22 year old tennis enthusiast, Alex Meek from Kendal viewed the grass courts of Wimbledon from a different perspective this year as he joined the tournaments team of line umpires for the first time. The Keele University Accounting & Finance graduate was selected as one of over 350 officials who call the lines at the Championships.

Alex, who qualified as a line umpire in 2014 has worked his way up the ranks from basic local tournaments to one of the most coveted tennis events in the world for players and fans alike. In 2016 he umpired at professional events in Nottingham & Ilkley as well as the British Wheelchair Open and the Visually Impaired World Championships before graduating to his first Grand Slam in 2017.

‘I have only been umpiring for 2 and a half years so I am really excited about how quickly I have progressed to Wimbledon’, said Alex. ‘It was really exciting being involved in Wimbledon. It’s just bigger crowds, better players and more umpires. It was also a lot more sociable than other tournaments as there were a lot more umpires my own age’ explained Alex.

Line umpires must officiate at least 25 days a year including 2 on grass in order to be considered for Wimbledon. Alex officiated the full grass season in 2017 starting in Nottingham before moving on to Ilkley and then Wimbledon qualifying, which takes place at the Bank of England Sports Ground in Roehampton.

Two teams of up to nine line umpires are required per court at Wimbledon to officiate each match, with the teams rotating every hour. Alex was mostly allocated outdoor courts but was excited to have the opportunity to officiate this year on Courts 18 and 12, both of which have Hawkeye in operation, a service usually reserved for the show courts: ‘On my third day a player did challenge one of my calls via Hawkeye and I was pretty relieved that the call was correct!’ said Alex. ‘I watched plenty of tennis too during the fortnight as after our shifts we could go into the staff area on Centre Court’.

Alex has been a lifelong tennis player, first picking up a racquet aged 4. He is no newcomer to Wimbledon either, winning the Cumbrian leg of the annual ‘Road to Wimbledon’ event aged 14. Road to Wimbledon finalists from each county play the finals at the All England Club every August. Alex is a qualified coach helping out at Heversham & Milnthorpe Tennis Club whilst he searches for a graduate job. He has also been selected by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) officiating team to be part of a development group for up and coming umpires. ‘I definitely want to carry on umpiring. I would really like to progress to the top grade and become a chair umpire as they are a lot more involved in the matches’ said Alex.

ENDS

For more information please contact:
Suzzi Garnett – Regional Tennis Services Assistant – [email protected] – 0208 487 7040

• For more information about Wimbledon visit www.wimbledon.com
• There are 2 types of umpire within tennis; 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 upholding the rules of tennis.
• To become a line umpire in Great Britain candidates must pass a one day basic course. Once line umpires have gained experience they are eligible to be invited to apply for a chair umpire accreditation course.
• Hawkeye is an on court computer system which tracks the balls trajectory on the tennis court. The system is used to complement the work of line and chair umpires in tennis. Players are able to challenge line calls and Hawkeye will offer an immediate video review to confirm the balls position.
• The Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.
• For more information on the LTA and the work of British Tennis visit www.lta.org.uk.