Frequently Asked Questions
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The player whose name appears on the draw in bold is the designated home player/team. In the Initial Seeding Draw, this is randomly determined by the database. In the Final Draw, this is is the higher seeded player/team.
When there are not enough players to completely fill a division, a Ghost Player or Ghost Team is used as a placeholder. If your match is against a Ghost Player or Team, simply enter the score on the Score Entry Page as a forfeit in your favor. This will then show up as a BYE on the drawsheet. For seeding purposes, a forfeit is counted as (6-3, 6-3). If we are able to eventually get a real player or team into the draw late, you may be given the opportunity to make-up the match.
When a division is opened for registration, there may be more players interested in playing than the division size can accommodate.  An overflow division ("B") is then created.  There is no difference in skill level; it’s just a matter of timing when the player registered if the initial "A" division was full.  Compass Draw formats work with 8, 16, 32 players/teams.  Whenever possible, we will combine "A" and "B" divisions.  (For instance: If the "A" division is 8 players, and the "B" division also fills up with 8 players, they will be combined into one division of 16 players.)
To register a doubles team, each player registers themselves separately. During the doubles registration process, you will be given the option to register either as the team captain or as the partner. One of the players should first register as the team captain and then the other player should separately register as his or her partner. If one player has a higher rating than the other, than the player with the HIGHER rating needs to first register as the team captain and then the lower-rated player can register as the partner.
There is a very liberal substitution policy for doubles teams.  The sub must not be rated higher than the division level.  This player may or may not be a regular Compass Draw player; they may also be on another team in the same division, as long as the substitute’s team is not playing the one that needs the sub.

Unfortunately, singles players cannot designate a substitute player.
If a player becomes injured and needs to withdraw, Compass Draw staff will attempt to fill that slot in the draw with a player off the waitlist, if any.  If a replacement player is found, a prorated refund will be issued to the original player. If a replacement player is not available, no refund will be issued and the slot will be assumed by a "ghost" player.
If one member of the doubles team becomes injured and must withdraw, the other member of the team may designate a replacement player, and Compass Draw staff will update the team information on the website. A prorated refund will be processed to the withdrawing player. Alternatively, the remaining player may play with substitutes for the remaining matches if necessary, but no refunds will be processed to the withdrawing player.

If the entire team must withdraw, Compass Draw staff will attempt to fill that slot in the draw with a team off the waitlist, if any. If a replacement team is found, a prorated refund will be issued to the original team. If a replacement team is not available, no refund will be issued and the slot will be assumed by a "ghost" team.
A forfeit is posted for a match when a player/team is solely responsible for the match not played. This could happen for a short-term injury, travel, etc. The forfeiting team must acknowledge agreement to the forfeit.

A double-forfeit is posted for a match when neither player/team is not solely responsible for the match not played. This often happens when schedules between the players/teams conflict and the match date cannot be agreed upon. As long as one date/time is proposed by each player/team, if the match is not played, it is recorded as a double-forfeit. Compass Draw staff will not adjudicate the number of days each player/team was available to play.
All players have 48 hours after the round ends to input scores. As long as the match is played and the scores are entered by the Thursday night after the round ends, the match will be valid. All divisions are reviewed on Fridays and any unplayed matches will be double-forfeited so the draw can continue to move ahead to the next round.

Occasionally, foul weather and extreme temperatures will adversely affect the draw. If the majority of matches in a division remain unplayed for a round, the individual division may be extended an additional week by Compass Draw staff. Note: just because one division may be extended, any other division in the tournament may or may not be extended, again based on the number of unplayed matches in a particular division for the round.
The Initial Seeding Draw consists of 3 or 4 matches (depending on number of players/teams for division) for all players.  There is no elimination and no “winner” in the Initial Seeding Draw.  All matches played count toward seeding for the Final Draw.  Seeding and home players/teams are designated randomly by the database.

A forfeited match is scored as 6-3, 6-3 toward seeding.

A double-forfeited match is scored as half a match point for each player/team, plus one set won for each player/team, plus one set lost for each player/team, plus 6 games won for each player/team, plus 6 games lost for each player/team.

If players/teams agree to play a match after a double-forfeit has been posted and before the Initial Seeding Draw is completed, they may petition Compass Draw staff to manually record their scores on the website after the round ends.  This will allow each player/team to receive credit for the match toward seeding purposes, but it will not change the direction in which players/teams move forward in the Initial Seeding Draw.
Each player/team will play a minimum of two matches in the Final Draw.  Seeding is determined by results from the Initial Seeding Draw.  Home player/team designations go to the higher seed in the match.

A forfeited match by one player/team will result in the opposing player/team moving forward to the next round.  A double-forfeited match will advance the higher seeded player/team to move forward to the next round.  If the forfeit or the double-forfeit is in the first round of the Final Draw, the forfeiting player/team will have at least one more match on the consolation side of the draw.

Once the player/team plays two matches, the next loss will knock them out of the draw for the remainder of the draw.  

For semi-final and final matches on both the main side of the draw and the consolation side of the draw, players/teams are especially encouraged to actually play the match (not forfeit or double-forfeit), and a reasonable accommodation will be made by the Compass Draw staff if the match date is beyond the round end.
If a player/team places in the top 25% of the main side of the Final Draw for a division, they will be granted an exception to allow the OPTION to play up to the next division level. If a player/team WINS the division, they will be REQUIRED to play up to the next division level.

Exceptions are separately earned for singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. So if a player earns an exception to play up in singles, they do not have an exception to play up in either doubles or mixed doubles.
While some Compass Draw tournaments use a 10-point tiebreaker instead of a third set, some are best two out of three full sets. In these situations, however, if all players agree to play a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a third set, that is acceptable. (Compass Draw recommends this should be decided before play begins.) When scores are reported, the tiebreaker would be posted as 7-6 for the winners for both a set that was resolved by a 7-point tiebreaker, and for a 10-point tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set.
The Coman Tiebreak is the one currently used by USTA leagues and tends to be the default for most of the players in the area.

That said, if both teams agree ahead of time to use the ITF tiebreak with the switch on every 6 points, that is ok.

The assumption is the Coman Tiebreak will be used, but if all the players agree ahead of time to play the ITF switch on 6, that is acceptable.
The 7-point tiebreaker is considered a "game" in scoring the set.  The player/team who serves the first point of the tiebreaker is considered the server for that "game".   The next set would be started by the opposing player/team.