In February 2022 I received an application to apply to two tournaments in Spain; Barcelona ATP 500 and Madrid ATP/WTA Masters 1000. I had previously worked in Spain three years ago at the Mallorca Open WTA 500 on grass, but these two tournaments were on the red clay, as lead ups to the French Open and I was excited about the possibility of going back to work the red clay, so I applied.
In April 2022, I received acceptance to both Barcelona and Madrid. I was so excited I could not control my emotions. As I read the Working Conditions for both tournaments, I noticed these international conditions were very different than what I was use to in the States. I had to book my own flights, find my own housing, and make my own local transportation arrangements.
Also, I was only guaranteed four days at each tournament. I booked my travel to stay in Spain a few days after the Madrid event, thinking if I got cut, I would just stay for vacation. Abroad, no one is initially selected through the finals. In Barcelona, there were three cuts, after four days, six days, and after seven days through the finals of this nine-day event. The cuts are based on your overall performance at each interval. Before each cut the list of umpires that would be working the following day was posted on the wall in the umpires’ room. Everyone would search the list to see if they made the cut. I was blessed to have made each cut in Barcelona through the Sunday finals.
I had one day to get to Madrid for my first day of work. The working conditions for Madrid (a much larger tournament) were conceptually the same, except this was a 13-day event and they would have five cuts instead of three, including a cut on Saturday, to determine the Sunday finals crew. Each cut was filled with excitement for some and disappointment for others. I was again blessed to have made each of the five cuts and worked the finals in Madrid. I had never worked the finals of a Masters 1000 in the States, so this was the highest honor of my line umpire career and the excitement did not disappoint. I was on court in Madrid when Alcaraz beat Nadel, then Djokovic, and then Zverev in the finals. In fact, I called match point out to give Alcaraz the title – talk about exciting !!!
Line umpire assignments are also different abroad. When you are assigned to a line, that will pretty much be your line for the whole event, unless you are not performing well. The service line umpires will call serve, rotation after rotation and day after day. When you do something over and over again like that you tend to get pretty good at it and the service line umpires were extremely good for both events. My primary line assignment was right base (the baseline to the right of the chair) for both events. During my 22 days of work (probably 100+ rotations), I was on right base every time except for four rotations. In Barcelona, I did one serve and one right far (the far sideline to the right of the chair). In Madrid, I did one serve and one left base. My one serve in Madrid was on the women’s doubles final.
My performance in Spain was pretty good – God was with me all the way. During my 22 days of work, I did not have any overrules, which is above average for me, thanks be to God. Every court did not have a FOXTENN scoring system, but of the 100+ rotations, when I was on a FOXTENN court, I had five calls challenged, one on serve (women’s final in Madrid) and four on right base (two in Barcelona and two in Madrid). I won all five challenges.
My trip to Spain ended up costing me money, but I had a great time on and off the court and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and the experience. If you ever get the chance to do some international tournaments, I would strongly recommend doing so.
At Your Service,
Mel BurgEs
Atlanta, Georgia