91Èȱ¬

Brian watches Tim Henman at Wimbledon 1997

ÌýI was a linesman and umpire at Wimbledon between 1992 and 2002. In my umpiring career, I spent a total of 542 days on court, umpired 533 matches and was a linesman at Wimbledon for 116 days.

So, I began looking for other ways of staying involved in tennis and I thought of umpiring.Ìý

I attended a half day seminar in Telford in July 1988, taking my 18-year-old son along with me for company.Ìý

They were clearly more interested in recruiting him than me but they got me instead!

There then followed three years of building up my experience by making myself available for just about anything within reasonable travelling distance.Ìý

Brian Partridge

Pronunciation

By 1992 I felt that I was ready for "the big one" so I put my name forward.Ìý

On Monday 22nd June 1992, I made my debut on Court 4 for a singles match involving Mark Petchey. Later that day we covered a match involving Patrick McEnroe, John's brother.Ìý

In 1994, on the Tuesday of the second week, I actually umpired my first matches at Wimbledon – a girls' singles and a boys' singles.Ìý

The main problem was the pronunciation of the players' names, even for a gifted linguist like myself!ÌýAn A level in Spanish and Latin does not equip you for names like A'O!Ìý

It wasn't until Wednesday 2nd July 1997 that I was on Court 2.ÌýOn the Friday, I made my debut on Centre Court for the men's semi-finals.Ìý

The first match was Pete Sampras versus Todd Woodbridge.ÌýMy second match on Centre Court was Cedric Pioline versus Michael Stich.

The final Sunday was amazing.ÌýI was in one of two teams allocated to Court 1 for the day and we covered the Ladies' Doubles finals.Ìý

In 2001 I did a base line for a doubles match involving John Newcombe and Tony Roche against Ilie Nastase and Tom Okker.Ìý

At one point in the match,ÌýNastase called out to Newcombe "Hey John, make sure you don't get to the net before your serve!".

After Wimbledon 2001, I decided that the next year would be my last.Ìý

My last match ever at Wimbledon was a boys' doubles involving a certain Andy Murray and David Brewer against a pair from the Far East.