How to Host a Tennis Tournament

Your love of tennis may encourage you to start your own tennis tournament. The challenges of hosting and running a tennis tournament include a range of issues, from locating an umpire to finding sponsors. You can host a tennis tournament in your town by planning far in advance of the opening match.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Dry erase board
• Registration forms
• Trophy
• Prizes

1. Visit possible venues for the tennis tournament you want to host in your community. Your venue should have sufficient seating for attendees and space for player seating and equipment storage.
2. Hire qualified umpires. Solicit assistance for individual matches from local coaches, college tennis players and residents with a knowledge of the rules of the game.
3. Involve local children by selecting a group of ball boys and ball girls. These volunteers can collect tennis balls after each point and get water for players during breaks.
4. Solicit sponsorship from local companies. You can trade funding for tennis balls and court rental fees for the use of company logos on tournament shirts, forms and advertisements. If you have a program, sell advertising space in it to different sponsors, or see if one sponsor wants to fund the entire program and use all the advertising pages.
5. Obtain tennis nets as backups for nets available at host venues to ensure smooth operations during the tournament. You should ask volunteers to practice removing and installing tennis nets the day before the tournament to prepare for potential problems.
6. Pick prizes for your winners. You can present a trophy, gift certificates and tennis equipment to the players who come out on top in different events.
7. Train volunteers to deal with questions and concerns during registration. Your registration team should be familiar with your tournament regulations and the registration form. Prepare a Frequently Asked Questions list to guide them.
8. Plan special areas for local media to speak with tournament participants and record the events of each match. You should give press passes to reporters and create a zone for cameras inside the venue to reduce distractions for players.
9. Open ticket sales for your tournament weeks ahead of the first matches so spectators can plan for the event. Highlight donations to charity and potential door prizes for ticket holders to increase interest for your tournament.
10. Consult with experienced coaches, players and sponsors to create regulations for your tennis tournament. Your regulations should cover scoring, player conduct and provisions for registration that can be used for future tournaments.