Imagine if a club tennis player could have a close game against Roger Federer. Or if a weekend badminton player could give an Olympic medallist a run for their money….
Well, in Real Tennis this can happen!
One of the great things about Real Tennis is the handicap system. This enables players of different abilities to play each other and still have a close game.
Handicapping uses five ways to help level the playing field:
The smallest difference is when players are only 1 handicap point apart. When this happens, the only difference to a normal game is that the better player starts the 4th game of every set at “minus 15”, so has to win a point in order to get back to love.
The biggest points difference happens when players are 25 points apart. Then every game starts at a score of “30 owe 40”. So, the weaker players needs 2 points to win a game and the better players needs 7 points.
After that the other handicaps come in…. The biggest one possible, when players are 50 points apart, means every game starts at “30 owe 40”, AND the better player is not allowed a second serve, AND cannot hit some parts of the court AND must hit shots that are good enough or else they lose the point.
If players are more than 50 points apart they still have to play off a difference of 50. Otherwise it would start to not look like a proper game of tennis at all.
The amount by which a player’s handicap moves will depend not only on whether they win or lose but also by what margin; it also depends on how important the match is – friendly or competition.
After every match, the result is entered into realtennisonline.com, the international handicap system; the change in both players handicap will reflect the result of the match.
The handicap system works for both singles and doubles, and also copes for games which are played level.
Each player’s handicap, singles and doubles, is available online for everyone to see.
Come and have a go. Maybe you’ll get to play the World Champion and have a chance to beat them!
Owen Saunders/RAD, August 2019