How it works

One ranking. Two Opens a year. A ladder in between. It's free, and it's open to men and women at every level.

The ladder, the new standings and entering your own scores all open on January 3, 2027. Until then, send your score to Joel on WhatsApp as usual.

• Fall Open. Starts the Sunday after Simchat Torah.
• Spring Open. Starts the first Sunday after Pesach. It includes a ladies draw if enough players enter.
• The ladder. Open all year. Play whenever you can.
• Season Finals. The top 8 play off in September, before Rosh Hashanah.

The dates are on the calendar.

Everyone has a rating from 1.0 to 10.0. It starts from your sign-up answers and moves with every match you play.

• Win and it goes up. Lose and it goes down.
• Beating someone rated above you is worth more.
• Matches in an Open count double.

The standings page lists everyone by rating. Your spot decides who you can challenge, which draw you play in, your seed, and who makes the Finals. The site does the maths. Before a match it shows you what a win or a loss would do.

1. Challenge anyone within 5 spots above or below you.
2. Set it up between you. Book a court, bring balls, and agree the format before you start: best of three sets with a match tiebreak, or one set to 6 with a 10-point tiebreak at 6–6.
3. Either of you enters the score.
4. Beat someone above you and you move above them.

The same two players can play a ladder match once every 30 days. There are no deadlines and no minimum number of matches.

Sign up any time. Your first match can be against anyone on the list, and it places you. Win and you land one spot above them. Lose and you land five spots below them.

After 60 days without a match you're marked as resting, and other players' challenge windows skip you. Your rating stays where it is. Play a match and you're back.

Each Open has two draws: the Open and the Challenger. The standings on lock day decide who plays where. Players near the line play one qualifying round the week before.

• One round a week, Sunday to Saturday night. Book your own court and bring balls.
• It's a straight knockout. Lose and you're out of that Open, and the ladder is there for you the same week.
• The Challenger's top 4 go straight into the Open draw next time. The 4 lowest-ranked first-round losers in the Open draw play qualifying next time.

With fewer than 24 entries there's one draw for everyone.

The top 8 active players in the standings on lock day play quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final in September. Active means you've played a match in the last 60 days, so get one in over the summer.

Either player enters the score on the site. The other player has 48 hours to object, and if nobody does, it stands. Joel settles disputes, and can extend a deadline when life gets in the way.