How to Become a Line Judge in Professional Tennis

Line judges are the people you see sitting along all lines of a tennis court during a professional or official tennis match. They make the decision as to whether the player's ball was in or out when it landed near the line. Line judges can, on occasion, be overruled by the chair umpire, who has the final say on all official calls. The U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for the sport of tennis and oversees all officials who work professional tennis matches. Officials, such as line judges, must be members of the USTA and pass several exams to become line judges at professional tennis matches.

Instructions

    • 1

      Learn the rules of tennis. Read through the Rules of Tennis as written by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which can be found on both the USTA and ITF websites. Make sure that you have a thorough understanding of how the game of tennis is played and governed.

    • 2

      Become a member of the USTA to be become a certified tennis official. Visit the USTA's website for membership rules and fees (as of the publication date, adult memberships to the USTA start at $42 per year and family memberships at $68). You also can join by filling out an application and mailing it to the USTA's membership address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, or calling USTA Membership services at 800-990-8782.

    • 3

      Join a USTA-sanctioned umpire association in the region in which you live; the USTA is divided into 17 sections by population size. Pay any applicable fees to join the umpire association, as some sections have annual fees and some do not. Join your USTA section's official's council as well, which may have an additional fee.

    • 4

      Pass the written test to become a provisional umpire as well as a criminal background test (for which you will have to pay a fee). Obtain a data card from your sectional chairman upon successful completion of the provisional umpire's test. Fill out the card with your information and make a copy of it. Send a copy of the information to your sectional chairman for his signature and have that copy sent to the USTA Official's Department. Have an eye exam conducted by a physician and include these results with your data card.

    • 5

      Attend an umpire certification training course at a USTA-sanctioned school. Courses are held at different times of the year depending on what section you are in; the course must be taken once per year to maintain official status. Pass the required written test to become a line judge.

    • 6

      Start off working tournaments that are below the sectional championship level (a list of available tournaments should be accessible by calling your section office). Work the required number of tournaments as a line judge at the sub-sectional level (at least five days) and move up to sectional referee status. Work at least 10 days as a line judge at the sectional level, and you can be certified as a USTA line judge and eligible to work all tournaments that have a spot available for a line judge.