Pintxos v Txakos: The Battle of Bilbao
Twenty-four players, one weekend, two teams, and a format built so everyone's on court every single round.
The teams
Every player is ranked before the weekend starts, left side and right side separately (watch this space). From those rankings we draft two teams of twelve using a snake draft, alternating picks so the strength is split as evenly as the numbers allow. No team stacks all the talent on one side.
This year the two sides are Pintxos and Txakos, named for the two things you can't have a night out in Bilbao without.
Day one: balanced pairs
Each team pairs its strongest players with weaker partners, so every pair on the day is roughly matched in overall ability. It keeps things properly competitive from court one to court six, and it means your partner's skill and yours combine to make a genuinely even team.
You play the same partner all day. Five games on Friday, six courts running at once. One game is held back to open Saturday, so by the time it's played you'll have faced every single pair from the opposite team once. Full round robin, nobody repeats an opponent, nobody sits out.
Day two: strength against strength
Saturday opens with that last balanced game, then switches to a new partner for the rest of the day, this time matched to your own level. So we'll get some really balanced games for the sharp end of the tournament.
To keep it fair, courts split into two groups, Bracket 1 (the three strongest pairs per team) and Bracket 2 (the other three), so you're only ever facing opponents around your own standard. Two games are a slight mismatch but aim for an upset or at least to take half a point. Then two identical deciders where every court plays the exact same matchup twice, best pair against best pair, all the way down the draw.
How it's scored
Simple points system. Win a game outright and you get a point. Lose narrowly, by two games or less (including if it goes to a tiebreak), and you still walk away with half a point. Lose by more than that and it's nothing. Every game that finishes level goes to a sudden-death tiebreak, first to go two clear wins it, no cap, so there's always a result.
Points add up across both days. Most points at the end of Saturday wins the Cup.
Tournament rules
First game of every match, you play for serve. After that, whichever team is behind in the tally serves first next, so the losing team gets a tiny advantage.
Twenty-five minute matches, five minutes between them. Ten games over the Friday and Saturday, six courts always in use, and not a single dead rubber - EVERY POINT COUNTS.