I once had the chance to play a match with a full set court of officials including ball kids. I had reached the finals of a junior tournament immediately prior to a (low-level) men’s professional tournament the following week in the same venue. Our junior finals were to be used as a dress rehearsal for the local officiating crews. Unfortunately, my opponent, who was also coincidently my doubles partner in that tournament, asked for our match to be rescheduled because she was unwilling to skip church that Sunday morning. I agreed to her request for an alternate time, but we lost the officiating crew in the process. The rest of the story is a sordid tale that will have to wait for another day.
In matches where line umpires and net umpires are assigned, they make all calls (including foot-fault calls) relating to that line or net. The chair umpire has the right to overrule a line umpire or a net umpire if the chair umpire is sure that a clear mistake has been made.
ITF Rules of Tennis, Appendix VI excerpt
It is not exceedingly rare to see a chair umpire overrule a line umpire. In fact, I am astonished at how accurate chair umpires generally are when issuing overrules. It makes sense. Until the advent of Hawk-Eye Live, the developmental pathway for chair umpires was establishing their competence as a line umpire. They are literally the best in the business.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. The following YouTube clip is titled “Worst Overrule Ever” and… that may be accurate. It occurred at the Western and Southern Open in 2014. A serve from Sara Errani was called out. It was in, WAY in. For the record, the chair umpire was Richard Haigh.
It was an egregiously poor call by Haigh. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) the Hawk-Eye challenge system was in use, and the call was overturned. However, Errani’s opponent, Sarah Wickmayer, appeared to miss the return and the overrule came after she had contacted the ball. Errani was apoplectic.
Hawk-Eye live was aggressively deployed at professional events in order to minimize court officials during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, the players viewed automated line calling with some skepticism. It has been interesting to observe that the same players are now uneasy with on-court officials at those events which have gone back to full officiating crews. I think that Hawk-Eye live is effectively already established as the de facto standard for officiated matches.
If that is the case, then erroneous chair umpire overrules will soon be yet another relic of a bygone era.
- United States Tennis Association (2021), Friend at Court: Handbook of Rules and Regulations, White Plains, NY.
- Sara Errani blows up after chair umpire makes a terrible call, Courtney Nguyen, Sports Illustrated, August 12, 2014.
