A right to warm-up?

What is often called warmup consists of three phases:

1. The actual warm-up & activation, which for most players is not on court, but rather stuff like running, small jumps, etc., usually without a racket . It can be done virtually everywhere. It's usually between 3 and 15 minutes.
2. Getting used to hitting the shuttle and moving around court, typically hitting drives/pushes, then clears, then drops, then smashes, then netplay&serves, maybe (especially for singles players) some footwork. For most players, this takes about 20 to 60 minutes, and is done long before the match, usually on a different court.
3. Getting used to the court and it surroundings, and getting a final push before the match only takes between 60 and 180 seconds. This is the phase immediately before a match starts.

There are of course variations between players – some shorten or skip phase 1, or extend it with stretching or injury-specific exercises, and different players require different lengths.

At very low levels, phase 1 is often skipped, and 2 and 3 are combined.
In many low- to mid-level tournaments, 1 & 2 happen once before the tournament, and before each game just a shortened 2, and full 3 are done on court.
In league matches, you typically see 1&2 before the team match starts, and then phase 1 before each individual match, especially if the players are better.
At international tournaments, 1&2 happen on practice courts / a separate practice hall, and only phase 3 is on the actual court that's being played on.

The precise timings are different for every tournament, and of course depend on the timetable (is there time to warm up before the first round starts?) and availability/proximity of a practice hall.
Most tournaments without a practice hall/court will have 30-60 minutes for phase 2 before the tournament starts, and 90-120 seconds for phase 3.
The tournament will usually post rules for this, and these will be enforced by the umpires.
Low-level tournaments may not have any rules for warmup; then you typically have about 5 minutes for phase 3.

Phase 1 can be done alone, phase 2 is usually done with teammates or friends, and only phase 3 in singles needs the opponent. So I'm somewhat puzzled upon reading

In mixed or level doubles, except at very low levels, it would be extremely uncommon to warm up with anybody but your partner.
The only exception is when everybody is from the same club, or very good friends. I've heard stories that men used to discriminate against women decades ago and warm up with each other in mixed doubles. Apart from these exceptions, I don't remember ever seeing a doubles warm up with their opponents in the tens of thousands of matches I've umpired, played, organized, or spectated. What would be the benefit of that?

In singles, the situation is different. You don't have a partner. If your opponent refuses to warm up with you (which would be a breach of etiquette, but not be punished by the laws), you can of course bring somebody else in, or simply just do footwork and shadow shots in the allotted time.

In summary, it's recommended to warm up (as in phase 1) on your own in the facilities or behind courts.
For phase 2, you are expected to use the practice times and courts. Some tournaments may allow you to practice on courts in between the end of the last match and the players for the next match arriving.
Phase 3 on court is now usually 90s after the umpire sits down (without an umpire: after the test of shuttles), but the referee & tournament organizers may extend it to 120s. In a day-long tournament without opportunity to practice phase 2 in between, a longer time for a combined phase 2 + 3 warmup on the court you compete on may be allowed before every match. If in doubt, just ask the referee or tournament organizers.

 

If you are not sweating at least a little bit after phase 1, you're doing it wrong. 30-40 minutes seem a little bit excessive though. For example, many training sessions follow a 90 minutes schedule, and using 40 minutes to warm up would be prohibitive. The sport-independent phase 1 prevents injuries. Phase 2 gets you a feeling for the shuttle, and has much more to do with performance rather than injury prevention.

You write that their is no court available for phase 2. This may be possible, but seems highly unlikely. Almost every tournament will open the halls before the first match, and that time is intended for warmup. Many low-level tournaments will not have meeting points, and thus players take a couple of minutes to reach their court after being called, and that is time you can use to warm up.

How do the other competitors warm up? If you are new to competition, you can follow their lead.

And again, if you are unsure, just ask the referee or tournament organizer. They have the ultimate word anyways.

 

From my experience, many local tournaments does not have the capability and place to allow on court warm ups. But even than, I have never seen a tournament allowing anything more than 2 mins before the start of the match. It has nothing to do with injuries, it is your own responsibility to warm up off the court so that you come ready to play. You don't need half an hour to get used to the court environment...

You need to understand that usually local tournaments have a lot of matches to get through by the end of the day and if everyone would be allowed to warm up 10 mins, the tournaments would get hours (if not even days) behind the schedule.... How many total courts are in the tournaments you usually participate in?

 

I am not surprised. I came the long way about to this thread having read almost all the other recent threads, responses, and questions by the OP. However, it would be same if I had read this thread first.

To those who are keen in knowing the whatif scenerio in the OP-inquiry about warm-up - when one player does not want to.
The umpire has no legal basis to penalise the player not wanting to warm-up with their opponent, even for unsporting conduct.
Even the referee has no legal basis to enforce any rights on the player not wanting to warm-up.

It is generally assumed that the player has a right to warm-up in the time allocated prior to match start. The term right is perhaps too much of a stretch. It is usually, you have two (or three) minutes to warm-up; in tournament-championships events, that time is adequate for the player intro by the broadcast media. It is also generally assumed that warm-up is knocking about with either your partner (in doubles) or with opponent (in singles). This is tradition. However, as an umpire, knowledge of law is necessary. The law never specifies that the players in singles match must warm up with the shuttle knock-about.

So now what?
Can the player bring some one else to warm-up?

The response is No.

On reading the laws of the game and the instructions to officials, the only people permitted on court will be the players who will play the match, the referee, the medic, the court attendants (moppers, if you will), of course, the umpire and service judge; other personnel would be the court maintenance people (to fix the mat, net, post, light, ie, court equipment). The coach of the player is only permitted during nterval; the start of the match is not interval, so coach cannot be part of the warm-up routine.

I can almost hear the tapping of the keyboards - so how do I warm up then?
That is not the topic of this thread - it is a coaching situation, and another thread.

 

very peculiar
mixed doubles matches tht warm up with opponents

is tht a special house rule from where you are from?