Our Promise: “One Great Story Every Issue!” World Tennis The Man Who Tamed The Tantrums Gazette of Tennis How A Little Known Reformer JANUARY 2020 Vol 12, No 8 Helped the Sport Avoid Disaster BY JOHN MARTIN by national tennis authori- MELBOURNE, Austral- ties. ia — When this year’s Each year in the world Australian Open ends on of international profession- Sunday night (Feb 2), it al tennis, hundreds of men will mark the completion of and women circle the two weeks of largely flaw- globe to keep the scores less, argument-free work and enforce the rules in a by more than 400 certi- fair, impartial, and con- fied chair umpires and World Tennis Gazette/John Martin sistent manner. line judges. In two CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS: Emmanuel It wasn’t always this weeks of tennis combat Joseph of France, left, and Eva Asderaki- way. Until about 45 years at the highest level, the Moore of Greece working as chair umpires ago, tennis officiating was lone notable argument at the 2020 Australian Open in Melbourne. hit or miss. erupted between Aus- Chair umpires were fre- tralian Nick Kyrgios and Chair Umpire James quently buddies of tournament directors whose Keothavong of Great Britain. friendships with agents or players raised ques- Losing a point to Rafael Nadal, Kyrgios tions of unequal treatment. smashed his racket and Line callers were some- drew a stern glare and times superb and sometimes warning. Kyrgios glared drowsy. Rules were often back. The moment subject to erratic revision on passed swiftly. There was the run. no prolonged tantrum. Ke- Players, meanwhile, com- othavong prevailed, a peted in an air of uncertainty. Gold Badge Chair Umpire In the mid-1970s, a small keeping the lid on a play- number of top male players er noted for his temper. repeatedly disrupted match- Keothavong and his es by outbursts aimed at dis- umpire colleagues hail tracting their opponents. from no fewer than 20 na- To be sure, many tourna- tions, including China, In- ments were graced with effi- dia, Kazakhstan, Germa- cient, fair, and competent ny, Croatia, Serbia, Swe- administration by skilled, ex- den, Italy, France, Spain, International Tennis Weekly, Oct 24, 1980 perienced officials. and Portugal All had LISTENER: Dick Roberson, Chief Grand Prix But many major tennis been trained and certified Supervisor, hears player Gene Mayer complain. championships were sullied Page 2 World Tennis Gazette JANUARY 2020 “Are You Listening to Me?” Roberson Demanded of a Recruit by incompetence. climb into the chair. With support slipping among fans “You had to be one of his buddies and investors, professional tennis in order to get in. I mean, they had no reached a crisis point. evaluation system.” In1978, the Association of Tennis In search of innovation and re- Professionals turned to an obscure form, between 1978 and 1982, Rob- savior: Dick Roberson of San Diego. erson disappeared from his workplace For much of 14 years beginning in John McEnroe in Southern California. 1972, Roberson worked quietly as a At the insistence of the ATP, which sales representative of Penn Racquet Sports. paid his yearly $35,000 salary, he was hired by Each summer, he moonlighted as the supervisor the Men’s International Professional Tennis of officials for the World Team Tennis circuit. Council. WTT’s organizers, working with Billy Jean In effect, he was the world’s first paid profes- King, directed Roberson to rethink the way tennis sional tennis official. was conducted on the professional level. Roberson’s mandate was to train and create He soon recruited experienced offi- a corps of paid professional chair um- cials from the worlds of pro football, pires who would enforce the rules basketball, and baseball. Their task against profanity, racquet abuse, and was to help him enforce a new style of disruptive behavior in the tantrum-filled tennis officiating. age of Ilie Nastase, John McEnroe, “I said, ‘Here’s how we gotta cover and Jimmy Connors. the court,’ you know. So we got it Tournaments “were losing spon- down to a five-man system, and she sors,” Roberson said, “they were los- (Billie Jean King) just absolutely loved ing ticket holders, I mean, nobody it.” wanted to sit courtside because of the Seeking reforms, he experimented, Ilie Nastase vulgar language. I mean, it was dread- giving chair umpires authority to penal- ful.” ize and default players, no longer deferring to an Roberson recruited referees and umpires to off-court tournament referee. attend training schools he staged in Dallas, Par- “In the early ‘70’s,” Roberson said, “a few is, Sydney, and Hong Kong. countries addressed the conduct issues with the By 1980, the number of trained and certified U.S.T.A. being the leader in setting up some pro- Grand Prix officials topped 100, according to a cedures that at least gave a warning to the play- story in the Christian Science Monitor, which er. called them tennis’s “inspectors general.”. “But that procedure wasn’t used,” Roberson Embarking on the ATP world circuit, Rob- said, “because the chair umpires were afraid of erson hired three fellow supervisors, including the players. Kurt Nielsen of De- “It was an old boy mark, the 1955 Wim- system,” he said. In World Tennis Gazette bledon finalist. Vol 12 No 6 January 2020 Los Angeles at that Together they time, he explained, a A magazine for players, coaches, fans, searched for men nod from the head and friends of tennis throughout the world. and women who tennis official of the Each issue contains a story and photo- would enforce a new graphs on a single subject. All are the re- city was the main sponsibility of the editor. To subscribe, code of conduct. In qualification for an comment, or make suggestions, email: Richard Osborn in the process, Rob- aspiring umpire to [email protected]. Editor: John Martin er-son persuaded Page 3 World Tennis Gazette JANUARY 2020 Looking Back on a Notorious Player Dispute with a Chair Umpire the tennis establish- leagues, who then ments in the United disseminated it to States, Australia, the referees and England, and France then the chair um- to adopt his methods. pires. And he was Other nations fol- also a big supporter lowed. of chair umpires. He One of his early understood that recruits, Rich Kauf- overrule was neces- man, a linesman from sary,” Earley said in the Pacific Northwest a 2011 interview who lived in England, with The New York took instructions from Times. Roberson, won his The ability of chair confidence, and was umpires to overrule chosen to climb into DISPUTE ON YOUTUBE: Player Serena Williams line callers was the umpire’s chair in versus Umpire Carlos Ramos in September, 2018 needed, so errors the 1983 Wimbledon US Open Women’s Final. They stood on a match- could be corrected. Gentlemen’s Singles point cliff too steep to escape. Millions watched Roberson also Final. on TV, then shared this photo on YouTube. pushed for uniformi- Kaufman later became Chief Umpire of the U.S. ty, Earley said. Open. “He’s the one who said, ‘okay, let’s all do At an early meeting, Kaufmann recalled, his at- this the same way.’ There are many differ- tention seemed to wander. Roberson took emphat- ent fair ways to do it and you can decide ic action. what’s fair, but let’s all do it the same way.’” “I was maybe sort of half listening, when he first ”Dick Roberson was the true beginning started talking to me, and he grabbed my collar of professional officiating,” said Phyllis and pulled me in, ’Rich, do I have your attention?’ “Woodie” Hoffman, 84, who served 46 years He was holding a sheet of paper. There were at the U.S Open starting as a line judge and about 10 things on the sheet of paper. And I said, retiring in 2014 as Chief Umpire. ’Yes, Dick. Yes sir.’ “He was the best thing that ever hap- “And he kept holding my collar, not real tight, pened here,” she told The New York Times. but tight enough to get my attention. And he went Sixteen months ago at the 2018 U.S. down the list of 8-9-10 things that he wanted me to Open, the concept of professional officiating concentrate on the next match. And after he said faced its sternest test in many years. that, he said, ‘So, do you understand?’ And I said, In the women’s final, an an- ‘Yes Sir.’ He said, ‘Okay, you’re going gry Serena Williams and a du- on court next, do it right.’” ty-driven chair umpire, Carlos Brian Earley, who stepped down Ramos, engaged in a tense, in 2018 from the U.S. Open position bitter dispute. of Chief Referee, saw Roberson’s Williams’ outburst, which role in professionalizing the sport’s included calling Ramos a conduct as vital within a narrow uni- “thief” and “liar” and repeatedly verse of tennis officiating. demanding an apology, was “He was known for his fairness, carried out in an angry tone and also for sharing his ideas about 1980 2011 that was audible to millions the Code of Conduct with his col- Dick Roberson Page 4 World Tennis Gazette JANUARY 2020 2020 Assessment: ‘Integrity of Game Is Back Under Control’ around the world. Wrong Time to Ask the Ultimately, it Right Question.” led to a series of According to Rob- match-ending ex- erson, women’s tennis changes that adopted his same new stunned the tennis standards in the 1970s universe as have regarding on-court misbe- few audible alter- havior even though wom- cations.