TheSportsCampus

Ok. So you're a tennis fan. You know the difference between the texture of the surfaces used at the French Open and Hamburg Masters. Continental means more to you than just cuisine. You've got the statistics of the number of aces Karlovic cracked last year on your fingertips.

Now, here's a pop quiz. Who among Andi Egli (Switzerland), Jake Garner (USA), Alison Lang (Great Britain), Pascal Maria (France), Enric Molina (Spain) and Carlos Ramos (Portugal) has made it to a Grand Slam singles finals before?

That's right, all of them. As chair umpires. Performing the roles that they do, they're more likely to be remembered for one bad call than an entire match of excellent officiating.

Abhishek Mukherjee, an ITF certified official from India who's been umpiring at Wimbledon over the past four years, explains, "There's immense pressure to get all your decisions spot on. There are times when you have to handle the entire crowd and not just a player when a wrong decision is made, especially if the player is the local star."

A national level tennis player himself, Mukherjee volunteered as a ball boy just to watch Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Jonas Bjorkman for a Davis Cup tie between India and Sweden in 1996 from up close, and ended up getting interested in the idea of officiating.

He now travels 26 weeks a year, umpiring or refereeing in tournaments across the world. From Mumbai to Perth, London to Beijing, straddling across continents can get hectic, but as he says,

"The challenge is exciting and if you love the sport, the job is fun."

A trifling matter it isn't, though. Tennis umpires require the focus of a Zen Monk, the patience of a kindergarten teacher and razor sharp eyesight. World class umpires like Sultan Gangji claim they can spot the number on a ball as it whizzes by the net.

Compensation at the junior and even the professional level is modest, with international tournaments typically paying $300-400 per week.

That said, officiating offers the opportunity to be involved with the sport and can be satisfying. Professional careers are restricted to a select few but ample opportunity exists to pursue it as in alternative option on a part-time basis.

Lars Graff, one of the most popular umpires of the last two decades, straddled between working for a corporation and umpiring for six weeks in the year at major tournaments before turning officiating into a full time professional.

So if you see yourself calling, "play", in ten different languages across three continents on the ATP tour or even merely officiating a tournament involving the neighborhood kids, here's what you can do.

Roles

Line Umpire: Assisting the chair umpire by calling shots during service and play from behind the baseline.

Chair Umpire: Responsibilities include keeping score and ensuring player code of conduct is being followed. Final authority on the officiating decisions taken during a match

Court Supervisor: Resolution of on-court disputes utilising rules of tennis, tournament regulations, code of conduct, rules for non-umpired matches, dress regulations whilst maintaining a common sense approach

Referee: Overall responsibility for the behaviour and conduct of players, umpires, coaches, etc, during an event, and specific responsibility for this during non-umpired matches. He must make the Draw for the Qualifying and the Main competitions in accordance with the rules and regulations. He must draw up a daily order of play and be responsible for liaison and effective communication with the Umpires and linesmen and decide on the competence of these officials.

The Journey

Begin by contacting your national tennis association for details on requirements for a career as a tennis official. Contact details of all national tennis associations are listed here:

India: www.aitatennis.com You can contact the association at aita@aitatennis.com

China: www.tennis.org.cn You can contact the association at cta@tennis.org.cn

Attend an ITF Level 1 school being conducted in your area/country . These schools are designed to give you a basic introduction to tennis officiating and are organized periodically by the various national tennis associations. These courses are usually conducted free of cost but travelling expenses to the camp has to be borne by you.

After graduating from Level 1, don a hat and get onto court. Keep in touch with your state/national associations for tournaments happening in your vicinity and you can begin by officiating in junior/state/national level tournaments.

Once you've gained experience, you can apply to your national association for appearing for the ITF Level 2 officiating school. At the school, you go through a written test and practical exercises which are typically conducted during an ITF tournament in one of the countries in your region i.e. Asia, Europe, etc. The fee for appearing for the exam is currently about 400 dollars.

If you successfully pass the test, you become a White Badge official, which makes you eligible for officiating in international ITF tournaments. White badge officials have varying roles, from supervising a national tournament, chair umpiring in an international tournament to even possibly line umpiring at the Grand Slams. They are typically required to officiate in at least 25 ITF matches in a year.

The next level is the ITF Level 3 school for advanced officiating which you can apply for after gaining credibility at the international level. Again, this school puts you through written, oral and practical tests at an advanced level. There are three certifications at this level: Gold, Silver and Bronze. On passing the exam, you get a bronze badge which entitles you to higher responsibility on the tour.

Silver and Gold badges are given based on tournament performance evaluation through the course of a few seasons and these are the officials who become chief umpires, chair umpires and supervisors at the Grand Slams and other major tournaments on the calendar.

More Info

To gain an insight into the happenings of the career of a top official, you could read this interview given by Lars Graff , a top ITF chair umpire whose assignments included chair umpiring the 2005 US Open final between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.

This career guide on officiating provided by the USTA could also be a useful read.