Bye rounds: why players sit out
A bye means one of two different things depending on your format. In round-based play it is a sit-out: there were more players than court spots, so someone rests that round. In a bracket it is the opposite — a free pass into the next round without playing.
Byes in round-based formats
Doubles courts hold four players, so the field is a multiple of four and the remainder sits. Nineteen players on five courts means sixteen play and three sit; the same nineteen on three courts means twelve play and seven sit, because your court count caps the field before your roster does.
Two things reduce byes: add courts, or change the number of players who opt in. Nothing else does.
Where a format lets you control who sits, that choice is called Bye Mode and you make it when you generate the round — rotating the sit-out evenly is the usual default. Late joiners are handled deliberately: an absence from before someone joined is not counted as a bye against them.
Byes in bracket formats
Brackets are built in powers of two — 4, 8, 16, 32 — so a field that does not fill the bracket leaves empty slots. Those become byes, and they go to the top seeds, who advance to the second round without playing. Six teams in an eight-team bracket means two byes.
Find the rules for your format
Each format decides bye order differently, so read the one you are running:
Byes and standings
A player on a bye has no result for that round. For how the rounds they did play are ranked, see How Standings Are Calculated.