Court 3 is empty. Why can’t we call the next match?

The timetable was fine at breakfast.

Rahul’s doubles was due to finish at 9:30. His singles was scheduled for 10:00 on Court 3, leaving thirty minutes between them. At 10:00, Court 3 is empty—but the doubles is still going on Court 1.

The desk can see the singles is due. Rahul’s opponent is waiting. Calling the match again will not free Rahul, and asking him to go straight from one court to the other will create a rest problem the original timetable did not have.

Experienced match controllers know this situation. The difficult part is tracking it across several courts, players entered in two events, and a queue of other matches. SmashIQ’s Match Control puts current player availability beside the match you are about to call.

Read the reason before chasing the player.

On the court board, Now shows the match in progress and Next up shows the queued match. Player indicators flag someone who is on court, short of rest, temporarily unavailable, or already next up elsewhere. A shared player in singles and doubles is checked as the same person across those matches.

Rahul’s singles carries an on-court reason pointing to the doubles. If a side is still “Winner of …”, readiness also identifies that unresolved side. Being ten minutes late is useful information, but it does not outrank the fact that a player is still playing or that one side is not known yet.

What the player dots mean

• Purple — on court now. Check the named match before calling the player.
• Red — under the live-day rest floor. The example floor is 15 minutes.
• Amber — above that floor, below the planning minimum. The example minimum is 30 minutes.
• Black — unavailable. The desk has recorded an active availability hold.
• Pink — FWDN. Check the forced-withdrawal standing or review. A required decision blocks the affected match; an advisory review warns.
• Blue — next up on another court. The player is already in another court’s Next up card.

Each name gets one dot, with the most serious condition taking priority. An on-court player does not become merely amber because their rest would also be short. Read the warning text as well as the colour.

Open the Matches tab to review today’s pending work. The list uses the same player-readiness information as the board, so you can investigate an alternative without losing track of why #7 is waiting.

When the doubles ends, the problem changes.

Suppose Rahul finishes at 10:08. He is now off court, but at 10:10 he has had only two minutes of rest. SmashIQ reads rest from actual recorded finishes and uses the least-rested player in the next match. In doubles, checking only the player you recognise would miss the partner who just finished another event.

The tournament has three configurable rest levels: an aggressive floor for live-day readiness, a minimum used in planning, and an ideal target. Here is an example with 15, 30 and 45 minutes. These are illustrative organiser settings, not a statement of badminton rules.

This is where the distinction matters. A caution tells the desk about a compromise; a blocked reason identifies a stronger obstacle. Auto mode filters out blocked readiness, but caution and watch can remain eligible. Set the live-day floor deliberately rather than assuming automation will always wait for your ideal gap.

Give the court playable work.

Return to Court 3. Match #7 already occupies its Next up slot, even though the court itself is empty. Auto mode fills empty Next up slots; it does not silently replace this blocked card. The desk first needs to decide what to do with it.

One option is to unschedule #7 from its card. That removes its court and official assignments while retaining its planned time. You can then move an appropriate pending match into the empty Next up slot, or let Auto mode select eligible work from the running order. Plan Rahul’s return and reassign his officials when you bring #7 back onto a court.

If you choose another court that already has a Next up card, the court menu offers a swap. SmashIQ trades the two matches’ court, queue position and planned time together. It refuses a swap that would put a feeder after the match depending on it. Read the resulting arrangement before making the next call.

Moving a pending match is a desk decision about the queue. It does not interrupt a match already playing. You still need to account for actual player presence, the officials, and any restriction the desk has not recorded.

Make the delay a specific decision.

The useful change is that “Court 3 is wasting time” becomes a concrete choice: #7 waits because Rahul is playing, #14 waits for its feeder, and #19 is the candidate worth checking. When Rahul finishes, the same board changes the question from occupancy to rest.

Keep the timetable in Schedule for planned conflicts and placements. Use Match Control for what the courts and people can do now. A clean plan and a playable next match answer different questions, especially after an overrun.

For the routine placement, umpire assignment and announcements after that decision, see Automate the court calls. Keep control of the exceptions.