Hi From Wimbledon
Your Goals are only limited by your
Dreams. It is so in Life and Tennis Umpiring, and here is
a Kiwi achieving his goals.
Probably the most exciting Men's Grand Slam Final in
recent years had a Kiwi connection. The Review Official who handles
the challenges from the players was our very own Blaze Trifunovski
(pictured in Wimbledon Uniform), it was, in
his own words "a very special appointment".
Blaze Trifunovski is a name that is known by most Tennis
Officials in New Zealand as our highest ranked Chair Umpire, an ITF
Silver Badge. He has worked as an International Chair Umpire since
attending the Level 2 School in Melbourne in November 1995. The MC
at ASB Classic and Heineken Open Events in Auckland would joke
about an umpire with that name can only be from New Zealand, when
introducing him before the matches on Centre Court.
It is probably not surprising that Blaze was not born in
New Zealand; in fact he was raised in the former Yugoslavian
Republic of Macedonia. Emigrating to New Zealand and becoming a New
Zealand Tennis Umpire has been a path that Blaze has been
passionate about. Since qualifying as an International Official in
1995 Blaze has worked at numerous Davis Cup Ties and Grand Slams as
well as officiating at most of New Zealand's professional
tournaments. The Umpiring gene is strong in the Trifunovski family
with Blaze's son Dimitar also gaining his ITF White Badge in Chair
Umpiring.
With his rise in status Blaze has settled in Germany with
his new wife and spends a lot of his time trying to juggle family
life and an International Tennis Career. In a recent email from
Blaze he told me what his next few months looked like… currently
working in Stuttgart, then next week in Amersfoort before 4 weeks
at home with his pregnant wife, Blaze and Ina are expecting their
first child on 11th of August. Blaze is then off to the
USA for The Pilot Pen US Open Series tournament in New Haven, New
England followed by the 2008 US Open where he will get to work
alongside his son, Dimitar, in a unique father son
relationship.
If you would like to know more about how you can achieve
what Blaze has done in International Tennis Officiating or join any
of our International Officials on the Tennis circuit then contact
me and I will put you contact with our top officials so
you can find out first hand what it is like to travel with the best
game on court.