By popular demand we’ve brought back the tennis leagues!

Apparently many of you liked getting matches lined up for you, so you don’t need to ping a whole bunch of people to see who’s in town, and who wants to play.

We ran these in 10 cities about a year ago and got some pretty decent action. People played their matches, reported scores and, of course, met new players. Some even earned prizes from our league sponsors and a cool trophy to prove they won their division.

We’re expecting to run the program in 50 cities this year, probably the bigger cities and metro areas. So, likely we won’t reach all 2,000 cities, where we have players. But there’s no harm in signing up. We won’t charge you anything if your city doesn’t gather enough players. We’ll just make a note that you were interested, and we’ll keep you posted if we get more players at some point.

A few things to mention about the Flex League format this year:

• It’s a co-ed league. Open to both men and women. Don’t be surprised if you get an email that you’re scheduled to play the opposite gender.
• People forget. We get it. We’ll remind you when you have a match lined up. But if you can’t make it, be a good sport and send a note to cancel or reschedule. People are counting on you to show up. That’s why they join the program.
• You don’t pay upfront for this. We’ll just need your card for reservation purposes, but won’t charge it, if enough players don’t enroll in your area.
• We’ve renamed the program Flex League, as they’re meant to be a bit more social and flexible with their timing. If you can’t make your match this week, play it next week.
• We’ll match you up with players of similar skill level. Depending on your area and player density, you might get tennis players who are 0.5 skill level higher. Don’t skip that match. Take the opportunity and step up your game.
• We’ve dropped the requirement to alternate between “home” and “away” matches. With public tennis courts being tough to reserve, we never know where we’ll end up playing. So we’ll leave that to the players to confirm on the day of the match.
• Ah! How much? Just $29 to join the Flex League. And you’re covered for a whole year. If you don’t like it, just cancel within the first month to get a refund. You won’t get charged at all, if not enough players enroll in your area.

Lots of folks asked us in the past “Are you going to match me up with somebody?” and also “I don’t really want to compete. I just want to hit with someone”. So we now came up with this program. The Flex League. A league with a social spin. Hopefully it’s more fun and less stress. We’ll match you up with other players and we’ll connect you with them. You just need to confirm your match and play it.

It’s also a good idea to report your scores. This will help us tweak the matching algorithm, so you get better tennis partners in the future. You’ll also get to see how your friends are doing through the season. It’s one of the first things players look up before they play someone new.

Make sure to grab a spot and register today.

If you’re new to Tennis Round, you can sign up here: http://www.tennisround.com/register

Good luck out there, play safely and have fun!