The reason why the umps can't default Ser.: Here's the money they make.

[GeoffWilliams]

Hey, Yandell, here's an article for your site: What to the games' referees make? This is one reason why tennis sucks as a way to make a living.


Gold badge chair umpires, the highest-rated officials in professional tennis, the ones who work the most important tournaments and matches, make $250 each day at the Open. It is the lowest pay rate for any Grand Slam tournament. Hey, Norm Chryst, I make that much in an hour or two.

For gold badge umpires, officiating tournaments is their primary job and main source of income. At most tournaments, their pay is set by the ATP World Tour, the WTA or the International Tennis Federation. But at Grand Slam events, tournament organizers dictate everything from pay rates to accommodations.

A spreadsheet obtained by The New York Times showed that Wimbledon paid gold badge umpires £189, or about $306 daily. The French Open paid 190 euros (about $270), even for the tournament’s qualifying rounds, while the United States Open pays $185 a day for its qualifying rounds.

At the Australian Open, gold badge umpires earn about $383 for each main draw day, and they make overtime if they work more than 10 hours, a perk none of the other Grand Slam tournaments provide.

The differences extend beyond pay scale. Gold badge umpires receive their own hotel rooms at the United States and French Opens, share two-bedroom apartments in Australia and must book their own accommodations at Wimbledon, where they get about $121.50 a day for expenses.

All tournaments provide on-site meal vouchers, with none higher than the French Open (about $37). All also pay a portion of the umpires’ travel expenses, with the United States Open, at $500 for travel both domestic and international, again the lowest of the majors. How about a $37 dinner in PARIS?

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It was my understanding that Lars Graf, Cedric Molina, etc, are on salary with the ATP to work their tournaments, and their travel expenses, accommodations, and meals are paid for when they work. Those same umpires work on a contract basis for the Slams, as stated in the article above. Also, I believe the USTA has a staff of linespeople and chair umpires to work their events (futures & challengers), and those people are used/contracted to fill in at the ATP/WTA tournaments in the United States. So, while gold badge chair umpires did not make much at the USO, I think most of them do okay working for the ATP. It's the linespeople who are scraping by on next to nothing, just for the status of being able to tell players what to do.

[tennis_chiro]

You got part of it right! But only part!!

Hey, Yandell, here's an article for your site: What to the games' referees make? This is one reason why tennis sucks as a way to make a living.


Gold badge chair umpires, the highest-rated officials in professional tennis, the ones who work the most important tournaments and matches, make $250 each day at the Open. It is the lowest pay rate for any Grand Slam tournament. Hey, Norm Chryst, I make that much in an hour or two.

For gold badge umpires, officiating tournaments is their primary job and main source of income. At most tournaments, their pay is set by the ATP World Tour, the WTA or the International Tennis Federation. But at Grand Slam events, tournament organizers dictate everything from pay rates to accommodations.

A spreadsheet obtained by The New York Times showed that Wimbledon paid gold badge umpires £189, or about $306 daily. The French Open paid 190 euros (about $270), even for the tournament’s qualifying rounds, while the United States Open pays $185 a day for its qualifying rounds.

At the Australian Open, gold badge umpires earn about $383 for each main draw day, and they make overtime if they work more than 10 hours, a perk none of the other Grand Slam tournaments provide.

The differences extend beyond pay scale. Gold badge umpires receive their own hotel rooms at the United States and French Opens, share two-bedroom apartments in Australia and must book their own accommodations at Wimbledon, where they get about $121.50 a day for expenses.

All tournaments provide on-site meal vouchers, with none higher than the French Open (about $37). All also pay a portion of the umpires’ travel expenses, with the United States Open, at $500 for travel both domestic and international, again the lowest of the majors. How about a $37 dinner in PARIS?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was my understanding that Lars Graf, Cedric Molina, etc, are on salary with the ATP to work their tournaments, and their travel expenses, accommodations, and meals are paid for when they work. Those same umpires work on a contract basis for the Slams, as stated in the article above. Also, I believe the USTA has a staff of linespeople and chair umpires to work their events (futures & challengers), and those people are used/contracted to fill in at the ATP/WTA tournaments in the United States. So, while gold badge chair umpires did not make much at the USO, I think most of them do okay working for the ATP. It's the linespeople who are scraping by on next to nothing, just for the status of being able to tell players what to do.

Running my Huggy Bears tournament for 20 years, I hired a staff of umpires the week before the US Open for 19 years. These were umpires who were going to the US Open and they had to have pretty good status to get out of having to work qualifying. We wanted the best officials we could get and we paid them the same as the Slams or a little better and treated them a lot better. Over the years, I made friends with a some of the best linesmen and women in the game. We sometimes had someone who worked lines for us during HB chairing a USOpen final two weeks later.

In any case, you are right that lines people "are scraping by on next to nothing" for the work that they do. It is a hard job and one I would not want even if I had the eyes for it, which I don't. However, you are dead wrong when you say they are doing it "just for the status of being able to tell players what to do". The umpires I had the pleasure of working with all loved the game. They put up with the abuse and the poor compensation because they wanted to be part of the game. Many if not most of them are avid players themselves. Few are actual former tournament players, who are simply unwilling to subject themselves to the level of abuse these people take. The umpires you see at the majors and even at ATP and WTA events are usually the best of the best. As has been shown by the Hawkeye replays, they are usually much better than the naked eye of the player or spectator. Certainly, they make mistakes, but usually those are on margins that are very small and, overall, since the advent of the instant replay and review, respect for their skill has risen considerably.

Also, they are a great source when you are trying to find out who is playing really well. They know the game quite well and are a great early warning system for who is about to rise up, ...or fall apart. They are, as a group, pretty tight lipped about what they see, but they have a very good idea of what is really going on, both on the court and behind the scenes.

Now if we could just get a shot clock for the chair, we could really see some progress!!

don

[GeoffWilliams]

That's a nice reply. Ok, so I don't like refs! The reasons they have are many, I guess, not just the ability to dominate someone much better than they ever were nor will ever be. I have some bad experience with a so called gold standand ref, who was a player at some of the local events, that I played. I saw him playing in a 4.5, walked up to his wife, and asked her, "How's *** doing?", and he stopped playing, came over to the fence, and screamed,

"What's he saying to you!!!!? That he's the best lover ever?" He darted over and grabbed the fence and shook it violently. He then made it a point to dog me in my matches, calling time violations, foot faults, over ruling my calls, making snide comments, etc. Then I see him reffing the US open final some years, when I think (in my humble opinion) he has a screw loose. (Was'nt there this time.) He remembered me from the old indoor courts in Albany, when I ran into him in the hall and said, "Hey! Aren't you the guy Mac told to grow some hair?"
(Mac had screamed at him at the SF tourny, "Why don't you grow some hair!", one year, and I think he never forgot that little passing comment in the hall that I made. (ABout 30 yrs. ago.) It must have hurt his feelings, which I did not intend for it to do, but I guess it did. Sorry, ****. He sure got me back for it, to the point I did not want to play if he was there. It was all about domination, and little else with this guy. I did however, get the chance to play him in a doubles tourny. He and his partner were the #1 seeds. My partner and I were not seeded. We cranked them 1 and 2. I almost got the chance to nail him with a short oh, but he ran up and ducked under the net, extending his frame up, hoping I would hit it and the ball would bounce to our side. I had told my partner before the match, "Give me a shot at this guy." I also told my partner, Phil P., to count the # of times I bounced the ball before serving. Even number of bounces was poach. Odd was stay. Did not nail the chip on the shoulder ref, but I certainly motored up there with the intent of doing so; but I did win the point and the match. What a tool.

Alienate them? They are the ones out there earning nothing and telling the pros what to do. Why is that, all that time, expense, travel, for no pay? Status, domination, respect, all up in the air things, like you see in a country club.

[tennis_chiro]

Loose screws

That's a nice reply. Ok, so I don't like refs! The reasons they have are many, I guess, not just the ability to dominate someone much better than they ever were nor will ever be. I have some bad experience with a so called gold standand ref, who was a player at some of the local events, that I played. I saw him playing in a 4.5, walked up to his wife, and asked her, "How's *** doing?", and he stopped playing, came over to the fence, and screamed,

"What's he saying to you!!!!? That he's the best lover ever?" He darted over and grabbed the fence and shook it violently. He then made it a point to dog me in my matches, calling time violations, foot faults, over ruling my calls, making snide comments, etc. Then I see him reffing the US open final some years, when I think (in my humble opinion) he has a screw loose. (Was'nt there this time.) He remembered me from the old indoor courts in Albany, when I ran into him in the hall and said, "Hey! Aren't you the guy Mac told to grow some hair?"
(Mac had screamed at him at the SF tourny, "Why don't you grow some hair!", one year, and I think he never forgot that little passing comment in the hall that I made. (ABout 30 yrs. ago.) It must have hurt his feelings, which I did not intend for it to do, but I guess it did. Sorry, ****. He sure got me back for it, to the point I did not want to play if he was there.

There are people with loose screws everywhere, but don't paint all the refs with that brush. If they play at all, most of them don't even claim to be better than the players they umpire for in local 3.0 - 4.5 tournaments. Certainly, there are umps that get off a little too much on the power trips. But most that I have met would love to be able to just maintain a rally with someone like you, Geoff.

When I was coming up in the 60's, you rarely saw an official at a tournament. God forbid you had to go find one to sit on your court. Now, we have a couple at almost every tournament site, and sadly, we really need them. Tournaments can barely afford the little they pay the umps now; let's not alienate them.

don

[GeoffWilliams]

At best I'm just a 5.0 with bad movement. I can win points off 6.0 players, and games, but not many.