Line Umpires at Wimbledon Qualifying by Getty Images
There are two types of tennis umpires within the sport, both line umpires and chair umpires. A line umpire is responsible for calling the lines on the tennis court and the chair umpire is responsible for calling the score and settling any issues.
You need to work your way up to becoming a chair umpire by starting as a line umpire and progressing from there. Once you are trained you can become a tennis umpire at local county and regional competition and certain selected tennis umpires get to officiate at Wimbledon and International events.
You will need to attend and pass a National Recruitment Half Day, which is a free course that provides an introduction to line umpiring.
The course includes a small amount of classroom-based work, followed by some practical work on court. This course is pass / fail, based on your performance on the day and successful participants will then be invited to a Basic Line Umpire course.
Details of the next schedule of National Recruitment sessions and Basic Line Umpire courses will be available here by June 2012.
This is a free one day course which provides further training on how to become a line umpire, building on the overview gained in the National Recruitment Half Day. The day will be a combination of classroom and on court work and again the course is a pass/fail dependent on your performance on the day.
Once you have successfully completed these two courses you will be invited to join the Association of British Tennis Officials (ABTO), which is free for this first stage, and you will be required to gain a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Enhanced Disclosure Certificate. Once this is complete, you’ll be able to line umpire at tournaments.
Once you have gained some experience as a line umpire, you are eligible to be invited onto a Chair Umpire Accreditation Course.
This free two day course is run 2-4 times a year, and will build on your knowledge as a line umpire with an introduction to and training in chair umpiring. The course is a combination of classroom and on-court work and includes an exam at the end of the course.
Upon the successful completion of the course you will be invited to join ABTO as a full member, for a fee of £20 (for the first year, £10 thereafter). You will be able to begin umpiring at local club finals days and junior tournaments.
With experience, good assessments and further courses you can progress to Line and Chair at more high profile tournaments.
The role of officiating in tennis is unique to other sports as it often involves regular contact and a supervisory role of children, young people and adults at risk during tournaments. For these reasons, Accredited Officials will require an LTA CRB disclosure.