When you are officiating a tournament you know that the most trouble usually arises on the last match of the day or the last match of the tournament--and that certainly held true for me this past weekend.
As the tournament was concluding at 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, the last match on the court was a 3.0 women's doubles final. At the end of the first set, Team A came to get me saying that were being cheated out of the match and that there had been at least four hooks in the last game...
Hearing and heeding their pleas for help, I immediately rushed to the court (at the far end of the tennis center) to referee the fiasco. Once I arrived, you would have thought I had come to a family reunion as everything they said was preceeded with "please" and concluded with "thank you."
Seems that Team A did indeed lose the match but there were no controversial calls while I was on the court--but not to be deprived of any action, the ladies launched into a full verbal tirade after the match was over.
I made a hasty retreat to the tournament desk to say goodbye and get in my car and a place of safety. As I walked through the parking lot I could still hear them calling the other one "rude" "cheater" "cheap" and a multitude of other descriptive adjectives.
Praise the Lord the tournament is over and the ladies will move on to yet another battleground...
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