Ball Mark Inspection (Clay Only)
Overview
A Ball Mark Inspection (BMI) is an event that only happens on clay courts.
They work very similarly to challenges, a BMI happens when a line judge calls a ball and the team/player disagrees. The umpire will then come down to the court and take a look at the mark that the ball made on the clay, and judge if the ball was out or in.
Packet
A BMI will occur at the same time as a challenge - After 'Point Started' and before the 'Point' packet.
It does not include information on if it was 'won' or 'lost' - just that there was a BMI. The next point is always the outcome of the BMI (who the point is awarded to).
An example from the French Open, 2024:
Ball Mark Inspection JSON
{
"timestamp": "2022-06-05T14:05:36.296Z",
"eventElementType": "MatchStatusUpdate",
"matchTime": "00:53:15",
"seqNum": 172,
"matchStatus": {
"umpireCountry": "Unknown",
"umpire": "Unknown",
"teamAPlayer1": "R. NADAL",
"tossChooser": "Serve",
"matchState": {
"state": "BallMarkInspection"
},
"teamBPlayer1": "C. RUUD",
"numSets": 5,
"scoringType": "Standard",
"firstServer": "TeamA",
"tossWinner": "TeamA",
"courtNum": 1,
"teamAPlayersDetails": {
"player1Id": "N409",
"player1Country": "ESP"
},
"teamBPlayersDetails": {
"player1Id": "RH16",
"player1Country": "NOR"
},
"umpireCode": "Unknown",
"tieBreakType": "TieBreakInFinalSet"
}
}Followed by an "inProgress packet to indicate that the BMI is being carried out:
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