QuickStart Tennis formats are part of a broader effort to promote tennis among America’s youth. The USTA Player Development Division believes QuickStart Tennis formats are an important factor in developing future American champions. In order to ensure the standardization of tennis competition for players aged 10 and under using formats that optimize their development, the following specifications for the court, equipment, and competition formats will go into effect for USTA sanctioned play effective January 1, 2012.
Court
Net
- Regulation net (3 feet high)
Ball
- Competition on a 60-foot court: The ball is an orange low compression ball (stage 2). This ball moves a little faster and travels farther than the red ball. However, the bounce is still lower than a regulation tennis ball.
- Competition on a regulation 78-foot court: The ball is a green low compression ball (stage 1). This is the most similar to a regulation tennis ball.
Racket
- Competition on a 60-foot court: The racket shall be no longer than 25 inches.
- Competition on a regulation 78-foot court: There are no restrictions related to racket size.
Scoring
- A match shall consist of the best two out of three sets.
- Instead of the traditional 6 games, a 10 and Under set is played to 4 games.
- A player must win by 2 games or more. So a set may end up as 5 games to 3 games.
- If players are tied at 4 games all, then a regulation 7-Point Tiebreak should be played to determine the set winner. This regulation 7-Point Tiebreak winner will end up winning the set by a score of 5 games to 4 games.
- If the set score is tied 1-1, then the third, deciding set shall consist of a regulation 7-Point Tiebreak
Tournament Play
- Tournament draws shall be any non-elimination format (e.g. Compass Draw or Round Robin.
- Tournaments should not last more than one day
- A Tournament Director is required
- A Tournament Referee is required
- The Tournmanet Director may serve as the Tournament Referee
- The recommendation for the use of a USTA-certified Referee does not apply
- Players have the right to reasonable rest time between matches
- However, because matches are relatively short, the minimum rest period of 30 minutes does not apply. In many cases a rest period of no more than 15 minutes will be appropriate.
- 10 and Under tournament does not implement the Point Penalty System
Rankings
- Tournament results will not contribute towards a ranking
10 and Under Tennis Summary
OR
Contact Information:
Summer Verhoeven
10 and Under Tennis Coordinator
(510) 748-7346