Matches & scoring

A match starts as a play invitation: a player (or doubles team) posts a time, a zone, and optionally a court, and other players send a request. When you post, you choose who can see it:

• Open to the zone — anyone playing in that zone can browse it and respond.
• Direct to friends — you hand-pick recipients from your friends. Direct invitations are friends-only, and the server also checks that you share a zone with each recipient — if you don't, you'll get a friendly error explaining how to fix it (one of you adds the zone).
• Similar skill only— limits the invitation to players near your level, using a composite of your best singles and best team rating. The allowed gap is configurable (200 rating points by default), and players outside the window simply don't see the invitation while browsing.

A few more knobs worth knowing:

• Court— pin a court up front, or post without one ("decide later"). Court-less invitations can only be answered by players who offer a court of their own, so a booked match always has somewhere to play. There's also a home-court-onlyoption that keeps the game among that court's regulars.
• Who can respond — singles invitations are scoped to your competition category (gender + age group). You can optionally open it one band younger or older; age-open categories have no restriction.
• Rated or casual — rated matches move ratings when scored; casual ones are recorded in history but never touch a rating. See Ratings & rankings.

Responding to an invitation means sending a request. The host reviews the players who sent requests and accepts one — and acceptance books the match immediately. There's no second confirmation round: when you send a request, you're saying you can actually play at that time.

Because booking is instant, TFL protects everyone's calendar with a first-booking-wins rule: the moment a match is booked for you, your other pending requests and your own open invitations that overlap the window from 2 hours before to 4 hours afterthe booked start time are automatically cancelled — across all zones and play types. You're warned about this when you send a request, so respond only to times you can genuinely make.

Two similarly-named features, very different behavior:

• Auto-accept — a setting on your invitation. The first responder who fits the invitation's requirements (a usable court, and — when limited to similar skill — a rating within the tolerance) is accepted automatically and the match books on the spot.
• Auto-match — a discovery helper that only suggests compatible invitation pairs to the players involved. Nothing books until a person acts on the suggestion.

After you play, the winner reports the result right on the match — open it from your schedule and enter the sets. The loser then confirms or disputes it. If they do neither, the score auto-confirms after 48 hours.

For rated matches, ratings and stats are applied when the score is reported. Confirmation is the safety net: if a dispute is raised and upheld, the rating change is reversed. Casual matches skip ratings entirely.

Time doesn't work anymore? Open the match and tap Propose reschedule. Your opponent is notified by email, text, and push, and can accept or decline — the match only moves once they accept. No admin involvement needed.

Changed your mind before being matched? You can withdraw a pending request, or cancel your own invitation, at any time.

Already matched?A booked match can only be exited by cancelling the match itself — you'll see a warning first, the cancellation is recorded under your name in both players' match history, and your opponent is notified. That keeps instant booking honest: commitments are visible, and flaking has a paper trail.