Tennis gone mad: a war between players and umpires is on the rise!

It’s no secret that lately, tennis courts have become the scene of intense blaming, swearing or even verbal fights between the players and the umpires. Although officiating tennis matches has never been an easy thing, it seems that now it is taking on an entirely new road, marked by continuous accusations, outbursts and disputes between the athletes and the officials.

The chair umpires -and generally the referees- are the usual suspects in any sport. They are the ones to blame when players are not pleased with a decision or with a call that goes against them. They are the ones who get all the booing when fans are not satisfied with what they do and they feel that their favourite team or player is being mistreated. And they are certainly the ones accused by sports bettors, when everything seems to be going wrong and they are losing what they thought would be a sure bet, despite having chosen one of the best betting sites in Switzerland to place their wager at.

But umpires in tennis, just as all other officials, are only doing their job and they are trying to do it as efficiently and as correctly as possible so as to fulfil their role and responsibilities. And with the help of technology and digital systems now, they can supposedly do it more accurately and in a more reliable and credible manner. Because technology is here to improve precision and accuracy in any calls the officials make or help them make more accountable decisions. And when umpires are more accountable, then they can more accurately also contribute to a fair game.

While we would expect this to be for the better of officiating a tennis match, the reality is that lately there is a mounting “rage” against chair umpires. Previously, some kind of prejudice against umpires would come from their possible bias -either positive or negative – over certain athletes. This would be reflected in the fans’ sentiment and the players’ morale. It would also be seen in online bookmakers, which in their effort to be the best betting sites -such as those found at https://bettingmalaysia.online/, would incorporate the umpires’ role into their odds. Now, it is not a simple prejudice, it is more of a ‘war’! Why is it that everybody turns to them for any blaming they have for a game? And why is it that it looks like attacking the umpire is now more personal than ever?

We’ve seen too many times, big tennis players who are known for their hot temper, get into a “whose fault is it” game with the officials, both during matches and in the after-match press conferences. But what we’re witnessing lately is a direct accusation, swearing and naming and generally a full-frontal confrontation that has more personal elements than ever before.

Nick Kyrgios in the Miami Open 2022, playing against Janik Sinner in a critical point of the match turned to the umpire calling him a “r****rd” and characterizing his officiating as “embarrassing and outrageous”. Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open 2022 also yelled at the umpire – “Are you st***d ?” when he believed that the official had overlooked his rival receiving coaching during the match. And Alexander Zverev called the umpire an “i***ot” a bit later in a match at the Mexican Open when he wasn’t pleased with the official’s call.

These are only a few examples of relatively recent games, but the truth is that there are so much more out there. We have too many cases where the players get too personal when they blame the officials when they believe they are not umpiring professionally.

And just when you’d think that technology would solve any kind of dispute or tension between umpires and players, the thing is that these disputes have become harsher and stronger. The umpires are no more just the usual suspects for any bad call or unfavorable decision. They are the ones to put all the blame on, to unburden the heat or thrill during the match, to unload all the pressure and the stress. They have become something like a punching bag for players, no matter if they are right or wrong.

Meanwhile, most umpires do actually recognize that this seems to be personal but in reality, it is not something that they should take inside them. Most of them do understand that players don’t have something against them other than the plain fact that they have happened to be officiating a match, with which for some reason they don’t feel comfortable.