Monday Night Tennis – Fun Ladder-style Men's Doubles in StL

Ladder-style men's doubles in west St. Louis County since 1996

Go to Schedule Page – See when you’re playing.

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Need a sub? Then look here.

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Who won what?

League Info

League Rules

General

(a) Arrive on time to be on the court at 7:30 pm. First round play should start NO LATER THAN 7:45pm. (b) During warm-up, no practicing serve returns.
Each player partners with every other on the court in each of 2 rounds.
1st round is 3 sets x 4 games each. 2nd round: 3 sets x 6 games. Regular scoring, or if short on time and all agree, no-ad.
Keep track of number of games won each set and round. Record them on the court sheet. For all players on a court, 1st round wins should total 24. 2nd round wins should total 36.
Highest win total player moves up (except “top” court); lowest moves down (except “bottom” court).
After each round, ties are broken by “spin” (or by tiebreaker if time allows and all players agree to such). See #11 below. If tie is broken by a racket spin (rather than by a tiebreaker), please circle “SPIN” on the form next to ↓ or ↑.
When getting a sub: Try to get one at about your level (see guidance on schedule). If using group eMail, follow protocol. If you got a sub directly (not using group eMail), eMail Jon the sub’s name & phone# .

Additional Detail

For round 1, effort will be made to assign you to the proper court. Tolerance is requested.
2nd round may start before 8:30 pm if all players are available.
If 1st round is incomplete by 8:35pm, STOP! Results are based on scores thru that time including a current in-play untied game as complete.
After the 2nd round, subs automatically lose flips vs. scheduled players. However, a high-scoring sub moves up.
Starting every set, teammates decide who serves first on their team – no need to stay on cycle from prior sets. In 2nd and 3rd sets, the team to serve first is typically the one with the player due to serve next per the prior set’s cycle.
In 2nd hour 6-game sets, teams don’t have to decide who serves twice until games 5 and 6.
League’s official atta-boy is fist bump (no high fives or handshakes, especially in flu season).

When? / What?

7:30p – 9:30-ish indoors (virtually) every Monday night.

Ladder-type format:

1st hour: Warm up for 10 -15 minutes. Then play 4 games with each of the other three players on your court. Whoever has the most wins moves up a court, and the fewest moves down.

2nd hour: Play 6 games with each player — again most wins moves up (for next time scheduled) and fewest moves down.

Ties are broken by racket spin or by tiebreaker.

Men’s doubles (actually, since it’s skill-based, women may occasionally play, although that’s much rarer now than in the league’s early days).

Cost

Non-Forest-Lake members: Cost is about $23.50 per time scheduled in Fall and Spring and about $17.50 per time in Summer. So, if you are scheduled to play 10 of the 19 Fall Monday nights, then you’d owe about $235. The club bills me for scheduled time before the season. So, when I distribute the schedule, I’ll tell you how much you owe, which amount will be due to me in full at that time.

Forest Lake members: your per-time cost is a couple bucks lower than for non-members, and the club will bill you for the full amount shortly before the season starts.

Important: Weekly costs above were as of mid-2024 and tend to increase over time.

League "Feel"

Caliber of play is from USTA 3.5 to 4.0 with a few 3.0s and 4.5s sprinkled in. I keep track of results so that each week you’re scheduled to play where your prior play places you. So, you should always, or at least usually, be playing with folks at your level.

Atmosphere of the league: If social is 0 and competitive is 10, I’d say our league is a 7 or 8.

Scheduling

We have 3 seasons: Spring (Late Jan. thru May), Summer (June – Aug.), and Fall (Sep. thru mid-Jan.)

During the Spring and Fall sessions, we have 40+ players scheduled, and we occupy 5 to 6 courts every week. During Summer, we have fewer players scheduled, so we end up with 4-5 courts each night.

League History

Now in our 29th year. Spring ’25 is our 82nd season!

In its current form, MNT has been going on since the Fall of 1996. Through the early 1990s, and starting who knows when, Pat Patterson ran a Monday night tennis group at Forest Lake. Steve Bender ran the league with just 15 players in the Spring of 1996. Steve introduced the ladder concept to the league. Jon Michelson took over in the Fall of 1996.

What Court?

To see what court you’ll start on, look for your name either on a clipboard (with the court number) on the front desk -OR- on the downstairs court entry door.

Generally, players start on a court based on how they finished the last time they played. But, I usually have to do some “bumping” to correct occasions where more or fewer than exactly 4 individuals are scheduled for a particular court. I keep track of up-bumps and down-bumps so that no one is treated unfairly in the long run.

The Boards

Players bring their court’s board (and a new can of balls) down to their court. After each set, make sure that your court sheet is filled out with the scores for each set.

At the end of the night, please bring the completed court sheet and board back up and on to the front desk.

Running Late?

If you’re coming but running late, call the club (314-878-2722). Tell them to let me or someone in our group know. If you are the “told” group member, pass on the word to players on the affected court. So, if I call the club to say I’m coming but running 5 minutes late, and the club tells you, find out what court I’m on and tell the folks there. Thanks.

Where?

FOREST LAKE TENNIS CLUB. Just south of Olive and west of 141 off of Woods Mill Road.