Singles vs Doubles Ladders: Which Should Your Club Run?

A challenge ladder is one of the easiest competitions a club can run. Players have a position, they challenge the people just above them, and a win moves them up. But before you start, you have to decide: singles, doubles, or both?

The answer changes how the ladder runs, how much it needs managing and who it suits. This guide covers the differences and the problems to plan for.

How a ladder works

Whichever you choose, the rules are the same. Every player (or pair) has a position. You can challenge anyone within a set number of places above you. If you win, you take their position and everyone in between moves down one. If you lose, nothing changes. There is no end date, so the ladder runs all season.

If you are new to ladders, start with our guide to managing tennis ladder rankings.

Singles ladders

Who they suit: competitive players who want regular matches and enjoy the one-on-one test. Squash ladders are almost always singles, and they suit tennis and pickleball players who play singles as well.

Why they work:

• Arranging a game means agreeing a time with one person
• Positions are easy to understand: it is you, and only you
• Players can climb quickly if they are underrated

What goes wrong:

• Players sit on their position. Someone near the top stops accepting challenges. The answer is a time limit to accept, after which the challenge lapses and the challenger is free to try someone else, plus a play-by date once a challenge is accepted.
• Inactive players block the ladder. Someone goes on holiday or gets injured and everyone below them is stuck. Players need a way to pause themselves, and the challenge range should skip past paused players.

Doubles ladders

Who they suit: social and club players who mostly play doubles, padel players (padel is always doubles), and pickleball groups.

Why they work:

• They suit how most club players actually play
• Players who would not enter a singles competition will happily climb as a pair
• They encourage regular partnerships

What goes wrong:

• Arranging a game means four diaries. Getting four people on court takes longer, so give doubles ladders a longer time to accept a challenge and a longer play-by window.
• One partner holds up the pair. If only the "lead" player can accept a challenge or enter a score, the pair stops whenever they are away. Either partner should be able to act for the pair.
• Partnerships change. Partners get injured, move away or fall out. You need a clear rule for what happens to the pair's position when one partner changes. The usual answer is that the position belongs to the remaining player, who finds a new partner.

Can you run both?

Yes, and many clubs do. Run a singles ladder and a doubles ladder side by side (or men's, women's and mixed versions of either) and let players join whichever suit them. Just make sure each ladder has enough players to keep moving: a ladder of six players soon runs out of challenges.

Getting the settings right

Two settings decide how a ladder feels:

Challenge range. How far up can you challenge? Too narrow and players run out of opponents; too wide and the top players are swamped with challenges. A range of about a fifth of the ladder is a good default, so on a 20-player ladder you can challenge the four places above you. Widen it for a small ladder.

Time to play. How long does an accepted challenge have to be played? Ten days suits most singles ladders. Doubles ladders often need two weeks or more.

How Rallio runs singles and doubles ladders

Rallio's ladders can be singles or doubles; open, men's or women's; for tennis, squash, padel or pickleball. The manager sets the challenge range (10% to 50% of the ladder, 20% by default) and the time to play (3 to 21 days, 10 by default), and can change either as the ladder grows.

A challenge has five days to be accepted on a singles ladder and seven on a doubles ladder, before it lapses. Players who are away can pause themselves, and the challenge range skips past them. Each player or pair can have two games on the go at once.

On a doubles ladder, either partner can act for the pair: challenge, accept, add the date, or enter and confirm the score. The other partner is told whenever they do. The lead player looks after the partnership, and if the lead withdraws, their partner keeps the pair's position and becomes the lead. Doubles players can join from a link their partner sends them.

Results only move the ladder once the other side confirms them (or after three days with no answer), and every result is announced to the whole ladder. With Player chat on, each game gets its own chat in the app.

See tennis ladders, squash ladders or pickleball ladders, or set up a free group at rallio.io. Rallio runs on web, iOS and Android, and it is free while we are in beta.