Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Everything people ask about running Survivor and Bracket pools on TennisPools — rules, deadlines, the weird tennis edge cases, and what it costs. Can't find your answer? Email hello@tennispools.com.
Playing
What is a tennis survivor pool?
Each round of the tournament, every member picks one player who must win their match. A right pick keeps you alive; a wrong pick — or a missed pick — knocks you out, and no player can be used twice. A Grand Slam has seven rounds (Round 1 through the final), and the last member standing wins the pool.
What is a tennis bracket pool?
Everyone predicts match winners before the tournament's first ball, then the bracket scores itself as real matches finish. TennisPools offers two formats: Quarter Club — 15 picks: name the 8 quarterfinalists at 40 points each, then pick through to the champion (80, 160, 320 points; 1,280 maximum) — and Full Draw — 127 picks covering every match, starting at 5 points per Round 1 match and doubling every round to 320 for the final (2,240 maximum). The highest total wins.
When do picks lock?
Bracket picks lock at the tournament's first ball — for the US Open 2026 that is Sunday, August 30, with the draw published around August 27, so you have a few days to make your calls. Survivor picks lock round by round, at each round's first match, and you can change a pick any time before it locks. TennisPools emails a reminder before every deadline.
Which tournaments can I play?
TennisPools launches with the US Open 2026 — men's and women's singles, 128 players in each draw. The Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon follow, with the same pool formats at every Grand Slam.
Scoring edge cases
What happens if a player retires mid-match or gives a walkover?
Tennis rules apply: whoever advances counts as the winner. In a survivor pool, you are safe if you picked the advancing player. In a bracket pool, a pick on the advancing player scores full points. In Bracket Scores, the exact-score bonus is voided for that match only — the winner points still count in full.
What if everyone left in a survivor pool loses in the same round?
Nobody is eliminated — everyone still standing finishes as a co-champion and splits the pot. Eliminations only apply when at least one member survived the round, so a survivor pool always ends with a winner: either one last member standing or a group of co-champions.
How are ties broken in a bracket pool?
With a tiebreaker submitted alongside your picks: predict the total number of games played in the final — every game in every set, both players combined. If two members finish level on points, the prediction closest to the real total without going over wins the tie.
What is Bracket Scores?
A bracket variant where you call the winner and the exact set score of every match — 3-0, 3-1, or 3-2 in men's best-of-five-set matches; 2-0 or 2-1 in women's best-of-three. Nailing the exact score pays half the round's points again on top of the winner points: a correct quarterfinal winner worth 80 points becomes 120 with the exact score.
Running a pool
How do I invite friends to my pool?
Creating a pool takes about a minute and gives you an invite code plus a share link — anyone with the link can join. Pools are private by default (invite only), or you can make yours public so anyone on TennisPools can find and join it.
Can my pool follow the women's draw?
Yes. Every pool follows exactly one singles draw — men's or women's, chosen by the commissioner when the pool is created. Want to play both? Create two pools; each takes about a minute.
Can members submit more than one entry?
If the commissioner allows it. Multiple entries can be switched on when the pool is created — up to 10 per member — and each entry plays separately on the leaderboard.
Money
How much does TennisPools cost?
Pools with up to 5 members are completely free. Bigger pools pay a one-time hosting fee of $2 per member beyond the first 5, paid by the commissioner — a 20-member pool costs $30 total for the whole tournament. Members never pay TennisPools anything.
Does TennisPools take a cut of the prize pot?
No — never. Entry fees are 100% between the commissioner and the members: the commissioner sets the buy-in, collects it directly through Venmo, Zelle, or whatever the group uses, and pays out the winners. TennisPools tracks who has paid and keeps the standings honest, but takes nothing from the pot. Some platforms take 10% of your prize pot; TennisPools takes nothing from it.
Accounts
Do I need an account to play?
Yes — a free account, created with your email or a Google sign-in, is all you need to join or start a pool. There is no app to install: TennisPools runs in the browser on any phone or computer.
Ready when you are
The US Open 2026 draw is released around August 27 and the first ball is Sunday, August 30. Set your pool up now — it takes a minute.