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73. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!
As made famous by John McEnroe, the words “you cannot be serious” are heard all too often on the tennis tour. Despite the introduction of Hawk Eye and electronic lines calls at the Grand Slams and higher level events, the majority of tournaments on the tour, especially at the Futures level, are reliant on the human eye for line calls, be this the eyes of the players themselves or those of an umpire sitting in a chair slightly raised above the court.
Often in the qualification rounds of the $15k and $25k events, the players themselves are responsible for the line calls, which can be contentious at times, as some players who are so keen to win, can make some very questionable calls. However, as the events rise up in value (in prize money and ranking point terms) there may be a chair umpire and one line judge, until the higher levels (the higher Challenger events) where there are officials covering all the lines.
Now, having a line judge and chair umpire should surely be a good thing? But ask any player and you will hear horror stories of line judges/umpires who appear to have hugely defective vision and or poor judgement. I don’t know of any player who cannot recount at least one (probably many more) incidents where matches have been won or lost as a result of questionable line decisions or poor umpiring in general.
Losing a match because of poor umpiring or line calling shouldn’t happen (at any level) but it does and all players need to be able to handle this, by not getting angry, remaining focused on the job in hand, and being at least a little accepting of the fact that people make mistakes. This is hard though as a match lost due to poor umpiring/line calls means lost income and lost opportunities.
Some umpires/line judges are aware of their mistakes but others will adamantly deny them. Now I am not sure which is worse, an umpire who makes one or two mistakes (which cost a player a match) but vehemently denies any wrong doing, or an umpire who makes mistakes and then admits his/her errors to a player after the match has been lost (yes, this does happen!). Either way, players need to be aware that bad calls are going to happen and not let a bad call ruin an opportunity. But similarly, umpires and line judges should (in my opinion) always take their responsibilities very seriously, be accurate in their work at all times, and be fully aware of the fact that mistakes cost players much needed income and valuable ranking points. Players careers are on the line and line judges/umpires should always be aware of this and make sure that they are fully alert and medically fit (regular eye sight tests) at all times. One small lapse of concentration or a guessed call can turn a game around and negate all the hard work a player has put in to get to the match in question. Players should win or lose matches because of their own performance not because of poor officiating.
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