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Reference · Article 2 · 3 min
How many matches does a Super 8 have?
With 8 fixed teams it's 28 matches, and every team plays 7 times. In an Americano of 8 players it's 14 matches in 7 rounds — and each person also plays 7 times.
In 30 seconds
- 8 fixed teams = 28 matches. Every team plays 7 times, once against each other team.
- 8 players rotating (Americano) = 14 matches, in 7 rounds. Each person also plays 7 times — what changes is who with.
- The number of courts doesn't change the count. It only changes how long the tournament takes.
Fixed Pairs — the round robin
It's the standard round-robin arithmetic: with n teams you get n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 matches. With 8 teams, 8 × 7 ÷ 2 = 28.
| Size | People | Matches | Rounds | Matches per round | Matches per team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super 5 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 2 (one bye) | 4 |
| Super 6 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Super 7 | 14 | 21 | 7 | 3 (one bye) | 6 |
| Super 8 | 16 | 28 | 7 | 4 | 7 |
With an odd number of teams the circle needs an empty seat, and whoever lands on it gets a bye that round. The rounds show up on the printable schedule; inside the app, Fixed Pairs matches come out as a single queue, ordered so no team plays twice in a row.
Americano — rotating partners
In an Americano every round puts everyone on court at once, in new pairs. That's why the total is lower: more people per match.
| Players | Matches | Rounds | Matches per round | Matches per person |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | 33 | 11 | 3 | 11 |
The rotation guarantees that each player partners each other player exactly once, which is why it only exists for 4, 8 and 12 players. How many players you need.
How long that takes on the sand
A 6-game match takes roughly 20 minutes, counting the change of ends and the chat between matches. From there it's simple division: what rules the clock is how many matches run at the same time.
| Super 8 (28 matches) | Simultaneous matches | Rough duration |
|---|---|---|
| 4 courts | 4 | 7 rounds · a little over 2 h |
| 2 courts | 2 | 14 slots · about 4 h 30 |
| 1 court | 1 | 28 matches back to back · all day |
Tight on time? The fix isn't cutting matches, it's shortening them: a Super 8 of 4 games instead of 6 takes almost a third off without dropping anyone from the tournament. With few courts, consider a Super 6 (15 matches) or an Americano of 8 (14 matches).
What if the sport isn't beach tennis?
The round-robin table doesn't know which sport is being played: padel, tennis, pickleball and footvolley use the same 28 matches with 8 teams. What changes is the score of each match, not how many there are.
What goes wrong here
- Counting people instead of teams. A Fixed Pairs “Super 8” means 8 teams — 16 people, 28 matches. With 8 people the format is Americano, and that's 14 matches.
- Expecting 28 matches in an Americano of 8. It's 14: each round uses all 8 people across 2 simultaneous matches.
- Reading rounds as time. Seven rounds only become seven 20-minute blocks if you have the courts for all 4 matches of a round to run together.
See also
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