. Your ladder page shows the values that apply to your matches. The full player contract is in the rules.
How a score gets confirmed
- Agree one of the six supported formats before the match.
- Play the match.
- The winner enters the score.
- The loser confirms it or disputes it.
- If the loser says nothing before the ladder's auto-confirm timer ends, the score confirms automatically.
- Confirmation writes both players' ledger entries and recalculates the standings immediately.
Silence confirms a reported score. It never blocks one.
Supported formats
Six formats can be recorded.
- Best of three tiebreak sets
- Best of three, third set as a match tiebreak to 10
- One set, tiebreak at 6-6
- Eight-game pro set
- Short sets to four, tiebreak at 3-3
- FAST4
No-ad scoring and a deciding point are options inside a format. They are not separate formats.
The pro set rules show which eight-game scores finish a pro set, 9-7 included, and how to write the tiebreak at 8-8.
For a deciding tiebreak, the match tiebreak guide explains service order, changes of ends and entering the actual points.
The score entry screen accepts only results that can happen in the selected format. A walkover is a result type, not a scoreline. A retirement carries the partial score that was played.
Default points schedule
| What happened | Deuce Points |
|---|---|
| You played and the score was confirmed | +2 |
| It was your first match against that opponent in 365 days | +1 |
| You won | +10 |
| You won, per rung the opponent was above you when challenged | +2 each, up to +10 |
| You won by walkover | +6 |
| You lost in a deciding set or match tiebreak | +2 |
| You lost any other way | 0 |
| You missed the response deadline or did not show | -5 |
| You declined past two free declines in 90 days | -2 |
A walkover does not earn the +2 played entry or the +1 new-opponent entry. It also does not restart the inactivity clock.
The played and new-opponent entries share a cap of 12 points in any rolling 30 days. Win points and close-loss points are not capped.
No penalty takes a total below zero.
Your organizer can change each value in this schedule for your ladder, including the per-rung win bonus and its maximum. The activity cap, expiry, decay schedule, and upward-win guarantee stay fixed.
Worked examples
These use the platform defaults and assume the match is the first against that opponent in the last 365 days.
| Result | Calculation | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Beat the player five rungs above | 2 + 1 + 10 + 10 | 23 |
| Beat the player directly above | 2 + 1 + 10 + 2 | 15 |
| Defend against a challenger below | 2 + 1 + 10 | 13 |
| Lose in a deciding set | 2 + 1 + 2 | 5 |
| Lose in straight sets | 2 + 1 | 3 |
The rung gap is captured when the challenge is sent. Later standings movement does not change the payout.
The overtake guarantee
If you challenge upward and win a played match, you finish above that opponent when the result confirms.
Normal awards usually do that. If they do not, the ledger adds the smallest possible overtake entry. That entry decays and expires like other result points. It does not apply to a walkover.
The guarantee applies at confirmation. If the other player later earns more points, they can pass you again.
Expiry and decay
Every entry expires 365 days after it was earned. The standings always measure a rolling year.
Nobody accumulates. Your total converges on what you earned in the last twelve months and stops there. A five-year veteran and a one-year player with the same recent form hold identical totals. Tenure is worth exactly zero, so an established player cannot build a lead a new joiner has no route past.
Inactivity decay scales the live positive entries at the steps published in rule 12. The calculation uses integer millipoints so repeated percentages do not drift. Conduct penalties are not turned into rewards by decay.
Your ledger shows every entry, its current value, and its expiry date.
Tied totals
Ties read the same rolling 365-day window.
- Deuce Points
- Head to head between the tied players
- Sets won minus sets lost
- Games won minus games lost
- Oldest live points entry, earlier first
The final comparison is mechanical. An organizer does not choose who wins a tie.
Disputes and false scores
A dispute pauses confirmation. The result creates no points and moves no rung until it is resolved.
Falsifying a score removes the match and its points. It is grounds for removal from the ladder.
If the recorded score is wrong, dispute it before the auto-confirm deadline. State what is wrong and give the correct result as plainly as you can.
Playing in Vancouver? The Vancouver tennis ladder guide covers public courts, indoor bookings and local competition.
Playing in Ottawa? The Ottawa tennis ladder guide covers public courts, club competition and winter indoor costs.