Ladder match reservations

Just about every tennis club gives its members 2-hour court time reservations in the form of in-house (club-sponsored) events. Our in-house events have done so minimally in the past, sometimes not at all:

• We have given final, semifinal and third place ladder tournament matches full-match court reservations (only four matches every four months).
• We have given a noon-2pm time slot on Saturday/Sunday to bump doubles participants, a very undesirable time because of the terrible positioning of the sun and the hot temperatures in the middle of summer days (some members do not participate in bump doubles during the summer for that reason).
• Even our own USTA leagues are not allowed to schedule matches during “prime time” hours like what other clubs offer to their USTA-loving members. While players at those clubs are playing USTA matches at 9:00-noon on weekends, our USTA teams only play between noon and 6pm on weekends, and occasionally Tuesdays/Thursdays 6-8pm.

In other words, Washoe Tennis Club has given significant priority to leisurely play over in-house WTC events. This philosophy represents an imbalance between giving club members who only want to play in a leisurely fashion at Washoe Tennis Club what they want, vs. giving club members who want a more competitive and organized experience what they want.

With this imbalance in mind, on October 28, 2026, the Washoe Tennis Club board voted to allow doubles/singles ladder match reservations as follows:

• We are now allowing one court at a time to be reserved for either doubles ladder or singles ladder matches at all hours of the day, 7 days a week. That means no scheduled reservation times will overlap with each other.
• The starting time of a reservation is exact, but if every court is in use at that time, the ladder players still wait for the first court to open. So, don’t worry, if you’re on court enjoying your 1 hour of play, it will not be interrupted by a reservation.
• Those with 2-hour reservations will write an (R) next to the name(s) on the board for that court, and will also write a starting and ending time, such as “10:10 – 12:10”.

Washoe Tennis Club needs to raise significant funds to eventually redo the foundation of all the courts. For this, we need more members and more support. That is why we are expanding the events we offer, and also why one of our events each season will be an Open event, meaning the event does not require Washoe Tennis Club membership. This season (Winter 2026-2027), that open event will be the doubles ladder. (There is no bump doubles event on weekends this season.)

Non-members who visit our club with a 2-hour reservation (made through Tennis Asylum, the website WTC uses to run its events) will be reminded (via email and possibly text too) to pay the $5 WTC day pass fee. They should be treated by all of our members as the guests – and prospective future members – that they really are. Our guests are excited to visit our club with the new events we offer, and we should make them want to come back and maybe one day become members.