And to think some people complain about officials in Texas--just read this story:
I've seen a lot of tennis matches in my ten years on the junior circuit, but today was the first time I'd seen a chair umpire call a let but not order the point on which the let was called replayed.
That it happened on match point in American Mackenzie McDonald's 8 a.m. match with No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr finalist Patrick Ofner of Austria made the call more than just a novelty.
McDonald was up a break in the final set at 4-3, but lost that advantage in the next game and Ofner held for 5-4. Serving in the next game, McDonald saved two match points, and also was required to replay a point after he had hit a winner, when the chair umpire called a let from a ball rolling over from the adjacent court. McDonald won the replayed point in that instance, and after two more deuces, held for 5-5. Ofner held for 6-5, and McDonald called for the trainer at the changeover, who stretched him out on a nearby bench, but the delay was brief.
Serving at 5-6, McDonald won the first point with Ofner missing an overhead, but the 16-year-old Californian double faulted and made two forehand errors to give Ofner two more match points.
After a short return from Ofner, McDonald wound up to hit a forehand, a ball bounced over from the next court, and the chair umpire loudly called "let." McDonald went back to collect the balls to serve again, when Ofner circled a mark just beyond the baseline. The chair umpire bounded down to look at it, put his finger up to signal out, and called game, set and match.
The several dozen spectators, most of the them admittedly friends and supporters of McDonald, but also college coaches and others with more objectivity, were stunned for a moment, but then began yelling "you called a let." McDonald himself said that several times to the chair umpire, who didn't deny calling the let. He asked if McDonald wanted to call the tournament referee, and McDonald said he wasn't leaving the court, so the chair used his walkie talkie to call, not the tournament referee, but an assistant. There was a short conversation between the assistant and the chair, which wasn't audible to those of us in the stands on the other side of the court, but according to McDonald there was no discussion of the reason why the point wasn't replayed when the assistant referee came onto the court.
"[The assistant referee] just said he was going to do what the umpire said because he didn't see it," said McDonald. "I guess the umpire said I hit the ball before he called the let, which I disagree with and the whole crowd seemed to disagree with too."
Eventually McDonald accepted the decision, and shook hands with Ofner, but the crowd's boos, extremely rare in junior tennis, reverberated for some time after.
That it happened on match point in American Mackenzie McDonald's 8 a.m. match with No. 7 seed and Eddie Herr finalist Patrick Ofner of Austria made the call more than just a novelty.
McDonald was up a break in the final set at 4-3, but lost that advantage in the next game and Ofner held for 5-4. Serving in the next game, McDonald saved two match points, and also was required to replay a point after he had hit a winner, when the chair umpire called a let from a ball rolling over from the adjacent court. McDonald won the replayed point in that instance, and after two more deuces, held for 5-5. Ofner held for 6-5, and McDonald called for the trainer at the changeover, who stretched him out on a nearby bench, but the delay was brief.
Serving at 5-6, McDonald won the first point with Ofner missing an overhead, but the 16-year-old Californian double faulted and made two forehand errors to give Ofner two more match points.
After a short return from Ofner, McDonald wound up to hit a forehand, a ball bounced over from the next court, and the chair umpire loudly called "let." McDonald went back to collect the balls to serve again, when Ofner circled a mark just beyond the baseline. The chair umpire bounded down to look at it, put his finger up to signal out, and called game, set and match.
The several dozen spectators, most of the them admittedly friends and supporters of McDonald, but also college coaches and others with more objectivity, were stunned for a moment, but then began yelling "you called a let." McDonald himself said that several times to the chair umpire, who didn't deny calling the let. He asked if McDonald wanted to call the tournament referee, and McDonald said he wasn't leaving the court, so the chair used his walkie talkie to call, not the tournament referee, but an assistant. There was a short conversation between the assistant and the chair, which wasn't audible to those of us in the stands on the other side of the court, but according to McDonald there was no discussion of the reason why the point wasn't replayed when the assistant referee came onto the court.
"[The assistant referee] just said he was going to do what the umpire said because he didn't see it," said McDonald. "I guess the umpire said I hit the ball before he called the let, which I disagree with and the whole crowd seemed to disagree with too."
Eventually McDonald accepted the decision, and shook hands with Ofner, but the crowd's boos, extremely rare in junior tennis, reverberated for some time after.
12 comments:
This is sad indeed. A chair umpire should never determine the outcome of a match. Wonder why referee Brad Taylor didn't go to the court.
This is what happens when inexperienced officials are called on to chair important matches. Looks like remedial training is in order!
Richie is at this event looking for new up & coming officials to assign to the spring circuit. I guess he just found one.
Hold off before you make judgement... would you bet your house that the Official called the let after the player hit the ball or before? Are you going with the losing player or the crowd backing the losing player or both? In any case - were you there? A better question would be - did the player see the stray ball coming into the court BEFORE he hit the shot? If that was the case - then the let should stand... BUT, most all of us were not there.
Why be so quick to blame the official - whom I am sure, most of us, do not know... WHY NOT - assume he/she made the right call.
Where do they get these officials - why aren't officials recruited from all over? Why not have a way to have OPEN APPLICATIONS? Is there a way and I am not aware?
Lol, so many comments, and so much misinformation.
1. Once a let is called, the point is to be replayed (except for service let's of course)...regardless of where the ball lands...period, end of story.
2. Signing up for the Orange Bowl is on NUCULA, general rule of thumb is officials east of the Mighty MIssissippi River get priority...remember rule of thumb, not hard and fast...those west of the river may get selected.
Those officials west of the Miss. River are given priority for the ISC in Carson.
3. Not sure why both of these very common knowledge issues aren't generally known in Texas....I'll leave that open to speculation.
BTW the chair in the article goofed....but who hasn't?
I've seen the officials used for the Orange Bowl. Most of them suck and would never make it in the real world. I remember one of the officials a couple of years ago chairing one of Bernard Tomic's matches. Tomic's opponent didn't make an audible call on a ball that was at least 3 feet out behind the baseline and because he didn't make a call, the point was awarded to Tomic. Even Tomic started laughing. Later in the match the official couldn't determine that a ball rolling across the adjacent court wasn't from his match and let the players play with four balls. Once he figured it out, he instructed Tomic's opponent to bring him one of the extra balls laying on the court. When he refused, the chair umpire jumped out of his chair, ran to the player and grabbed one if the balls out of the player's pocket.
Another official roving between courts was asked to make a ruling on a call and just stood there staring at the player. At the conclusion of the next point - which was match point, both players approached the net to shake hands and the roving suddenly informed them it was deuce an not match point because he had overruled the previous point.
In another match, the chair official got out of the chair following split sets and started taking a nap under a nearby shade tree. The players arrived back at court following their 10-minute intermission and started playing the final set without the chair umpire. After the score was 3-2, someone notified the Referee that the chair umpire was still napping under his favorite shade tree. The referee immediately went to the chair umpire, woke him up and escorted him back to the court to finish chairing the match.
Believe it or not, I am not making this stuff up. I'm almost certain the same officials are still being used, or at least still the same caliber of officials. Only wish I had my video camera in - it would have made for great umpire training videos.
Once the court official calls a let, the point is to be replayed, period.
The official and the substitute referee erred. Period.
Reading the article I do not see how the Umpire would not replay the point, it seems as if the player was winding up to hit the ball when it was called, so point replayed. I had the same issue at the National 12's in the chair, ball rolls onto court as the player is fixing to hit the ball, let called replay the point. Seems pretty straight forward.
Is nobody going to comment on this statement:
". . when Ofner circled a mark just beyond the baseline. The chair umpire bounded down to look at it . . "
Unless these are clay courts, you don't look for a ball mark. The umpire getting down out of the chair to look at it is totally wrong as well.
If this is a clay court event, then I apologize!
This was a clay court tournament but where the ball lands has absolutely no bearing since the chair had already called a let.
In speaking with tournament referee Brad Taylor today regarding the let not replayed, the chair umpire maintained the ball was in the air off McDonald's racquet when he called a let, so his call didn't hinder McDonald and the point played stands. Taylor agreed the chair erred in calling a let in that situation and also said he should have explained his ruling to the crowd.
I do not recall a "ball in the air" ever overriding a chair's let call, but that's the explanation I received.
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