Peanut Tennis

What is Peanut Tennis?

Peanut Tennis is an independent Australian web directory that indexes tennis courts and sanctioned tournaments across the country in one searchable place. It addresses a genuinely irritating discovery problem: court inventories usually live inside council PDFs, tournament calendars sit behind state association portals, and the two are almost never comparable with each other. The product is aimed at competitive club players, parents shuttling juniors between fixtures, and travellers who want a free park hit before checking into a hotel, rather than at casual social groups hunting a relaxed booking tool. Its market position is deliberately narrow and a little cheeky. The site brands itself as the competitive tennis app that does not suck, and the footer states outright that Peanut Tennis is independent and not affiliated with Tennis Australia or UTR Sports. That framing matters, because it positions the service as a challenger index rather than an official feed. Coverage numbers are published openly on the homepage: 3,737 venues, of which 1,361 are free park courts, plus 149 upcoming sanctioned tournaments. The interface splits cleanly into Courts, Tournaments, Guides and FAQ, with a persistent mobile tab bar at the bottom for smaller screens. Version 1.1.0 appears in the footer, a signal that this is an early but actively versioned build rather than a static hobby page.

Key Features

National court directory with a free court filter. The core dataset covers 3,737 venues nationwide, and 1,361 of those are flagged as free park courts. Filtering by cost is the feature that separates Peanut Tennis from club directories, because free public courts are exactly the inventory that never gets catalogued properly. Prebuilt landing pages already exist for the biggest markets, including 152 free courts in Melbourne and 174 free courts in Sydney, which makes the content discoverable without any interaction at all.

Nearest first geographic search. The court finder orders results by proximity, so a player standing in an unfamiliar suburb gets a usable answer immediately. Park courts, clubs and tennis centres are mixed into a single ranked list rather than being split into separate product silos, which suits the way people actually play, mixing free public hits with paid club sessions in the same week.

Court level attributes covering lights, surface and access. Each venue record is described in terms of lighting availability, court surface and the practical route onto the court. The access detail is the underrated element here, since knowing that a council ground is unlocked until dusk is often more useful than knowing its surface is acrylic. This is the granularity that turns a map pin into a usable plan.

Tournament calendar segmented by state, age group and date. The tournament arm claims to list every sanctioned event in the country, currently 149 upcoming entries, and offers three simultaneous filters: state, age group and date. Current distribution across the state tabs runs at 63 in Victoria, 30 in Queensland, 29 in New South Wales, 13 in South Australia, 6 in Western Australia, 4 in the ACT and 4 in Tasmania, which paints an honest picture of where competitive tennis actually clusters. The Northern Territory appears in the footer navigation even though it shows no live count in the homepage state strip.

Entry lists before the draw is published. This is the standout competitive feature. Players can inspect who has entered an event before the draw comes out, which supports seeding decisions, travel planning and a bit of advance scouting on likely first round opponents. It is the kind of intelligence that junior parents and tournament regulars usually assemble by hand from association spreadsheets.

A plain English knowledge base. The Guides section explains UTR, tournament tiers, ball colours and what a first tournament involves, while the Rules section translates association by-laws into readable summaries. For a newcomer, this editorial layer is arguably as valuable as the raw directory, and it is written in a tone that matches the rest of the site rather than mimicking a governing body.

How It Works

The product is refreshingly light on ceremony. There are no account prompts, no onboarding wizard and no gated results on the homepage. A visitor lands on a single screen that presents two doors, one labelled Find a court and one labelled Find a tournament, each carrying its own live count of what sits behind it.

From the court door, the path runs through the national courts directory, where venues are returned closest first. Prebuilt city shortcuts for free courts in Melbourne and Sydney sit directly on the homepage, so a user chasing a public hit can skip the search step entirely. From there, a venue record supplies the lighting, surface and access notes needed to decide whether the trip is worth making.

From the tournament door, the tournament calendar opens with state tabs carrying live event counts. Selecting a state narrows the list, then age group and date filters sharpen it further. Each listing reveals the entry field, which is where the competitive angle emerges: a reader can compare a draw's likely depth before committing to an entry fee and a weekend of travel.

When something is unclear, the guides and rules library answers the conceptual questions, covering rating systems, tier structures and the meaning of different ball colours. Everything appears accessible without an account, which lowers friction to almost nothing but also means there is no saved profile, watchlist or history between sessions.

Use Cases

The travelling club player. A B grade player driving between Melbourne and Albury for work wants a hit on a Tuesday night. The free court filter returns public park courts with lights in the relevant suburb, and the access note clarifies whether a council ground is open after dark. The outcome is a session booked in minutes rather than a forum thread from 2016.

The parent of a junior competitor. A parent in Victoria is budgeting for a season and needs to see what is actually on offer across age groups. Reviewing 63 Victorian events with entry lists visible allows realistic selection based on draw depth rather than guesswork, and the Guides section explains which tiers are appropriate for a first or second season.

The interstate tournament chaser. A player ranked in New South Wales is willing to travel for a stronger field. Comparing event counts across Queensland and Victoria, then reading entry lists before draws drop, turns travel planning into a data exercise. The state level calendar is the workhorse here, since national schedules rarely survive contact with a family budget.

The curious beginner. Someone who has played socially and wants to understand what UTR means, what the ball colour system signals at junior level, and how a first tournament is run. The editorial library handles that education without requiring a membership or a coach's explanation.

Pricing and Value

There is no pricing page, no subscription prompt and no paid tier visible anywhere on the site. Every court record and tournament listing examined on the homepage is presented openly, with no account wall and no signup gate. Version 1.1.0 in the footer suggests a young, independently maintained build rather than a funded commercial platform, and no advertising units or affiliate placements appear in the page markup.

The honest assessment is that value is high for the intended audience and the commercial model is unclear. For a competitive Australian player, a free national court index alone justifies the bookmark. The open question is sustainability, because directories of this type degrade quickly if venue data is not re-verified after council upgrades and resurfacing works. Users should treat listings as a strong starting point and confirm lighting and access details locally before a long drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Peanut Tennis free to use? Yes. No part of the homepage, court directory or tournament calendar is gated behind payment or registration, and no pricing tiers are published anywhere on the site.

Does Peanut Tennis cover tournaments outside Australia? No. The directory is explicitly scoped to Australian venues and sanctioned Australian events, with state filters for the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.

Is Peanut Tennis affiliated with Tennis Australia or UTR Sports? No. The footer states plainly that the service is independent and not affiliated with either organisation, which means tournament data should be cross checked against official association listings before entering.

Can users find free tennis courts rather than paid clubs? Yes, and this is the product's strongest differentiator. Of 3,737 catalogued venues, 1,361 are free park courts, with dedicated shortcuts such as 152 free courts in Melbourne and 174 free courts in Sydney.

What does the site teach beyond listings? The Guides section explains UTR ratings, tournament tiers, ball colours and first tournament logistics, while the Rules section restates association by-laws in plain language for players who find official documents impenetrable.

Final Verdict

Peanut Tennis does one narrow job unusually well. The combination of a 3,737 venue national index, a 1,361 entry free court filter and a state segmented tournament calendar with pre-draw entry lists is more useful to a competitive Australian player than most general purpose sports apps. The plain English guides and translated by-laws add editorial credibility that pure directories rarely bother with, and the absence of an account wall keeps friction close to zero.

The limitations are real though. Coverage stops at the Australian border, there is no booking or reservation capability, and nothing is saved between visits. Data freshness is the structural risk for a small independent build, and listings should be verified locally before travel. Competitive club players, junior families and travelling tennis tourists should bookmark it immediately. Casual social players looking to reserve a court will need a booking platform instead.