Chepstow Tennis Club Annual Tournament 2026

We are now inviting entries to the Chepstow Tennis Club 2026 tournament. 

This year after the group stage, we hope to run both a cup and plate knockout round, with both the cup and plate finals being played on Saturday 12th September 2026, with Sunday 13th September 2026 held as reserve in case of bad weather.  We hope that running both a cup and plate knockout round will encourage entries from all club players, as it is a great experience for  players of all levels to play each other, and potentially be involved in the later stages of a tournament.

Please read the information below and if you wish to enter contact Joe at boastj@googlemail.com to apply for entry. State which events you'd like to enter and who your partner will be for doubles events.

Entry deadline Friday 3rd April 2026.  
Do not enter if you cannot make the finals weekend.

• The finals will be held on Saturday 12th September 2026.  The final events can be scheduled by the committee to take place at any time on the Saturday.  Please note that if poor weather prevents play on the Saturday, the final events will be held on Sunday 13th September 2026.
• If players are not free for the whole of the finals weekend, they must not enter the tournament.
• If players find out after entering that they have a commitment, then they must withdraw, and their place will be filled by the person who would have gone through in their absence.

 TOURNAMENT DETAIL

• The 2026 tournament will start with round robin boxes for all tournaments so everyone gets 3-4 games at this stage. Games will be arranged by competitors at their convenience.
• As a standard - Round robin matches are (by default) 2 sets with a 10 point championship tiebreak if one set all.  Knockout matches are best of 3 full sets.
• If there is only one box and all matches within that box have been played, players 1 and 2 will play a final (cup) of 3 full sets, and players 3 and 4 will play a final (plate) of 3 full sets.  However, I hope this year we will have more players putting themselves forward to play. 
• If there is more than one box, then the top half of the box will go into the cup knockout stages and the bottom half of the box will go into the plate knockout stages of the competition.
• If there is a tie between two players, then the positions will be determined by the Sets % i.e. Sets Won/Sets Total and if still a tie, the Games % will be used e.g. someone winning 7-5 7-5 has more games than someone winning 6-0, 6-0. But games % would be 14/24 (58%) in the first and 12/12 (100%) in the 2nd so the second player would be selected to go through. If one party has played fewer matches, the 'Total' scores in the above % will be adjusted to reflect 6-0 6-0 losses so there is an incentive to play more matches. For each event, there will be a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th seed based on last year's results & the view of relevant committee members.
• WARNING:  Some players could be playing lots of matches in the "Group Stages" but this is their choice. Please do not overcommit especially if you are unavailable for a considerable amount of time.
• Results will be self-input into a google sheet straight after the event has been played.  A link will be sent to your e-mail address providing access to the google sheet before the 12th April.

Key Dates

• Tournament Entries to be sent to joe at boastj@googlemail.com by Friday 3rd April.  
• Groups will be circulated by Sunday 12th April.
• The round-robin stage officially starts 12th April and ends the 3rd July.  I acknowledge that league matches are still being played and the coaching programme restricts court availability.  However providing approximately 12 weeks to play your group matches gives participants plenty of time to arrange matches.  Furthermore, the singles ladder will not run during this period which should free up some court availability.  Top Tip - try to organise as many matches as possible during the school half term as the coaching programme does not run during this period.
• First round knockout matches to be played between 3rd July and 24 July.
• Second round knockout matches to be played between 24 July and 7 August.
• Third round knockout matches to be played between 7 August and 21 August.
• Fourth round knockout matches to be played between 21 August and 4 September.
• Finals of both the plate and cup competitions will be held on the 12th September.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

• If entrants are not available for more than half of the Round Robin period they should consider carefully the number of tournaments they enter. Being unavailable is not an excuse for not playing matches. The deadlines outlined above are strict deadlines and extensions are unlikely to be provided as this has a knock on effect on the subsequent knockout rounds.
• If any player considers they have made a considerable and early effort to arrange matches and their opponents have not, then the tournament organiser may award them a win to the proactive player. Evidence please!
• Remember getting 4 players from different households together will need advance planning - so please be proactive.
• Please start organising your matches as soon as possible, you will have approximately 12 weeks to organise group matches and court availability is not an adequate reason to not play your matches.

I am keen to see as many members as possible participating in the club tournament, and I hope the new format of both the plate and cup knockout rounds will encourage participation.

Finally, I hope as many members as possible will be able to attend the finals day to support the club and its players.  As the final competitions will be held on both court one and two at the same time, court 3 will be unavailable to book as to allow supporters, if they wish, to watch from court 3.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL ENTRANTS & ENJOY

Joe Boast

Men's First Team Captain