Forfeiting Points / Umpire Modifying the Score
Overview
There are three cases when the ATP will send the Game Penalty packet. One of them is fully explained in the 'Code Violations, Game Penalties & Defaults' section
There are two other cases where the Game Penalty Keystroke is used by the ATP as the official way of reporting points; one where a player must forfeit points before receiving medical treatment, and the other when an umpire has to manually modify the score.
Forfeiting Points before a Medical Timeout for Cramping
This is a relatively new rule that has been in place since 2010. I stipulates that, when a player gets cramp, they are not allowed to take a medical timeout straight away. The player has to play through until the next changeover or end of set.
However, if the player is unable to play through to the changeover or the start of the next set, then they are entitled to forfeit all of the points up until the changeover/start of the next set if they want to receive treatment.
In this case, the player who has cramp will forfeit the points. These forfeited points will show up as Game Penalties for that player. A way to differentiate this from any other use of the Game Penalty would be to note that in this case the game penalties will all be for one of the players only.
An example of the keystrokes would be as follows:
*There are two games until the changeover, the score is 0/40 to player B
Point Started
Point Scored
PLAYER A GETS INJURED
Game Penalty Player A - Game Player B
Game Penalty Player A - 0/15
Game Penalty Player A - 0/30
Game Penalty Player A - 0/40
Game Penalty Player A - Game Player B
Medical Timeout - Player A
Umpire Modifying the Score
The Umpire modifying the score is a very rare event. It occurs mostly when there is a faulty tablet.
e.g. a match started but the tablet was faulty. A new tablet will be sourced, but the match will continue without a tablet until it is sourced. (All tournaments have spare tablets so this is normally not long). When the new tablet is sourced, the umpire will have to manually input the score into the tablet so that the score is up to date - this is when the 'Umpire Modifying the Score' event happens.
In this case, the ATP will send us Game Penalty packets for both players that makes up to the correct state in the game. The Game Penalty packets will be sent by awarding games to players alternatingly and will always start from the beginning of the match.
An example of the keystrokes would be as follows:
*There is a faulty tablet at the start of the match - the players played on until 2-1 to Player A in the first set:
Game Penalty Player B - 15/0
Game Penalty Player B - 30/0
Game Penalty Player B - 40/0
Game Penalty Player B - Game Player A - 1-0
Game Penalty Player A - 15/0
Game Penalty Player A - 15/0
Game Penalty Player A - 15/0
Game Penalty Player A - Game Player B - 1-1
Game Penalty Player B - 15/0
Game Penalty Player B - 30/0
Game Penalty Player B - 40/0
Game Penalty Player B - Game Player A - 2-1
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