Committee guide
How to run a knockout tournament at your tennis club
The short answer
To run a tennis knockout, put every entrant in a draw sized to the next power of two (8, 16, 32), fill the gaps with byes, give the top seeds those byes, and play one round at a time until one player is left. With 21 entrants the draw is 32, 11 players get byes, and 20 matches decide the winner.
On the Friday before the club championships, the club captain has 21 names in a WhatsApp thread and a bracket drawn on the back of a fixtures sheet. Someone got a bye last year too. Someone else wants to know why seeds one and two meet in round one. The draw wasn't hard. It was done in a hurry, by hand, and nobody can explain it.
A knockout is the easiest competition a club can run. The draw is the only part that goes wrong.
What is a knockout tournament?
A bracket where the loser goes home and the winner moves on, until one player or pair is left. It suits a club because it has an end date and no league table to keep up.
How many rounds and byes does a knockout need?
Round the entry up to the next power of two: 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128. The gap is your byes, free passes into round two, and the top seeds get them first. A 32 draw has five rounds. The calculator below does the sums, and the table under it checks 21 entrants.
Try it
Knockout draw calculator
Enter the number of entrants to see the draw size, the byes and how many matches each round has. The table below shows the answer for 21 entrants, so you can check the tool against it.
A whole number from 2 to 128.
21 entrants means a draw of 32 with 11 byes, 5 rounds and 20 matches to play. You can seed up to 8.
| Round | Matches | Byes | Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 32 | 16 | 11 | 5 |
| Round of 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Quarter-finals | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Semi-finals | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Final | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Worked example: 21 entrants
| Round | Matches | Byes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round of 32 | 16 | 11 | 5 matches are played, 11 players go straight through |
| Round of 16 | 8 | 0 | 16 players left |
| Quarter-finals | 4 | 0 | 8 players left |
| Semi-finals | 2 | 0 | 4 players left |
| Final | 1 | 0 | 2 players left |
| Total | 20 played | 11 | 21 entrants and 20 matches, because every match removes one player and one is left |
Seeds allowed for 21 entrants: 8. The 8 seeds take 8 of the 11 byes.
How do you seed a knockout draw?
Seeds keep the strongest players apart until late. The LTA's 2026 regulations allow 2 seeds up to 8 entrants, 4 up to 16, 8 up to 32 and 16 up to 64, placed on fixed lines so seeds one and two can only meet in the final. If you don't know your players' levels, skip seeding and draw at random. That beats guessing.
Should you run singles or doubles?
Singles is quicker and simpler. Doubles suits a club where people want a partner, and the draw works the same way with a pair as one entry. Pick one, and say so on the entry form.
How do you run a knockout, step by step?
- Choose singles or doubles, the entry deadline, and the date the final must be played by.
- Close entries on the deadline. Late additions are what break a draw.
- Set the seeds, if any, within the limits above.
- Make the draw. Check the byes sit with the top seeds and are spread out.
- Publish it, and tell each player who they play and by when.
- Give every round a deadline and record results as they arrive. The usual failure is a match nobody schedules.
How do you stop results being disputed?
Agree one rule before round one: the winner reports the score, and the loser has a short window to object. On laceup that window is an hour. The reporter can undo, the opponent can dispute, and an organiser can confirm early. Nothing downstream opens until it settles.
Can laceup run the draw for you?
Yes. A club admin switches knockouts on in club settings and creates the competition. laceup makes the draw, places the byes, can suggest seeds from the levels players gave when they entered, emails each player when their next opponent is known and publishes the bracket. Singles and doubles both work. Everything above also works with a pen and a printed draw sheet.
Common questions
- How many byes do you need for 12 players?
- Four. The draw is 16, and 16 minus 12 is 4. The four top seeds take them.
- Can a player get a bye more than once?
- No. Byes only exist in round one, so a player can have at most one, and a good draw spreads them across the bracket so that nobody has an easier path by luck.
- What happens if a player withdraws after the draw?
- Once the draw is under way, their next opponent goes through by walkover. Do not redraw: it changes everyone else's route and is the quickest way to start an argument. Before the draw is made, just take them out and size the draw again.
- Is laceup free for running a knockout?
- Yes, to start. The free plan covers one active competition at a time, and a knockout counts as one. Pro covers up to four at once.