Choose your Organization’s match rules
Every Organization plays under one default rules profile. It defines the conduct and timing rules an official enforces in Official Match Mode: the penalty ladder, time violations, medical timeouts, breaks, coaching, and the clock. It does not define the scoring format; that stays on each match’s Format step.
Steps
- In the web app, with the Organization selected, go to Settings › Match rules (listed after Locations, before Billing). The Dashboard also shows “Playing under …” with a Change link.
- Pick a profile card. Each card shows the ladder, the time-violation rule, the medical rule, the coaching rule, and a link to the governing document.
- Save. New matches use the chosen rules from now on. Matches already in progress keep the rules they started under; the helper text under the list says so.
Owners and Admins can change the default. Officials can open the page and see the choice, read-only. Other roles don’t see it.
The profiles at a glance
| ITF World Tennis Tour | USTA Adult | USTA Junior | USTA Adult League | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code violation ladder | Warning, point, game (repeats) | Point, game, default | Point, game, default | Point, game, default |
| Time violation, server repeat | Fault | Point | Point | Point |
| Time violation, receiver repeat | Point | Point | Point | Point |
| Medical timeout | 3 min, 1 per condition, none for cramping | 3 min, 1 per condition, 1 cramping per match, 15 min cap | as Adult | as Adult |
| Toilet breaks | 1 per best-of-three, 3 min | Reasonable time; tournament may limit | as Adult | as Adult |
| Rest after set 2 | none | 2-min set break (10 min for 35+ and NTRP divisions) | Mandatory 10 min | 10 min when the league provides one |
| Coaching | Off-court with chair umpire only | Rest periods and suspensions only | Rest periods and suspensions only | Rest period only |
| Warm-up | 4 min | 5 min | 5 min | 5 min |
Sources: ITF Rules of Tennis and World Tennis Tour regulations; USTA Friend at Court 2026 and the 2026 USTA League Regulations; USTA Junior Tournament, Ranking and Sanctioning Regulations.
Custom rules
High school sections and federations outside the US don’t have a profile of their own, and many USTA sections modify Friend at Court (coaching at changeovers in dual matches is the common one). Custom rules let you start from any profile and change what your governing body changes.
- On Settings › Match rules, click Create custom rules, pick a base (ITF, a USTA profile, or one of your own), and name it (“CIF Southern Section dual match”).
- The editor opens with every rule grouped: Ladder, Time violations, Medical, Breaks, Coaching, Timings, Result. Change what you need; every changed field shows the base value next to it, and Show only changes hides the rest.
- Publish with a short change note. Published rules get a version number; officials in your Organization are notified when the default changes.
- Set it as the default from the row menu, or tick Make this the Org default when publishing.
Rules are versioned. Editing a published profile creates a new draft; the published version stays live until you publish again. The version history shows each version’s note, author, date, and how many matches were played under it. Seeded profiles (ITF, USTA) can’t be edited, only cloned.
Good to know
- A match keeps its rules. The profile and version are recorded when the match starts and never change for that match, including after a rain suspension or a change of default.
- Where the choice shows up. The rules profile name appears as a chip on the Organization’s match list and match detail next to the Sanctioned badge, and as a read-only “Rules: …” line on the Format step of New Match in all apps.
- Offence codes are fixed. A custom profile can hide codes it doesn’t use (for example delay for fetching a racket) but can’t invent new ones.
- Default means ITF. An Organization that never picks a profile plays under ITF World Tennis Tour.
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