8-Player RR then Double Elim Playoff
8 players play a round robin. Top 4 advance to a doubles playoff with an if-necessary game.
The Round Robin
8 players play a complete rotating partner round robin — 7 rounds on 2 courts, 14 total games. You partner with every other player exactly once and oppose everyone exactly twice. Nobody sits out. Each player plays 7 games.
Advancement
After the round robin, players are ranked by win percentage, with point differential as the tiebreaker. The top 4 advance to the playoff. The bottom 4 are done — their round robin finish is their final event result.
The Playoff
The top 4 form two doubles teams, seeded by round robin finish:
- Team A: #1 seed + #2 seed
- Team B: #3 seed + #4 seed
Team A comes in with the round robin advantage. The playoff is a single championship game between Team A and Team B.
If Team A wins the championship game, the event is over — they take the title.
If Team B wins, an if-necessary game is played. This is true double elimination — Team A entered the playoff undefeated, so Team B has to beat them twice. Whoever wins the if-necessary game takes the title.
At most 2 playoff games total.
Final Results
Every player finishes with a ranking:
- Champion: the 2 players on the winning playoff team
- Runner-up: the 2 players on the losing playoff team
- 5th through 8th: come from the round robin standings
Why This Format
A pure round robin produces fair rankings but the win is decided by spreadsheet math — no single climactic game. A pure playoff produces great drama but one bad match at the start can end your event in 20 minutes.
This format gives you both. Everyone gets a full 7 games of doubles to show what they can do. The top 4 earn their seeding and pair off into teams for a championship game, with an if-necessary backup so the overall top seeds aren't knocked out by a single loss.
