The Rules of Racketlon
Date: 2002-05-17

_________________

Revision history:
2001-08-01: first version
2002-05-17: margin-of-two (22-20) counting introduced (see
discussion); links added to rules

_________________

 


Introduction
Racketlon is the sport in which you play your opponent in each of the four racket sports table tennis, squash, badminton and tennis. A racketlon match contains four sets, one in each sport. The winner will be the best all round racket player. In Sweden, at least two different variants of racketlon rules exist. This is a description of the rules that are presently (year 2001) in use in the Swedish National Championships.

Set order
- The sets are played in the following order (from smaller to larger courts): table tennis, squash, badminton and finally tennis

Counting
- Each set ends when one of the players first reaches 21 points. Every ball results in a point to the winner of the ball - just like in table tennis. Also, like in table tennis, the winner needs to have a margin of at least two points to win the set. A set can thus end e.g. 22-20 or 25-23 but never 21-20.
- The winner of a racketlon match is not the one that wins most sets but the one that scores the most points in total. This means that it is possible to loose three out of the four sets and still win the match.
- If any of the players so wishes the match shall be stopped as soon as the winner has enough points for the match to be decided.
- If, after four sets, both players have exactly the same number of points another four sets are played - but this time to 5 instead of 21. If still undecided another four sets to 5 are played. And so on, until the match is decided.

Serving
- At the beginning of each set lots are drawn. The winner decides who will start to serve.
- After every five points the serve goes to the other player.
- At the first of these five serves the server can choose from which side to serve. Then, the server shall switch side every time.
- After 20-20 the serve switches hand at every point until the set is decided.
- In tennis, the server has two chances - first and second service - just as in normal tennis.

Switching of sides
- If any of the players so wishes sides are switched at the time when 11 points are first reached by one of the players.

All other aspects of the game are regulated by the rules of the individual sports. See the following links:

The rules of Table Tennis (according to the International Table Tennis Federation)
The rules of Squash (according to the World Squash Federation)
The rules of Badminton (according to the International Badminton Federation)
The rules of Tennis (according to the International Tennis Federation)

 

_______________________________