Guides / Tennis 101

Your first USTA tournament.

Tonight, read the entry form and put the event on the Schedule with its first and last day. The form is the rulebook for the day: USTA requires it to state the format, so it tells you whether the third set is a 10-point match tiebreak, whether deuce is no-ad, and when check-in opens. Then pack from the checklist at the bottom of this page. Everything else below is what happens between the car park and the handshake.

Before you leave the house

Junior USTA membership is free. USTA's own pathway starts with Junior Circuit round robins, which are non-elimination, so a loss does not end the day, and then Level 7, the level it recommends as a first ranked tournament: intermediate, one day, built to guarantee several matches in a short period. The whole ladder, Level 7 to Level 1, is in USTA tournament levels explained. If the event is on the Schedule, the reminder the evening before is the cue to pack.

Check-in: two desks, not one

Arrive about 30 minutes early (typical section guidance; yours may differ), find the tournament desk, which is often not the club's front desk, and check in once for the event. Then check in again for each match, 15 to 20 minutes before its time, after water, bathroom, and stretching are done. A player has not arrived until checked in, dressed, and ready to play, and the lateness clock is real: five minutes or less costs the toss plus a game; more than 15 minutes is a default.

After match check-in, stay within earshot of the desk. "A 9 a.m. match" means whenever a court opens, and the desk calls names once.

The warm-up is short, and it is not practice

The rule sets a maximum of five minutes unless the organizer says otherwise; The Code's own wording is five to ten, so the desk decides. Either way The Code asks each player to hit to the opponent, not to work on a serve. Warm-up serves are taken before the first point, not one at a time later. Before the first ball, have your athlete confirm the format with the opponent or the desk: full third set, or a 10-point match tiebreak? Juniors are allowed to ask an official to help start a match tiebreak. Parents: this is the moment to stop talking and sit down.

They call their own lines. Here is the deal.

In a match without officials the player calls every ball on their own side of the net, and any doubt goes to the opponent. The Code's line is that a ball 99% out is still 100% good. Calls must be prompt and audible or visible, and the server announces the game score before each game and the point score before each point, loud enough to be heard. Spectators never make calls, and a player may not ask one to. Practise the habits at home: say the score before every serve, call "out" immediately or play on.

When the score is disputed

The Code gives the order of repair: count every point and game both players agree on, and replay only the disputed ones. If they cannot agree which court a disputed point started in, or who served a disputed point in a tiebreak, a coin toss decides. If it is not resolved in a minute, the player puts the racquet down and walks to the desk. A scoring dispute and a pattern of bad calls are both listed reasons to fetch an official, and a player may refuse to play until one responds. Tell your athlete in advance that getting an official is normal, not tattling. It is what the rulebook tells them to do.

Who the officials are, and what they will not do

Every sanctioned tournament has a Referee. Roving umpires move between courts and are the ones who impose penalties in matches without a chair umpire. They rule on disputes and conduct; they do not watch every line.

Coaching is not permitted during a point, and in USTA sanctioned play it is also barred between points, at changeovers, and during the two-minute set break. The one legal window is a rest period: after split sets, the 12s to 16s get a mandatory 10-minute rest before a full third set, and every junior division gets 3 minutes before a match tiebreak. Coaching is allowed then; practising is not. A player may bring written notes prepared before the match, and may not receive information from a phone or smartwatch on court.

The parent's rules are shorter: no line calls, no scorekeeping, no instruction, no remarks about the other child. Cheer good points on both sides.

Formats and the clock

• A 7-point set tiebreak at 6-6 is mandatory in every set except pro sets. Many junior events play a 10-point match tiebreak (first to 10, win by two) instead of a third set, and it counts as a full match.
• No-ad scoring means a single deciding point at deuce, with the receiver choosing the side to receive from. Short sets and pro sets exist too; the entry form says which.
• Continuous play: 25 seconds between points, 90 seconds at a changeover (none after the first game of a set), and a two-minute set break, except the junior rest periods above when sets are split. Ends change after odd games.

Waiting between matches, which is most of the day

Juniors are owed at least 60 minutes between matches in best-of-three tiebreak-set formats, including when a match tiebreak replaces the third set; it is 30 minutes in doubles-only events, pro-set formats, and short sets decided by a match tiebreak. After a full best-of-three singles match the Referee must offer two hours before the next singles (the Recovery Rule), and the desk may give more in heat. A player can face up to three singles and a doubles in one day, both players are responsible for knowing their next match time, and in the 12s and 14s no match should start or resume after 8 p.m.

The winner reports the score and returns the balls; the handshake is the formal end of the match. Then the athlete's job is shade, food, fluids, and staying findable. The American Academy of Pediatrics names poor hydration and too little recovery between same-day matches as the risks a family can change; reapply sunscreen about every two hours or after sweating. Fill the gap with something quiet, a book, a walk, the app's Pre-Match Calm audio, rather than a replay of the last match. The first ten minutes after a loss are for food, not analysis; the parents' guide has the car ride.

Under 12: a different day on purpose

USTA's 10-and-under and 12s events are built shorter, lower-stakes, and more fun than the 12-and-over tournament day described above: the Junior Circuit is a half day at most, often on orange or green ball, with two to four matches guaranteed and no ranking points at all. A first tournament at that age is a first tournament in name only, and that is the point.

Where TierBreak fits

TierBreak does not pull the draw, the schedule, or the result from USTA; your family enters the tournament, and everything downstream works from that. The event goes on the Schedule with its first and last day and the app reminds you the evening before. When the match is called, you track it at two taps a point, with the format stored per match, so a no-ad set or a 10-point match tiebreak scores itself correctly. A tracked match wins the day even on a Saturday when the reflection is skipped. Between matches the athlete has the guided audio sessions; afterwards, the reflection loop and, on the drive home, the record of what actually happened rather than a memory of the last game.

No invite yet? Join the Inner Circle; spots are open a few families at a time.

Next: Track your first match →