#umpires

from the history of umpiring

Before the 1980s, officials were sometimes little more than well-connected tennis fans looking for an expenses-paid holiday.

when the conflicts became more prevalent in the matches Dick Roberson created a set of penalties that umpires could use against the player, stiffened the code of conduct, set up schools for umpires

To keep things professional, he insisted that players and chair umpires eat in different cafeterias. “You can’t officiate to be a player’s friend,” Roberson told me.

some of the interesting techniques

Each umpire was told to look directly at the player who loses the point, because they’re more likely to cause trouble.

[umpire should] be strong and clear in their tone, and never to interrupt the player.

To offset this imbalance [sitting in the chair above the court], when players asked questions, Roberson told umpires that they should respond, rather than maintaining a haughty silence.

some ways to manage the crowd

Čičak noted the way the umpire called the score: once in the local language and again in English. The first one starts the clock between points, and the second one can be used to calm the crowd. “The more you try to control them [the crowd] the less they will listen to you,” Čičak told me. “So we can use the score.”

the rules are applied by the umpire depending on the situation

Take the shot clock, for instance. In theory, the server is allowed up to 25 seconds between points. In practice, it’s more complicated. If the player takes longer, the umpire must ask: was there a good reason for the delay? Did a shout from the crowd break the player’s focus? Did they need a bit longer to recover after an especially exhausting point?

Or, when the player swears: was it loud enough for people to hear? Was it offensive?

example of technique

We rewatched the incident together and Haigh walked me through his thought process. Rather than returning to his chair, he had remained on court, so he could look Shapovalov in the eye. He had reminded himself to keep his shoulders down, to let Shapovalov know that he was receptive to conversation, and his responses short, so the player could vent. Without emotion, he told Shapovalov that he understood his frustration but he was just applying the rules.

the introduction of electronic line calling doesn't help with confrontations with players

“It seems like the guys are more frustrated with themselves because they now cannot blame the line umpire who made that call.”

there's a system of badges (gold, silver and bronze) and evaluation for one

Umpires are normally evaluated by others one rank above them

umpire can't up their level if they don't officiate a "difficult" match

Čičak awarded the umpire a score of five out of seven. To have scored higher, she’d have needed to have responded to a difficult situation, but nothing came up.

Mohamed Lahyani is reviewing incidents and consulting other umpires

Some rules of assigning umpires to the match

For major tournaments, the umpires are assigned the night before the match, by the head of officiating and other senior figures.

Chair umpires are not allowed to officiate anybody of the same nationality.

"no list"

The sport’s governing bodies share a list of which chair umpires cannot officiate which players.

the requests can come from an umpire, a player or from governing bodies