The draw and the schedule
PlayTour proposes a seeding, draws each category and spreads the matches over your courts and playing days. Every decision stays yours, including on the day itself. The draw and the playing schedule are part of Pro and Enterprise.
The order on the day before
The seeding PlayTour works out from the ratings it knows changes nothing by itself. You look at it, you move what you want differently, and only when you save it does it become a seeding.
- 1
Close entries
While entries are open the field keeps changing. You can reopen them later if a category is short, so closing is not a point of no return.
- 2
Check the seeding
PlayTour puts the field in order of rating, strongest first. Anybody without a rating sits at the bottom of the proposal and gets no seed number; put them where they belong or leave them unseeded. You may also ignore the proposal, seed by hand, or draw with no seeding at all.
- 3
Draw each category
You draw one phase of one category at a time. Seeded entrants are spread according to the seeding and the rest are drawn. You can undo a draw for as long as nothing has been played.
- 4
Set the playing times
Per category, say how long a match lasts, how much time you need to reset the court, and how much rest a competitor gets between two matches. You can also set an earliest start and a latest end.
- 5
Review the unavailability
If you play over several days you can let competitors say when they cannot play. The planner works around it. One screen shows who declared what, and whether the playing schedule still avoids it.
- 6
Make the playing schedule
The planner spreads everything over the booked courts and the playing days. After that each competitor gets their own matches by email, and the order of play is online.
What the draw gives you
The bracket as it looks the moment you have drawn, and the screen that keeps it current all day.
One draw and the whole bracket is there
From the last sixteen to the final, with the seeding worked into it. Each match carries its court, and the set scores join it as they come in, so the winner moves on from round to round.
- Every round side by side, up to the final
- The court and the set score on each match
- Winners carried through to the next round
At the desk you enter it set by set
The desk sees the matches in a list with the court and the time beside each one, and fills in the sets as they are played. The bracket and the standings follow along while play is still going on.
- Results entered per set, not just a final score
- The court and the time next to every match
- One list to work through for the whole day
What you set, and what the planner watches
The planner is deliberately explainable rather than clever: every match sits at the earliest time it could have. So you can always answer the question why something is at four o’clock.
Set per category
- Match duration. Sixty minutes by default, because a tennis match is ninety minutes at one club and sixty at the next.
- Changeover: the time it takes to reset the court for the next match. The court is still busy then, the players are not.
- Rest: the time a competitor gets between two matches of their own.
- Earliest start and latest end, for a category that may not run all day.
- A different length on one match, when that particular tie runs longer.
What the planner always respects
- One court holds one match at a time.
- Nobody plays two matches at once. That is about people, so somebody playing singles and doubles is never put on two courts at two.
- Nobody is scheduled at a time they said they cannot play.
- A match starts only once the matches that feed it have finished, with the rest in between.
- Rest on both sides, and the longer of the two demands wins.
- Only on booked courts, and only inside the venue’s playing hours.
- Only on the courts this part of the draw is tied to, if you set such a rule.
When something does not fit
- No free slot was left: everything was too short, already taken, or ruled out by somebody’s unavailability.
- The courts this part is tied to have no time in this tournament at all.
- The match that feeds this one has not been scheduled itself.
- The matches wait on each other in a loop, which an ordinary draw cannot produce.
The same input produces the same playing schedule. So you can schedule again after one change without everything shifting.
Questions by subject
Seeding
Where does the proposal come from?+
From the ratings PlayTour knows for your entrants, converted into one order with the strongest at the top. Scales do not all count the same way round, so PlayTour converts them first rather than sorting on the number a federation prints.
Half my field has no rating+
They stay unseeded, and that is deliberate. Seed seven asserts that its holder is stronger than seed eight, and between two people nobody has graded, nobody has asserted that. In the draw they land somewhere random.
There is no proposal at all+
Then there is no rating scale for this category, or your field holds two different scales. Two scales are never mixed, because no arithmetic between them is defensible. Put them in order yourself, or draw without seeding.
Can I change the seeding after the draw?+
No. A draw has already used the seeding, and changing it then would leave the sheet saying one thing and the record another. Undo the draw if it really has to change.
Drawing
Do I draw the whole tournament at once?+
No, one category and one phase at a time. That lets you draw the pool phase while another category is still waiting for entries.
Can I undo a draw?+
Yes, while nothing in that phase has been played. Every fixture of the phase disappears and the entries stay. If a later phase has already been drawn out of it, undo that one first.
How does a Swiss system work?+
It is not drawn in full up front. You get round one, and each following round is paired from what has been played. You set the number of rounds in advance.
And a mass start?+
Nobody is drawn against anybody. The whole field starts together and the order they finish in is the result. Start numbers are handed out separately.
Unavailability and scheduling
How do I ask about unavailability?+
Switch it on for the event. The question then appears on the entry form and competitors can change their answer while entries are open. It only exists for an event played over several days; on one day there is nothing to plan around.
Can I limit how much somebody rules out?+
Yes, with a maximum number of days per competitor. Several periods on the same day count as one day. You can also name days on which everybody has to be available, such as the finals day.
Somebody is scheduled when they said they cannot play+
The planner works around unavailability automatically, so either something was done by hand, or the unavailability was declared after the schedule was made. In the second case scheduling again fixes it; in the first you move it yourself.
What happens if I schedule again mid-day?+
Matches already played or under way stay where they are, and so does everything you placed yourself. The rest may get a different time or court. Every competitor whose schedule actually changes gets their updated list by email. Anybody the change does not touch is sent nothing, so nobody gets the same list four times.
Moving matches and telling people
I want to move one match+
You can, to another time and another booked court. A match you place yourself stays there: PlayTour schedules around it from then on rather than over it. To hand it back to the planner, clear the time.
Are the competitors told?+
Only if you tick the box. A ten minute shift the evening before and a three hour shift while people are travelling look identical to PlayTour, and you know which it is. The move itself goes into the log either way.
May I put a match outside the venue’s hours?+
Yes. PlayTour refuses only what is genuinely impossible: two matches on one court at one time, or one person in two places at once. An arrangement you have renegotiated takes precedence over the planner.
How do I tell everybody something at once?+
With an announcement. You can aim it at the whole event, at one category, at a phase or pool, or at the captains only. That is the proper way to say the playing schedule has been adjusted.
Read on
Creating an event
Club, volunteers, dates, venue, entry window and publishing.
Setting up categories
Price, places, who may enter, the format and the scoring.
Assigning courts
Manage venues, court allocation, playing hours and who plays where.
Help with running a tournament
How to run a tournament from start to finish, with the questions that come up most.
Draw your first tournament
Seed, draw and schedule in one afternoon, and know all Saturday where everybody is.