I thought Roger Federer would beat Djokovic on 8-7 fifth set, says umpire
In an interview to Continential, the Argentinean umpire Damian Steiner commented on how it felt to be umpiring the Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer that lasted for almost five hours. "I first was a player, then a linesman and then I started umpiring in 1994-95, so I have been umpiring for 24 or 25 years", said Steiner. "I am happy that after a lot of work I have reached my peak moment. I have been around for a long time, umpiring this kind of matches and interacting with this kind of players. You know what a Grand Slam final represents. I have a great relationship with the people who took the decision of me umpiring this final. You never know how the match will go. I understood it would be very important at an international level and for my career. I was looking forward to starting. I had many nerves but I enjoyed it a lot because it could have been my last time in such an environment. Being able to see such shots is great. Being two meters away from them is a privilege. I was focused, being there for many hours was not easy. It was a demanding match."
How does an umpire train to look at the ball closely? "The training is on court. You do not have a certain practice when you are not umpiring. But 200 matches a year means a lot of training", admitted Steiner. Did he think that Federer could win when he was leading 8-7 40-15 in the fifth set? "Yes, I thought so."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Mff4cW
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