Reveiw of Present Rules
Date: 2008-12-18
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This page contains a review of the present rules. Needs for changes are identified by means of comments marked ***H.
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The Rules of Racketlon
Date: 2008-xx-xx
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For the revision history see end of document.
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Introduction

Racketlon is the sport in which you play your opponent in each of the four racket sports table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis. A Racketlon match contains four sets, one in each sport. The winner is the best all round racket player.

This document contains the official rules of Racketlon according to the International Racketlon Federation.

Definition of Racketlon

The following three principles need to be fulfilled in order for a sport to qualify for the term Racketlon:

• The game must include the following four sports: table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis
• The game must be built on the concept of a Racketlon match involving the same two individuals (pairs in doubles) playing each other in all four sports - with identically formatted sets being played in each sport.
• Each rally must count. The player (pair) who wins most rallies in total is the winner of the Racketlon match.

Any sport that fulfils the three principles above is Racketlon. Any other sport involving the combination of several racket sports might be termed "multi racket sport" - but is not Racketlon.

Set Order

• The sets are played in the following order (from smaller to larger rackets): table tennis, badminton, squash, tennis

Scoring

• Each set is played to 21 points. Every rally results in a point to the winner of the rally - i.e. "running score" is applied. At 20-20 the set is extended until there is a margin of two points. 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 lose 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 (a) the winner has enough points for the match to be decided - AND (b) the rest of the points have no other significance. (Note that group play is sometimes decided through counting total points difference. In that case (b) might apply and the rest of the points might still have significance for the result of the group, in which case each match shall be played to the end.).
• If, after 4 sets, both players have exactly the same number of points, then the tennis set is extended with one single point, known as the "Gummiarm Tiebreak". The winner of this single point tie-break is also the winner of the full match. Server is decided by the drawing of lots. The winner of the lot chooses whether to decide who gets to serve or what end to play at. The loser gets the remaining choice.
  ***H: Need to regulate from which side the server shall serve.
  
  To off-set the server's advantage there is no second service in the single point tiebreak.

Serving & Ends of Court

• The initial order of serving, receiving and ends in each of the four sports shall be decided by one single toss before the match starts, according to the following procedure:
  The winner of the toss decides whether to start serving or receiving in table tennis. The player, who starts serving in table tennis, starts receiving in badminton, starts serving in squash and starts receiving in tennis.
  In each set the player who starts receiving decides what end to start the set from.
• After every two points the serve goes to the other player. At the first of these two serves the server always serves from the right (except table tennis). The second serve is from the left side.
• Ends are switched at the time when 11 points are first reached by one of the players.
• After 20-20 the serve switches hand at every point until the set is decided. The two first serves are from the right, the two next serves are from the left and so on.
• In tennis, the server has two chances - first and second service - just as in normal tennis.

Time Intervals & Continuous Play

• A maximum break of one minute shall be allowed at eleven (i.e. when 11 points is first reached by any of the players) in each set.
• The break between sets shall be maximised at "3+3" minutes meaning: (a) Warming up at the next sport has to commence within 3 minutes after the end of the previous set. (b) The next set has to commence within 6 minutes after the end of the previous set
• Play must be continuous at all times (as far as can be reasonably expected). Umpires and referees have the right to penalise players under the misconduct rule should they breach this.
• Players may pause for a brief drink and to towel down every five points only (so after 5, 10, 15 points, etc), if this is breached the umpire may penalise the offending player. If sweat has dripped onto the table tennis table, badminton court, etc, then of course the player may use a towel to wipe that away at any time.

Conduct on Court

For any act of misconduct (as judged by the umpire) such as swearing, threatening behaviour, racket abuse, delaying or dangerous play, etc, the player shall be penalised as follows:

• 1st incident - warning
• 2nd incident - player loses a point
• 3rd incident - player loses the set
• 4th incident - player loses the match and is disqualified from the tournament.

Line Judging:

• If a call by a line judge is challenged and no judge or referee is present then the call stands and the challenger has to accept the call. The challenger may, of course, request a referee to preside for the rest of that set, if available.

Injury

• Each player is allowed one injury time-out per match of 5 minutes
• In the event of bleeding the same rule as above applies, as long as bandages/plasters are readily available of course.
• If any injury is the result of a collision with the opponent, the umpire may allow the player as much time as he needs, and if necessary, penalise either player.

Recommendations

• Organisers should require that protective glasses are worn in all classes but Elite.
  ***H: This is a requirement on organisers that belong in the Tournament Rules (Tour Requirements Spec). Move temporarily to appendix.

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

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Doubles Specific Rules

The rules of each sport and the generic FIR rules regulate most aspects of the doubles games. There are a few small changes to the singles and the normal doubles rules, see below:

1. Players on Court
All players of each pair must be on court for the table tennis, badminton and tennis except
squash when it is one player from each pair. All sets must be completed before moving onto
the next sport.
***H: Last sentence superfluous. It is already regulated by the "order of sports" rule.

2. Two-Serves start from right to left
a) One single toss is done before the match. The winners can choose who serves first, who
returns first or which side they want to start on. The losers of the toss then have second
choice. The team that serves in Tabletennis also Serves in Squash and returns in Badminton
and Tennis. The team can decide before each sport, which player starts to serve.
***H: Can be abbreviated to include only what is specific to doubles.

b) The first player who serves first will have two serves, his first from right to left, his second
from left to right.
c) All players must start their service from the right hand side of the courts. Following the
server will always serve from right to left if the total score is even and from left to right if the
total score is odd.
***H: (c) can be removed. Since this is identical to the singles rules.

3. Order of Serving
a) The order of serving rotation in table tennis, badminton and tennis is as follows: -
Pair AB vs Pair CD, the serving order A, C, B and D then back to A & so on.
***H: Not true for the second half of the table tennis set...The description would get clearer if the notation were; Pair A (with players A1 and A2) vs Pair B (with players B1 and B2), where the digit 1 denotes the players serving and receiving first.

b) The specific order of table tennis serving and receiving is A - C - B - D, when the switch
sides at 11 the order changes to A - D - B - C and so on etc.
***H: Needs clarification as regards who receives. Copy from tt rules?

c) The specific order of badminton serving and receiving is according to the new badminton
rules that the servers and receivers keep the same positions when serves are switched
***H: For clarity it could be added that "the only switch of positions that occur is the one that occurs on the serving side when the server moves to serve from the left side after having served from the right"

A to C then A to D, C to B and C to A, then B to D and B to C, then followed by D to A and D
to B, then the cycle repeats itself until 21, even though sides are changed at 11.

d) In tennis like normal, each team chooses which player returns on the forehand and which
player returns on the backhand side and this stays the same throughout the whole set.
***H: The corresponding tennis rule (see below) actually prescribes a "rotation" (i.e. not necessarily a static forehand/backhand arrangement - although that is sometimes the consequence).In line with that rotation philosophy I suggest that the forehand/backhand positions are switched when ends are changed at 11. This is also in line with the general idea that things should be symmetric.

***H: From the Rules of Tennis:
"The team which is due to receive in the first game of a set shall decide which player
shall receive the first point in the game. Similarly, before the second game starts,
their opponents shall decide which player shall receive the first point of that game.
The player who was the receiver’s partner for the first point of the game shall
receive the second point and this rotation shall continue until the end of the game
and the set."

4. Extension at 20:20
At 20 all then it moves to ONE serve per player and the serving order A, C, B and D.
***H: Not valid for second half of tt.

Players A and C start serving from right to left, B and D continue from left to right. If still no difference
of 2 clear points, the cycle is repeated with Players A and C starting from left to right and B
and D continuing from right to left. These cycles continue until two points clear and the
winners emerge.

5. Squash change player at 11
The squash will be played as a singles in two parts up to 21 as normal with the additional
rules below: -
a) The player with the highest World (singles) Ranking in the pair will play as the No1 player
against the other pairs No1 up to 11 points first then the No2 players take over to finish the
set etc. If any of the pairs play out of the ranking order, the offending pair will automatically
lose the squash to zero and the opponents will register a win with the full allocation of point's.
b) If one of the pairs, does not have a World (singles) Ranking then that player will have to
play No 2 at the squash. The ranked player will play No 1 in the pair.
c) In the case when both players in the pair do not have a World (singles) Ranking, then the
pair will decide themselves who plays first, but this order counts for the whole tournament.
d) In Mixed Doubles, the women play each other first and then men take over to finish the set.
***H: A couple of different alternatives have been suggested to modify this rule 5. See proposal.

6. Gummiarm point
If, after 4 sets, both pairs have exactly the same number of points, then the tennis set is
extended with one single point and the players stay the same ends they finished level on. The
winner of this single point tiebreak is also the winner of the full match. A toss or the drawing of lots decides the choices of Serving/receiving.
a) The serving pair can choose who will serve within the pair and
b) the receiving pair can chose the side to receive the serve on, left or right. To offset the
server's advantage there is no second service in the single point.
***H: Needs change to be consistent with the corresponding rule for singles. Can also be abbreviated to include just what is specific to doubles.

7. Seeding
Organisers have to use the doubles ranking first to determine the seeds in each event.
***H: This is a tournament rule that do not belong in the racketlon rules. Remove.

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)
***H: Remove. Superfluous after merge.

***H: Add Team specific rules.

Revision history:
2001-08-01: first version
2002-05-17: margin-of-two (22-20) counting introduced (see discussion); links added to rules
2002-12-03: gummiarm tiebreak introduced (see discussion)
2004-05-27:
Clarified that this document contains the official rules of the IRF.
Added a definition of Racketlon.
Added a note to clarify that group play might require that matches are played to the end eventhough they are already decided.
Modified the description of the single point tie-break to clarify that the winner of the lot might also choose which side to play on. (Same thing clarified for the tossing at the beginning of each set).
Added rules about breaks (at 11 and between sports) according to IRF decisions.
Added a recommendation about protective glasses according to an IRF decision.
2004-09-27:
Added rules on Time Intervals, Conduct on Court, Injury and Line Judging according to IRF suggestions (see analysis.doc)
2005-02-17:
Changed the order of sports so that squash and badminton switched place into tt-ba-sq-te - according to an IRF decision. (see analysis)
2007-01-01
Two format changes according to AGM decisions in Vienna 2006-11-25 (see newsitem):
-The serve games shortened from 5 to 2 serves.
-A single toss rule introduced implying alternating "start-to-serve" advantages.
2007-07-31
Updated the links to the rules of the individual sports
Clarified the rule on the "Gummiarm Tiebreak"

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