Frequently Asked Questions

TennisMate is a platform for tennis players to find playing partners, organize and confirm matches, join clubs and leagues, book sessions with coaches, and track every match they play. It is free to use as a player.

Open the app and tap "Find Players". You can search by name and filter by skill level, gender, playing hand, and locality. Once you find someone, tap their card to send a match invite or add them as a mate so they appear in your shortlist next time.

Skill levels follow the NTRP scale (1.0 to 7.0). You set your own level when you create your profile. As you play ranked matches in a community, your community ranking adjusts based on the actual results — see "How does community ranking work?" below.

Yes, the app is free for individual players. Find partners, send invitations, join communities, track results, and book courts at no cost. Coach sessions are paid by the player to the coach according to the coach's posted rate.

Tap the green "+" button in the bottom tab bar and choose "Invite a Friend" (or "Open Invite" to make a public invitation any nearby player can accept). Pick the opponent, the date and time, the court, and optionally the response deadline and a message. The invitation is sent immediately and the opponent gets a push notification.

A Direct invite goes to one specific player you choose. An Open invite is broadcast to anyone in your area who matches the optional filters you set (skill level, age range, gender). Open invites are great when you do not have a regular partner and want to play that week — multiple players can see it and the first one to accept becomes your opponent.

You receive a push notification and a card on your Home screen labelled "Pending Your Response". Open it and you can: Accept (locks the match in), Decline (the opponent is notified, no match scheduled), or Propose a new time (the opponent can accept your proposed time or counter again).

Yes. Open the match detail page and tap "Propose new time". The other player gets a notification and has to accept the new time before it is locked in. Either side can also cancel the match — both players are notified.

Open the match and tap "Forfeit". The match is recorded as a 6-0, 6-0 win for whoever showed up. Forfeits count toward your community ranking the same as a regular match.

After the match, either player can submit the result by tapping "Enter Result" on the match card. Pick the format (classic, junior, tiebreak), enter each set's score, and submit. Your opponent is then notified and either confirms the result (it is final) or disputes it (you both work it out and resubmit). Confirmed results are saved to your history and update your community ranking.

When you create an invite you choose Competitive (counts toward rankings, requires a confirmed score) or Practice (a friendly hit, no score recorded, no ranking impact). Use practice for warm-ups, lessons, or hitting sessions where you do not want the result on your record.

In the menu, tap "Coaches" — you see a list of verified coaches in your area. Tap any coach card to read their bio, hourly rate, specialisations, group session policy, and reviews. Tap "Book a Session", pick a date and an available slot, and confirm. The coach is notified and can accept or decline; once accepted, the booking shows up in "My Bookings".

Yes — coaches who allow group bookings show their group rate and the min/max student count on their profile. After picking a slot, you can add other TennisMate players to the booking. Each player confirms individually and pays their share of the group rate.

Once the slot has passed, the session becomes "rateable". The coach taps "Register Session" to mark attendance and rates each student. Each student then sees an "Action needed" card on their Home screen prompting them to rate the coach. The session is marked Completed once both sides have rated.

The coach sees your name, profile photo, current skill level, rating (if you opted into community rankings), and the booked time and court. After the session, they enter a 1-5 star rating for each student plus optional notes that only they see.

Yes — open the booking and tap "Cancel Session" before the slot starts. The coach is notified and the slot is freed up. Cancellation policies (notice periods, refunds) are between the player and the coach.

On your profile, scroll to "Become a Coach" and tap to start your coach profile. Set your hourly rate, group rate, specialisations, and weekly availability. Your profile becomes searchable by players in your area as soon as you save it.

A community is usually a club, a friend group, or a regional ladder. You can join existing communities or create your own. Members can see each other in the leaderboard, organize internal leagues and tournaments, share news, and track community rankings.

Tap "Communities" in the side menu. Browse existing communities or tap "Join a Community" to find one by name. To create one, tap "+" — you set the name, location, and whether it is open to everyone or admin-approval only.

A league is round-robin: every player plays every other player in their group over a season; standings update as results come in. A tournament is bracket-based: single elimination with seeded brackets the admin generates from the registered players.

Open the community → Leagues or Tournaments tab → tap the competition → "Register". Some competitions require admin approval; others are open. Once the registration period closes, the admin generates groups (league) or the bracket (tournament) and matches start appearing on your Home screen with proposed deadlines.

Your rating goes up when you win and down when you lose. The change depends on three things: who you played (beating a higher-rated opponent earns more), how dominant the match was (a 6-0, 6-0 swings about 50% more than a 7-6, 7-6), and how "full" the match was (multi-set matches count 100%, single-set sessions count 70% so you cannot farm points with quick sessions). New players move ~40 points per match for the first 15, slowing to ~24 once you have 30+ matches and ~16 at 1800+ rating. Your first 10 matches are provisional — you will see "(P)" next to your name until your rating settles. The full breakdown including which matches count and an example calculation is shown when you tap the (i) icon next to "Join Community Rankings" inside any community.

Yes. Open the community → Rankings tab → scroll to the bottom → tap "Leave Rankings". Your row is removed from the leaderboard and your matches stop counting. Your rating is saved, and if you opt back in later you pick up where you left off.

On the login screen, tap "Forgot password". Enter the email you registered with and we send you a reset link valid for 24 hours.

Yes, on iOS. After your first login, go to Settings → Passkeys & Face ID → "Add a passkey". Your device stores a passkey tied to your account; the next time you launch the app, you can sign in with Face ID (or Touch ID on older devices) without typing a password.

Settings → Notifications. You can turn match invites, match updates, community announcements, tournament updates, and league updates on or off independently. Push and email notifications are independent — toggle each per channel.

Settings → Account → Delete Account. We delete your profile, match history, ratings, and stop sending you any notifications. Matches you played against other people stay on their records (anonymized to "Former Player") so their stats are unaffected.