An American tournament is a round robin mixed doubles competition in which participants are initially paired at random. Timed rounds are played on a rotational basis, swapping partners between rounds, and there are small prizes for the players who win the most games overall. Any adult member can play in an American tournament irrespective of their playing level.

The rules

1. 15-minute rounds. Players play as many games as they can in the allotted time.
2. No advantage scoring. If the score reaches deuce, it’s a sudden death point to win the game.
3. Play lets. If the serve clips the net and lands in the service box, there’s no let and the ball is in play.
4. If the score in points in a game is even when the round ends a sudden death point is played to win that game.
5. Changing partners – at the end of each round losers stay on court, winners move up a court and new pairings are formed.