Tennis Officiating in Canada

The Roving Umpire exercises jurisdiction over more than one court at a time in the case of matches played without a Chair Umpire. The Roving Umpire’s duties are similar to those of a Chair Umpire and include, but are not limited to, the following: ensuring that assigned courts are ready for play; enforcing the Rules of Tennis, the Code of Conduct, and the Tournament Regulations; resolving disputes between players; overruling erroneous line calls made by the players and calling foot-faults, controlling spectators, parents and coaches.

The Chair Umpire is responsible for all aspects of the match to which they are assigned. They apply the Rules of Tennis, the Code of Conduct, and the tournament regulations on court. In the absence of Line Umpires, the Chair Umpire assumes all their duties except those that they may delegate to another umpire or to the players. During a match, the Chair Umpire may rotate, remove, or replace any Line Umpire if such action will improve the officiating of the match. The Chair Umpire is the final authority on all questions of fact arising during the match. This includes overruling a Line Umpire in the case of a clear mistake. The Chair Umpire makes the first determination on all questions of law arising during the match, subject to the right of a player to appeal to the Referee.

The Referee is the final authority for the interpretation of the Tournament Rules and Regulations, the Code of Conduct, the Rules of Tennis, and for all other matters that require immediate resolution at the tournament site. They supervise all aspects of play, including the conduct and actions of players, coaches, parents, umpires, and ballkids. In collaboration with the Tournament Committee, they are responsible for making the draws and the daily order of play. The Referee is also the final authority when deciding on Tennis Law questions that a Chair Umpire is unable to decide on, or which is referred to them by appeal from a player. The Referee’s decision in such cases is final. In some cases, the above responsibilities are assumed by a single official. In other cases, such as in professional tennis, a Supervisor, assigned by the ATP, WTA or ITF, will be supported by the Referee.

The Line Umpire’s primary role, as a member of the on-court officiating team, is to assist the Chair Umpire in determining if a ball falls within or outside of the boundaries of the court. In addition, a Line Umpire calls foot-faults and assists by performing other duties that are assigned by the Chair Umpire (e.g. escorting players to the washroom during a match, and preparing as well as performing ball changes). As an assistant to the Chair Umpire, a Line Umpire is only ever present when a Chair Umpire is overseeing the match.

Match Assistants (MA) are required when Live Electronic Line Calling (LELC) is used at an event in lieu of Line Umpires. The Match Assistants assist the Chair Umpire with all matters that may arise during the match on or off court and follows the Chair Umpire, Supervisor/Referee and/or Chief Umpire instructions. The Chief Umpire is the main contact and is responsible for all matters regarding the MAs.

The Chief of Officials recruits, assigns (and replaces or reassigns, when necessary) and evaluates Chair Umpires and Line Umpires in those tournaments where the Referee has delegated these duties to them. In other words, the Chief is an assistant to the Referee in the specific area of the management of Officials.