Order of Play & Practice Scheduling

The order of play is not just a spectator schedule. It is the backbone of practice-desk scheduling. Once the order of play is set, the warm-up window almost arranges itself, provided you follow the priority rules.

Warm-ups follow order of play

Match warm-ups are scheduled in order of play within the warm-up window, which control desks typically set as the 1.5 hours before play starts. A player on court one early in the day needs an earlier warm-up than someone scheduled late on an outside court, and ordering by play makes that allocation defensible.

The last-two-slots rule

Players scheduled first or second on a particular match court get priority for the last two warm-up slots on that court. The logic is to let them warm up immediately before walking on to compete, rather than warming up, cooling down, and waiting. It is a small rule that prevents a lot of friction.

Qualifying before main draw

When the schedule is busy, qualifying warm-ups are prioritised ahead of main-draw warm-ups. Combine that with the order-of-play sequencing and you have a complete, repeatable way to lay out the window without negotiating each slot individually.

Watch for the opponent clash

• Opponents must never warm up on the same court before they meet
• First and second on a court get that court's last two warm-up slots
• Sequence warm-ups by order of play, qualifying ahead of main draw

Because warm-up scheduling is mechanical once the order of play exists, it is an ideal job for software. Maindraw ingests the order of play and produces the warm-up grid automatically, flagging any opponent-on-same-court clash before it reaches a player.