Three Wrongs and a Black Eye for Tennis

Just a few weeks ago I expressed that officiating in tennis needed an overhaul. The phantom foot-fault call on Serena reinforces my view point. You are officiating in the most highly viewed tennis tournament there is and you are going to make a foot-fault call that is not conclusive on video replay? Are you serious? Now you can argue that the lady lines person deserved to be working on the main stage, but I’m not buying it! We have a philosophy in football officiating called the Whale philosophy, which means you catch all the whales, but let the minnows go. Basically make sure your calls are big and show up on tape.

I could ramble on forever on the poor officiating in tennis, but my focus point is on the reaction to the call by Serena. Was her behavior wrong? Was the punishment enough? I’m on the fence with her reaction. I think she had every right to show her displeasure with the horrible call. I do not believe she had the right to make a threat such as she made. I’m all in favor of her screaming and yelling and even calling the official bad names, but a threat is unacceptable. If a basketball coach came out on the floor and told the ref that he was going to shove the ball down his throat, what do you think the punishment would be? It would probably cost him his job! I’m not saying that Serena should be banned from WTA events, but the punishment she received was a joke! A $10,000 fine and a half hearted apology.

The unfortunate part of all this is that two great weeks of exciting tennis and some wonderful story lines, is all over shadowed by three wrongs! A wrong call by the official, a wrong reaction by Serena, and a wrong punishment for her reaction, leaves tennis with a black eye during the last major event of the season. Not the perfect ending for the game!

Tracy Lynch

Wholesale Accounts Manager

Lee Tennis Court Products

Officiating Tennis Needs and Overhaul

I believe that officiating in the game of tennis needs to be overhauled. With officiating being near and dear to me, its difficult for me to watch some of these folks out on the court. I know from experience that if I blow a call on the basketball floor or the football field I will most certainly get booed out of the gym/stadium, but not in tennis. There are physical requirements mandated to officiate other sports, but not in tennis. To watch a man or woman come walking out on the court and sit down in a chair just doesn't seem appropriate. Stand up and and appear to be athletic and interested in what is happening on the court. I think tennis needs mandate some level of fitness for the umpires and do away with the chairs on the court. You don't see a new set of officials coming into a baseball game in the bottom of the ninth inning so why are they sending in new officials mid way through the second set?

I can remember growing up as a child and watching Johnny Mac going ballistic on an blown line call. I'm not condoning his behavior, but he certainly set a standard for the officials that were involved in his match that they had better be on top of their game. The only thing that I wish would have been different about this memory is that the chair umpire would have put Johnny Mac is his place a few more times. In no other sport do you see a player act so unsportsmanlike and stay in the game. Wouldn't it had been great to see a chair umpire toss him out of a match? Just a thought.

I think in all sports officiating that the official must look the part, but more importantly they must prepare for the part. Tennis officials don't seem to trained when they walk out on the court and sit down.