‘You feel the pressure to perform and it is similar to being a player’
Novak Djokovic (Srb, 12) v Kei Nishikori (Jpn, 24) Being an umpire gives Marijana Veljovic a buzz, she tells Simon Briggs at Wimbledon
‘New balls, please.” It is the one tennis quote everyone seems to recognise: the fuzzy yellow equivalent of “It’s just not cricket”, or “It’s a game of two halves”. But how much do we know about the people who say it? Only the most hardcore fans keep track of tennis umpires. They are the chameleons of the tour, because invisibility tends to be a badge of excellence.
Admittedly, there are times when an official must break cover. Take Carlos Bernardes, a Brazilian who has made headlines through his readiness to hand Rafael Nadal time violations for slow play.
But according to Marijana Veljovic, the Serbian who took charge of the women’s final at January’s Australian Open, the best umpires head off trouble before it develops. Veljovic describes her role as a combination of horsewhisperer and fortune-teller.
“There’s a lot of observing and listening in tennis umpiring,” Veljovic told The Daily Telegraph. “You need to be aware that things may happen and predict them first. The best umpires in the world have that feeling. You have to feel what’s happening with the crowd as well. And player intensity, behaviour and communication. There are a lot of cameras and microphones around, you have to be careful about what you say and how you communicate. If the tension is high, you bring the tension lower.”
If an umpire has any significant public profile, it is usually because of his or her vocal style. Mohamed Lahyani barks the score loudly enough to wake up any dozing spectators, while Kader Nouni sounds uncannily like Barry White. His calls of “Fifteen luuurrrve” often prompt giggles around the courts, and as one tournament director once put it: “He’s the only umpire I’ve ever seen who gets asked for autographs.”
While this is hardly the sort of job that confers fame and fortune, it does have significant upsides, including what Veljovic calls “the best seat in the house”.
The idea of umpiring was suggested to her 11 years ago, while she was representing her local university in a team competition. “I thought it was a chance to earn pocket money and learn a bit more about tennis,” she said, “and look where I am today. At Wimbledon for my eighth time now.
“My first pro match came at a $10,000 International Tennis Federation event at a very small place in the south of Serbia. I was very nervous. You know the rules, obviously, but it’s a different perspective when you sit there and you look on a tennis court from high up, the balls are flying and you are there in the middle of it. In the beginning I wasn’t thinking, ‘This is my job’. But then you start to get to know the Futures players better, you gain their respect, and they are satisfied with their matches. Then it really starts getting in your blood, this buzz. You feel the pressure to perform and it’s similar to being a player. Everybody sees your mistakes, everybody sees if you’re cracking under pressure.”
Veljovic came under more than the usual scrutiny in Paris a month
‘What I like about my job is that you cannot relax and say: It will be easy’
ago. As she officiated a fourthround match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the world No11, Diego Schwartzman, started complaining to her about opponent Kevin Anderson’s non-stop shouts of self-encouragement.
So far, so normal, except that Schwartzman eschewed the usual confrontational stance of a player with hands on hips, preferring to chat to Veljovic from his seat during a changeover. When she smiled back and said: “I don’t disagree,” tennis fans started posting videos of the exchange and calling Schwartzman a flirt.
“As I said, everything gets observed, recorded,” says Veljovic wearily. “People have different interpretations of the situation, and the world is all about media, I would say, social media as well.”
At a grand slam, 21 elite chair umpires line up in three separate teams belonging to the men’s tour, the women’s tour and the ITF. There is a complicated system of ratings, in which they assess the line judges’ performances, and are assessed in turn by the court supervisors. And for a gold-badge wearer like Veljovic, work does not end when her match does.
Veljovic will be allocated a more junior official to mentor during each tournament, which requires her to sit at courtside for all their matches and work through a detailed post mortem.
This job is no sinecure. Her day begins an hour before play, and then, around 10pm, she will head back to the Wimbledon house she shares with her six fellow ITF umpires to talk it all through.
But she would not dream about complaining. “It becomes our job,” Veljovic said, “but more it is our passion. Whether the match is on Court 15 or Centre Court, it’s a special feeling and vibe.
“What I like about my job is that you cannot relax and say, ‘It’s going to be easy today’. You have to be focused every day because something different can happen.”
But one thing is reassuringly constant. Every nine games – or seven, at the start of the match – it is time for the great tennis catchphrase. “New balls, please.”