Road to SW19

Last June I was standing on a flowerbed by the outside courts in Week One of the Championships trying to follow a hard fought three setter featuring the current world No.1 Dinara Safina. Looking around at the LTA officials and feeling the burn in my straining calf muscles I thought.next year Im going to have the best seat in the house. Too big to be a ball girl, not blessed to be a player courtesy of a lousy chopper grip and an unpredictable backhand, this year I will make my debut as a line judge.

For all aspiring officials out there, read on. The road to SW19 starts with a passion for tennis. You dont have to be great at tennis, just have a love for the game and the spirit in which it is played. Line judging and chair umpiring will not make you rich but it will give you the chance to be involved in the game, give something back and maybe even walk out onto those Grand Slam courts and be part of history.

If you want to get involved, contact LTA officiating through the LTA website. Annual recruitment days are held early in the year and, for those who show an aptitude for shouting extremely loudly, an invitation to a day of training. After a gruelling day learning the basics of guarding lines successful trainees are let loose on junior events to earn their stripes.

Grass roots tennis, cold windy days shivering on the tram lines during junior age group matches are a chance to get to grips with the basics. Not glamorous and often a lesson in teenage strops and pushy parents. This opens the door to the next stage for officials, the ABTO accreditation course. A two day weekend to train and assess, successful completion of this course gets you the best seat in the house: the umpires chair.

Stage 2

After making it through line judge training, my chances of pulling on a Ralph Lauren blazer in late June hinged on my performance at the AEGON Championships on the hard courts of Bath University. Paired up with a mentor I was unleashed on round one of the womens main draw. One line judge, me, and the chair umpire. It was a good chance to see GBs rising talent in action and putting in strong performances. Calling through the net required a lot of concentration and the pace of the courts really turned up the pressure especially when I moved onto the mens draw. Points were short though which kept me quite fresh, even when it moved past 6pm. I managed not to get hit on the head by any aces (players seem to aim at you if they are unhappy with your calls) but cant seem to get my derriere out the way quite so quickly. Good job its padded.

After impressing at Bath, I needed strong performances on clay and grass over the summer to cement my place on the SW19 team. I travelled down to the green dirt of Bournemouth to complete my