Paula Windelev talks about her travels Umpiring in North America
2009 was my first US Open, and second Grand Slam after working
the Australian Open. Prior to our first day we caught the bus to
the USTA National Tennis Centre to collect our Polo Ralph Lauren
uniforms ... 3 shirts, 1 jacket, 2 pants, 1 belt, 3 socks, 1 cap
and 1 pair of sneakers. The US Open also gives the umpires a gift
too, which this year was a Wilson backpack.
On our first morning, we had a meeting with all umpires plus the
Chiefs, Trainer Evaluators, Tournament Director, Referees, GS
Supervisers and all the important people. Normally this wouldnt
warrant a mention, except we were shown a slideshow of one of the
first US Open final's ever. Arthur Ashe was one of the players. It
was hilarious, and not just because of the short shorts and the
wooden rackets. The players had no chairs to sit down for their 90
seconds, they would pick their towel off the ground, wipe their
sweat off their brow and change ends. The long line umpires sat
down to call their lines. And the baseline had 2 seated umpires ...
one to call the baseline and the other to call foot faults!!! All
this to a half empty crowd. We have come a long way!!
Qualifying went very smoothly, except the last day was interrupted
by rain so it was carried over to an extra day. Unfortunately this
meant we had one less day off to see New York City :(
Flushing Meadows has 3 main stadiums, Ashe, Armstrong and
Grandstand, all with Hawkeye. Over the course of the tournament, I
had 2 days on Grandstand, a very intimate stadium for fans, and 1
day on Arthur Ashe. To me, it wasnt nearly as scary as Rod Laver
Arena but i'm sure others might disagree with that. I got on court
with Clijsters, Monfils, the Bryan Brothers, Andy Murray, Lleyton
Hewitt and Melanie Oudin.
My last day of work was the second Wednesday, and I think I left
at the right time becuase the very next day, the rain came!! And
ultimately delayed the semi-final matches and pushed the mens final
back to Monday. Im sure you are all aware of the on court dramas
that occurred, the Serena Williams outburst, Roger Federer losing
in 5 to Del Potro and of course the darling of womens tennis, Kim
Clijsters winning the title in only her third tournament back after
having her baby girl Jada.
I was sad to go home after having such a great time!! All the
umpires are such a great bunch of people and I made new friends
every day!! I definitely can't wait for next year, and will allow
for more time to see the city as you are definitely there to
work!
Thats all from me!
Until next year,
Paula :)
7/08/2009 - Update from Paula after the Toronto Tournament last
week
Here is my weekly report from Toronto ...
Last week I worked the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto for the first
time. It is a Premier V event for the women, and we had most of the
top players of the world there. Unlike the mens Rogers Cup in
Montreal, where the top 8 seeds, the top 8 men in the world, all
made the Quarter Finals, the seeded women fell like flies one by
one!! In the end, it was a Sharapova Dementieva final and
Dementieva triumphed on the day in straight sets. Sharapova had had
a long week, some tough three set matches and it showed in the
finals.
I worked Stadium court, the only court with Hawkeye, most days,
and proudly came out the end of my 8 days with a 6 out of 7 record.
We had night matches 6 nights of the week, 2 finishing at 1am so it
made for longs days. We also had a tornado rip through Toronto one
night and Environment Canada declared a State of Emergency for the
York region.
Players I worked on court with were Venus and Serena Williams, Kim
Clijsters (she has still got it!!) Jelena Jankovic, Maria
Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva to name just a few ...
This included Serena Williams doing the full splits right in front
of me and a photo of this in the newspaper the next day!!
More from New York later
Paula :)
Paula now heads off to the US Open, watch out for her FaceBook updates
here
Photo of Paula Windelev who has taken her officiating overseas,
she will return to work the NZ Summer events as an ITF White Badge
Chair Umpire. Paula worked at this summer's Futures events in
Auckland and Wellington, she gained her ITF Badge in November last
year, has worked at 2 Australian Opens and is a die-hard Hurricanes
Fan. Story below Hi!!! I thought you might appreciate an
update on how I'm getting on!! ....
Apart from all the fun things (business class to San Francisco,
Alcatraz, shopping, Disney World, NASA Space Centre, Floridian
beaches etc) I have also been doing some exciting things tennis
wise!!
This week are 2 events going on in Boca Raton, Florida, an hour's
drive North of Miami. The first is the USA main draw wildcard
tournament into the French Open later this month! It is being held
at the Boca West country club, which is an amazing 1400 acre
facility with 20 something courts, plus golf course, fitness
centre, spa etc and home to more than 8000 residents, including
Sebastian Grosjean if you believe the rumours! They put an amazing
buffet lunch for us!! They have green clay courts, and as I was
calling lines, this is the first time I have ever seen, stepped
onto and worked on clay!! Dave and I played for an hour and the
main differences for me were the sliding and slipping, and the clay
in your socks!! Umpiring wise, I am finding it hard to watch for
marks with more practice I'll get used to it. By the way, John
Isner, all 6 foot 9 of him, won, and the women's winner will be
determined in the finals tomorrow.
Today I am over at the (Chris) Evert Tennis Academy about 5 miles
down the road, again a beautiful facility with over 20 hard-court
and green clay courts and also home of the USTA Training Academy.
The weather has been beautiful and warm night and day, in the early
80s, I'm not sure how that converts, they have brainwashed me
already. We are involved in the Junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup final
round qualifying with countries from the USA, Canada, Mexico,
Guatemala, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. As well as the
main 16s competition, there is also a 14s competition. I chaired my
first 2 matches on clay, and luckily they were 52 and
44mins!! A good way to break myself into the clay! As always,
the local officials have been very friendly and good to work with,
many remember and know Blaze, Brenda Perry and Stephen Noble and
ask me about them!!
Hope you are well
Paula :)
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