Seeding a tennis tournament can prove a simple process or require a bit of thought and discussion, depending on what organization holds the tournament. If you host a sanctioned tournament, use the sanctioning body's specific process for creating your draw. If your tournament allows more flexibility, you can also use the basic ITF rules for seeding a tournament and make changes to accommodate your needs.
Step 1
Create a seeding committee. Include people who most likely have a familiarity with the entrants and who know the rules of the tournament's sanctioning body or ITF.
Step 2
Obtain a copy of any rules or regulations governing the tournament. These might include those provided by the NCAA, a state high school athletic association, your national federation, ITF, local league or any other body that sets rules for your tournament.
Step 3
Obtain a list of players entered into the tournament. Wait until after the final entry deadline to ensure the seeds get decided fairly.
Step 4
Determine the number of seeds you wish to award. Use the rules of your sanctioning organization to determine the number of seeds. Use the seeding committee's recommendations if the tournament is not sanctioned. For example, you might seed two or four players in an eight-player draw, or seed four or eight players in a 16-player draw, depending on the quality of the players entered.
Step 5
Rate the players who have entered, based on rankings or ability. Use published rankings, such as professional rankings, rankings for juniors or recreational players given by a national body, or use the opinions of the seeding committee to rank entrants.
Step 6
Depart from published rankings if the seeding committee finds them inaccurate for your tournament. Consider the surface of your tournament and ranked players' results on that surface, recent player results, injuries or other factors that might cause a player's published rankings to be too low or too high.
Step 7
Place the seeds in the draw according to the rules of the body sponsoring your tournament. Regardless of the type of your tournament or whether it is sanctioned, the process for placing seeds into a draw will work for any tournament.
Things You'll Need
- Seeding committee
- Tournament rules
- List of tournament participants
- Player rankings
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