It’s time to plan for the East of Scotland Doubles League matches and start looking forward to better weather!  This is Abercorn’s main inter-club competitive tennis league, so it’s one of your top opportunities to compete this year.

What you need to know 📌

• If you want to play for Abercorn in the league, get in touch with one of the captains (below) now or via info@abercornsportsclub.co.uk
• Deadline to sign up is Saturday, 31st January 2026 
• We welcome all our returning players 
• We are also actively seeking NEW players 
• We have teams at multiple levels, so we’re looking for a wide range of playing abilities
• Read on for more info about the leagues and team training 👇

League format 🎾

Women’s doubles leagues are played over 10 weeks, from roughly mid-April to the end of June. Abercorn will play weekly home and away fixtures against the other teams in our divisions.

For each league fixture, Abercorn will supply a team comprising 3 single-sex couples (6 players total), who will each play 2 matches against couples from the opposition club.

Each match is played in a best-of-three sets format, with the 3rd set played as a 10-point match tie-break.

New for 2026: All matches will implement “silver deuce” — one normal deuce/advantage and, if the score returns to deuce, No-Ad scoring will apply.

Eligibility & selection for the team ✅

To compete for Abercorn, you must:

• Be a fully paid-up club member
• Have Abercorn listed as your registered venue through your LTA membership

A player may only compete for one club in the league.

There is no formal selection process to join the women’s team, and we currently have capacity for all returning players and some new players. If we have too many players, we’ll let everyone know and work it out fairly.

Fixture days and times 🗓️

Based on previous years:

• First team: Tuesdays
• Second & third teams: Thursdays

All matches start at 6:30pm and typically finish around 9:00pm.

Team ranking 📊

Ahead of the league, Abercorn must submit a single Women’s team ranking list, from top to bottom. This is a league requirement to prevent clubs from moving players between divisions to gain an unfair advantage.

Team captains undertake the unenviable task of ranking players, based on:

• Previous league performance
• Box leagues
• Practice sessions

It’s a tough job and requires a huge amount of time both pre-season and throughout the league.

Intermediate / Advanced Doubles Practice 🎾

Women’s match practice sessions are currently held:

• Tuesday evenings
• Sunday mornings

These sessions are a great way to:

• Meet other team players 
• Try out doubles partnerships
• Allow captains to assess pairings and ability

From early March to mid-April, regular attendance is strongly encouraged. If you’re keen to play but can’t attend practices, please get in touch.

Team captains 👩‍✈️

This year’s team captains are:

• Laura Stewart
• Eileen Callaghan
• Hilary Roberts

If you’re interested in playing and have any questions, just reach out — we’re happy to help.

SIGN UP & PROVIDE AVAILABILITY! ✏️

To register you will need to provide:

• Your name
• BTM (British Tennis Membership) number
• Contact details
• A (available) or N (not available) against each fixture date

We'll provide you access to this spreadsheet once you're in touch via one of the captains or info@abercornsportsclub.co.uk.

Deadline to finalised your registration is 31 January 2026.

If you have any questions or queries, please get in touch. We had a great season last year, and we’re really looking forward to an exciting 2026 season!

Kind regards,

Laura, Eileen & Hilary
Abercorn Women's Tennis Team Captains