Tennis umpires are the unsung heroes of tennis tournament and receive brickbats if something really goes wrong, but carry on with their job with dedication. It’s tough and needs a high degree of concentration, thorough knowledge of rules, keen sight and ability to come up with right judgement in a split second. . Imagine their task in Grand Slam event, either as a chair umpire or line umpire, when stars clash, and where ball whizzes past at more than 150 mph an hour, it is certainly not a job for the faint-hearted !
India has a handful of elite umpire, who measure up to exacting international standards and among them is Karnataka’s Sagar Kashyap. The amiable young man has officiated in five Wimbledon and one Australian Open, besides ATP, WTA and ITF tournaments.
Sagar Kashyap was among the top 15 junior players in the country before he joined a computer engineering degree course, which ended his career. But tennis was very much on his mind, and it took a new direction, when he applied and got a chance to be a line umpire in a Fed. cup match in 2004-2005.
In 2008, Kashyap appeared for the White Badge examination conducted by the ITF and passed. He also got a chance to serve as a line umpire in Wimbledon qualifying rounds. “I was doing my final year of computer science at that time. I was in a dilemma whether to become a computer engineer or a tennis umpire. When the chance to officiate in Wimbledon came my way, I made up my mind to get into tennis full time.”
Now in his fifth year as a member of the Wimbledon officiating team, Kashyap looks back with satisfaction. “I began as a Level 4 umpire, doing qualifying rounds and preliminary round matches, now I am in Level 2, which means I get to do quarter-final and semi-final matches. In fact, I did the two semi-finals of the 2013 Wimbledon. It was a great experience, especially the semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Del Porto, where the latter saved two match points and went on to win.”
“The 2014 season starts with ATP Chennai Open. “After Chennai, I move to in January for an ATP and WTA combined event in Sydney and then head to Melbourne for the Australian Open. Tennis is a passion, not work.”
