Officials are People, Too…
They shared the same hopes, dreams and even training of pro tennis players. If only the players realised that.
Aug 28, 2022
ITF umpire Carlos Ramos during the infamous 2018 U.S. Open final debating Serena Williams about being coached from the sidelines.
With the fortnight at the U.S. Open upon us, the world is reminiscing about and paying tribute to Serena Williams. Rightly so, as the girl who grew up playing on the courts of Compton might just be the GOAT — even if she doesn’t pick up that 24th Slam. Few, however, will likely recall a bit of a darker side of Serena, however: the 2018 U.S. Open final when, during her match against then up-and-comer Naomi Osaka, Williams laid into match umpire Carlos Ramos, a gold badge International Tennis Federation (ITF) chair umpire who called out Williams’ then-coach Patrick Mouratoglou for coaching from the box.
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The Portuguese umpire penalised Williams three times during her loss to Osaka, ultimately awarding the Japanese player a game after Williams called Ramos a “thief”. The free game likely led to Osaka’s title. Since then, much has been said about Ramos and his calls (“stickler” is one adjective), but few realise that Williams could have walked away with a warning, ending the spectacle before it started. Going from the “warning” stage to losing an entire game is a three-step process not taken lightly.
Carlos Ramos (Portugal)
It is said that umpires and referees are doing a good job if fans don’t notice they are there. In fact, few roles in professional sport are more secretive. During tournaments, umpires silently ascend and descend their chairs, only seen and heard when calling the score or checking ball marks — the ITF rules prohibit them from speaking to the media or using social channels to explain their decisions.
But in recent years, umpires have become more and more visible, especially as they tangle with players, Nick Kyrgios and Williams among them. Most players don’t recognise that their on-court behaviour is watched by millions and imitated by a good number of rising juniors — showing little regard for an umpire on TV practically sanctions juniors to do the same. Players and fans also don’t likely know that most umpires were players themselves — some very good — and that they have endured feats of greatness for the privilege to sit on the chair. Here is a brief primer on the umpires that will likely be seen at the Open this week — some of the more familiar faces, at least. They deserve just as much honour as the pros they oversee.
Marija Čičak (Croatia)
Croatian umpire Marija Čičak, a leading official for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and an ITF gold badge holder who became the first woman to umpire the men’s singles final at Wimbledon, says she would be perfectly happy if fans didn’t actually recognise her. That might prove difficult with her crisp dress, short grey hair and her amusing facial expressions, seen at 15 successive Wimbledon seasons, the Olympics in Athens, London, and Rio, and countless ITF World Tour events on her way to rising to the top of the profession in 2012.
Čičak started playing competitive tennis at age 12 in Zagreb after she “went through karate, table tennis, handball, swimming… and that’s pretty much how I started playing tennis. I was six years old when my uncle suggested to my mom that I try it.” She had some success at low-level tournaments while working events on lines or in the chair. But by 18, Čičak decided to end her playing career because “(in Croatia) it’s not so easy to pursue a sports career and university at the same time… and to be honest, I just wanted to focus on other things rather than play tennis.” Čičak speaks little about her personal life, although rumours abound about friends and paramours. She will only confirm, however, that she travels the world 30 weeks a year to work matches, mentor younger officials and attend to tennis business. “You may end up going to the same places, but those same places have people that make them special,” she said. “Cities change, venues change, even the people that you work with change, but they all enrich your life experience.”
Marijana Veljović (Serbia)
Until the 2020 Australian Open, Marijana Veljović flew under the radar, practically anonymous to the lay fan. Then, she squared off with Roger Federer over his cursing and people began to take notice. Twitter, of course, lit up. “Who’s hotter than Marijana Veljovic?? A loud Marijana Veljovic yelling ‘One game all,’” one wrote. ““Am I the only person who thought the umpire was Jennifer Lopez?” wrote another. Player Eugenie Bouchard even got in on the commentary: “The umpire in this Roger/Tennys match is super pretty,” she wrote.
Veljović is not only known to be easy on the eyes, but after being in the chair since 2015 and for some of the biggest matches on the tennis calendar, the gold-badge umpire has acquired a reputation of having a cool head amid hot situations — even handling a Nick Kyrgios meltdown without issuing a warning. Now, the poster girl for the ITF umpires, Veljović has been using her clout to bring other women into the ranks. “I never expected to make a living from this, tennis has always been my passion,” said Veljović, who started picking up refereeing girls while at university. . “When I was chosen to judge, it was something incredible, and I still remember that day and the feeling… there was nothing better than being able to be a part of Wimbledon from the best position in the stadium,” she said.
Alison Hughes (United Kingdom)
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, ITF chair umpire Alison Hughes represented Northumberland in tennis competitions throughout her teenage years. Rather than go on to play in college in the States or British Lawn Tennis Association elite training, however, Hughes began coaching and umpiring junior matches.At age 32 in 2003, Hughes made her umpiring debut at Wimbledon. Since that time, she is one of only two people to have umpired the singles final at each of the four Grand Slam events.
In 2011, the LTA named Hughes Official of the Year and last year Queen Elizabeth II appointed her Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the her birthday honours for services to tennis. Some of those services have been nothing less than heroic. At the 2019 Australian Open, an out-of-control Spidercam almost knocked Hughes out of her chair before it took out the sun shield above her. Ashleigh Barty and Maria Sharapova could only look on in bewilderment.
Eva Asderaki-Moore (Greece)
Back in 1997, Eva Asderaki’s tennis club in Greece organised an international invitational. Short on local officials, the club directors asked the juniors to step in as line judges. Not yet 16 (but ranked №7 in Greece), Asderaki, nonetheless, went for it, enjoying “being on court doing something different. I got very excited when they told me about all the travelling and I thought why not — let’s give it a try.” Three years later, Asderaki was traveling the world and in 2007, she joined the WTA full time, taking leave in 2019 to have a child.
Aside from the Twitter account devoted to Asderaki’s ponytail, the 41-year-old is best know as the first female to umpire the 2015 U.S. Open final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Aiming always to “step up to the occasion… (and achieve) what players are expecting from you as their umpire,” Asderaki nonetheless admits to indulging in comfort eating, especially before that first men’s final. “I had a ton of those little animal biscuits in the office while I was waiting… I don’t know if it was nerves or the fact that they were there in a massive jar in front of me but I couldn’t stop eating them.”
Kader Nouni (France)
One of the most noticeable umpires on tour for his facial expressions and his smooth, low tones, Kader Nouni has drawn comparisons to legendary crooner Barry White — called “the Walrus of 15-love,” a play on White’s nickname “the Walrus of Love.” Although sometimes embarrassed by the comparison, Nouni takes it in stride: “A referee is normally discreet, you don’t hear him, you don’t see him,” he said before refereeing his 30th French Open in 2022. “Unfortunately, between my Jackson Five hairstyle and my deep voice, I didn’t manage that! It was a bit out of place, so it can be an advantage, when you use it well.”
The son of Algerian immigrants who was born, raised and still resides in Perpignan, southwest France, Nouni played basketball until age seven, when Yannick Noah captured won the 1983 men’s singles title at Roland Garros. “After Noah won the French Open, my brother wanted to play. He even built his own racquet with a piece of wood to hit balls against the wall,” Nouni said. Like many underprivileged kids, Nouni and his brother did odd jobs — sweeping the clay courts, painting the lines or the clubhouse — at the local club in exchange for playing time. One day “they were looking for umpires for a local tournament at the club, so my brother and I decided to climb up to the chair to earn a bit of pocket money and help pay for the tennis lessons.” But Nouni never left the chair. “The first time I was in the chair, I was maybe between 10 and 12 years old doing these local matches… with adults,” he continued. “It’s funny to say now — when you’re 12 years old and you get to say to an adult, ‘I’m right’ — but people liked it too, actually.”
Carlos Bernades (Brazil)
Carlos Bernardes can walk very few places in Rome without being recognised. “Arbitro! Arbitro!” (Referee! Referee!) tennis fans shout, hurrying towards him. Bernardes has said the selfie requests are a new phenomenon. But as the focus of Nick Krygios’ ire over spring 2002 — at Miami, he called Bernardes a “fucking retard” and was later fined $35,000 by the ATP — and the survivor of a heart attack during quarantine before the 2021 Australian Open, Bernardes has received some unwanted attention.
Possibly one of the most outspoken and direct ITF officials, Bernardes, who began officiating in 1989 and has umpired five grand slam finals, has said it had taken him a while to learn not to let the abuse get to him. “If you take all the things that happen on court personally, you cannot survive in this sort of job. You will go crazy.” Like Ramos, he has also been put on high profile players’ black lists. In February 2015, Rafael Nadal asked that Bernardes no longer be assigned to his matches because the Brazilian has refused many of his concessions, including leaving the court to right his backward shorts (Nadal dropped the request the following year.) But since the heart incident, Bernardes has focused more on handling the pressure and speaking out for others. “This is a part of the job that nobody ever teaches you,” Bernardes told The Guardian in July. “If the player comes to you and says, ‘What the fuck are you doing,’ we can’t say, ‘I am just doing my fucking job.’ Our job is to be the fireman and to put the water on the fire. When you have a situation that is very heated you need to try to calm it down. But you also can’t let the players think you’re fragile.”
James Keothavong (United Kingdom)
James Keothavong can still remember the reaction he and his sister, Anne, received when they would turn up at junior tournaments around England in the battered Honda Prelude driven by their father. “It wasn’t the prettiest vehicle but it got us from A to B and that’s all we needed. We knew we were different and the condescending looks we received just spurred us on,” he told the Daily Mail in 2019. Growing up on the top floor of a council block in Hackney, while Anne has been British №1 and the now the successful Captain of the GB Fed Cup team, James is among the sport’s best-known umpires, whose has officiated six Grand Slam singles finals including the 2018 Wimbledon championship match between Kevin Anderson and Novak Djokovic.
The children of parents from Laos, James started playing short tennis at an indoor pay and play centre in Islington, Highbury Fields, and “more than anywhere” at Hackney Downs, while their father worked at Hamley’s, Amnesty international and Barclays.. At tournaments, the siblings would “be eating rice and stir fry in the car rather than paying for an overpriced jacket potato,” and drive back to Hackney the same night, rather than stay at a hotel. Keothavong, 40, made it into the top 10 of the LTA’s Under16s, but realised he would likely never go pro. At 16, he worked his first Wimbledon as a line judge. Although giving up the dream of traveling the world and playing was “a struggle at first, but uckily I progressed swiftly and ended up attaining my gold badge in 2011,” and did it a different way.
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