Greg's Rule of Thumbs
When thinking about which rules to enforce, there are two questions to ask yourself:- Could ignoring this rule affect the outcome of the match?
- If only one player is breaking the rule, what would happen if the other player decided to do something similar at the worst possible moment?
A lot of umpires seem to ask question (1), but forget about question (2). This is dangerous, as failing to think about both questions together can really come back to bite you later on. See if you can spot the differences in these two scenarios:
Scenario 1: Player 1 brings his towel onto the court and drapes it over the supports of the table on his side of the table. Player 2 does not object. You as the umpire say nothing. Towards the end of the match, Player 2 decides to bring his drink bottle onto the court. Player 1 objects to this, and Player 2 counters by objecting to Player 1's towel. What do you do now?
Scenario 2: Player 1, who is notorious for his bad temper, is clearly failing to remove his free arm from in front of his body when he serves, but Player 2 does not seem to have any trouble returning his serves, and makes no sign of complaint to you as the umpire. Player 2 is serving legally at all times. You decide that the serves, although illegal, will not affect the outcome of the match, and so you say nothing, and let play continue, breathing a sigh of relief that you have avoided a likely incident with the bad-tempered Player 1. Late in the match, on match point for Player 2, Player 2 serves and clearly hides the ball with his free arm. Player 1 misses the serve, and then complains about the hidden serve. What do you do?
Notice the difference between these cases? In Scenario 1, both actions are illegal, but all that is required is for you as the umpire to tell Player 1 and 2 to remove both towel and drink bottle, and all is well. Player 2 would be hard pressed to make a case that he lost the game because of Player 1's towel - it really didn't have any effect on the outcome.
But it Scenario 2, things are very different. Here both players have legitimate complaints to make, and you are well and truly up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Player 2 can honestly say that Player 1 has been doing exactly the same type of serves throughout the match without being called, so what reason do you have to call Player 2 on his serve and not Player 1? The fact that it was an important point won't wash, and neither will saying that you thought Player 2 could handle Player 1's serves - that is not your call to make. And Player 1 is quite entitled to ask why you have failed to fault a clearly illegal serve. You can hardly say that you have been letting him serve illegally throughout the match, so it's only fair that Player 2 can as well - Player 1 is likely to reply that it is up to you to call the faults regardless of who is serving.
Some umpires would try to get away with calling a let, but that really isn't the right solution either, as the rules only state that any serve of doubtful legality can be warned - and this serve was clearly a fault. Calling in the referee won't help either, as he can only rule on questions of rule interpretation - it is still up to you as the umpire to decide whether the free arm was removed from in front of the body in time or not. Whatever you decide, there will be at least one player who will be very unhappy with you, and possibly both if you try to make them play a let. All of which could have been avoided if you had asked yourself the two Rules of Thumbs.
Be Spectator-Friendly
By this I mean do your best to improve the match for any spectators that might be watching. I don't mean trying to make the game a show, with yourself as the star. An umpire is at his best when he is hardly noticed at all by the spectators. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but if you do the following tips you too will be a spectator friendly umpire who is not stealing the show from the players.- Call the score in a clear voice with enough volume to carry to spectators, but without disturbing other courts.
- Wait until the applause dies down before calling the score - the only exception to this is if your players are in a hurry to get on to the next point, in which case keep to the player's rhythm and call a bit louder to cut through the noise.
- If you have a scoreboard, try to angle it so that most of the spectators can see it. The occasional rotation of the scoreboard during breaks in the game, such as when the ball goes out of court, can make life a lot easier for spectators who are trying to work out the state of the match. Needless to say, if you have a scoreboard, use the game counters as well as the point counters.
- Call out the game score after each game of the match - you should be doing this anyway, but if you don't have a scoreboard this is even more critical.
- Don't draw attention to yourself - avoid the temptation to crack jokes for the benefit of your spectators, or ham it up when calling the score.
