On this page you will find the rules of our tennis games. If you have questions, you can search our Frequently Asked Questions or contact us via the contact form.
A team consists of 15 tennis players. 13 normal tennis players, one joker and one loser.
Black points
Each tennis player has a number of black points, varying from zero to five. The best tennis players get 5 black points. The less good tennis players get no black points.
The black points are assigned based on the seeded number of the tennis player.
A team can have a maximum of 20 black points (for exceptions, see the loser rule).
The reason for this is to prevent choosing the best tennis players, whereby puzzling is required.
The loser
The loser is a special tennis player in your team. This tennis player leads to negative points, if the tennis player performs well (see score).
When you decide to choose a loser with black points, these black points can be spent extra to your other 14 tennis players.
Example
Tennis player X has 3 black points and is chosen as a loser. For the remaining 14 tennis players 20+3=23 black points are available. It is up to you to take this risk, to choose a better team on paper.
Joker
The joker is the secret weapon of your team. With this tennis player you can score extra points for your team (see score).
Reserve tennis players
Right before the grand slam starts shifts can occur in the list of tennis players or schedule of play (caused by injuries for example).
Due to these shifts teams can become invalid right before the start of the game.
To overcome this problem, reserve tennis players can be selected.
Sportpools uses these reserve tennis players to make any invalid team valid.
Preferred Reserve
For each tennis player you can specify a preferred reserve. If the tennis player fails to start the tournament because of an injury, Sportpools replaces him with the specified preferred reserve. As preferred reserve you can also choose the option 'Lucky Loser'. This is the tennis player assigned by the Grand Slam organization as a replacement for the injured tennis player. If you choose 'No preference' then Sportpools replaces the injured player by one of your reserves and you do not get the 'Lucky Loser'.
Basic points
A normal tennis player can earn points by winning matches.
The points that a tennis player earns for each won match depends on the number of black points.
The formula is 10 minus the number of black points of the tennis player.
A tennis player with five black points earns 10-5=5 points for each won match.
A tennis player without black points earns 10 points for each won match.
From round four the points will be doubled. A tennis player with five black points earns 10 points for each won match instead of five. This is after round four. A tennis player with no black points earns 20 points from round four.
Strategically it is important to choose good tennis players with no black points who get far in the tournament.
Grand-slammer
The winner of the tournament earns 50 extra points for the team.
Joker
The joker earns once extra points for a team when he reaches the 4th round of the grand slam.
The total extra points depends on the black points of the tennis player.
The formula for this is as follows: 50-5*black points.
Examples
A. A joker with zero black points earns 50 extra points when he reaches the 4th round.
B. A joker with five black points earns 25 extra points.
Loser
A loser gains points in the form of penalty points.
These points will be subtracted from your total score.
For each round a loser gets further in the tournament you lose 10 points. If the loser wins the tournament you lose 50 points.
Updates
Points are updated daily.
After a game has finished, a participant earns career points. These points are calculated as follows:
5 times ( X+1 - overall-ranking) / X
Multiplied by
(X - overall-ranking) / X, where
X = total number of game participants.
overall-ranking = overall ranking in the final standings.
The number of the maximum career points depends on the number of participants. More career points can be earned when there are more participants.