What happens if I'm running late, or my match is stopped by rain or bad light?
Rule- Great Britain
- LTA
- LTA Competition Regulations
- Junior tennis
- Adult tennis
- All ages
- World Tennis Number
- 2026
- Players
Signing in and being on time (Regulation 21):
- Sign the attendance sheet, or tell the Referee you've arrived, on each day of the competition. Until you do, you're treated as absent.
- It's your job to find out when you're due on. If you're not ready within 15 minutes of your match being called, the Referee can treat you as having failed to appear, which means Withdrawal Points.
- If you're going to be late, phone the Referee, explain why and give an arrival time. The Referee may delay your match, but doesn't have to.
- Once signed in, you can only leave the site if you have no more matches that day or the Referee gives permission.
Weather, light and other conditions (Regulation 25):
- The Chair Umpire or Referee can suspend play if the court isn't fit. The score at suspension stands when play resumes, on the same court where practical.
- For bad light, suspensions and court moves should happen, where practical, at the end of a set or after an even number of games.
- The Referee decides whether to postpone to another day, and can shorten the scoring format for a whole round (never for a match already under way).
- If an event has to be abandoned, players still in it get the losing ranking points for the round they'd reached.
Warm-up after an interruption (Regulation 23.2):
| Interruption | Re-warm-up |
|---|---|
| Up to 15 minutes | None |
| 15 to 30 minutes | 3 minutes |
| 30 minutes or more | 5 minutes |
Added 21 Oct 2026