Michael Mewshaw
According to the New York Times, the ATP has fired Argentinean umpire Damian Steiner for speaking to the press without authorization. During a period when half a dozen umps have been banned for life for betting and match-fixing offenses, yakking with hacks wouldn’t seem to be much of a crime. But the Code of Conduct ranks giving interviews without permission right up there with major acts of corruption, like conflicts of interest, fraternization with players and improper financial relationships.
You’d think that Steiner must have said something scandalous, even libelous to justify such severe discipline. But based on reports, Steiner made a number of comments after officiating this year’s Federer-Djokovic Wimbledon final that could only have rubbed the game’s Miss Grundys the wrong way. Apparently, Steiner shocked the powers-that-be by observing that he’d prefer to permit on-court coaching and have a ban on towels during games and a move to no-let serving. Oh, yes, and he confided that when Federer held two match points and was serving, Steiner thought he’d win. That put Steiner in the same category as tens of millions of other spectators of the match.
Of course, there will be, and already have been, many in tennis who point out that a rule is a rule, and umpires, of all people, should obey the letter of the law. But to quote Joan Crawford’s pithy, if ungrammatical, question, “Whom is kidding whom?” The game’s notorious history of leniency has allowed it to overlook everything from positive drug tests to tax fraud, from tanking to money laundering. In the past, umps guilty of fraternization with players have received short suspensions, as was the case last year at the US Open when Mohammed Lahyani climbed down from the chair to give Nick Kyrgios a personal pep talk.
Speaking of Lahyani, he hasn’t restricted his chumminess to players. During the famous long match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in 2010, at Wimbledon, when play was called for darkness with the score 47-47, Lahyani remained on court discussing the match, still to be finished the next day, with members of the press, including this reporter. No one considered that a rule infraction, just great good luck to get an ump’s perspective on a historic encounter.
In my opinion, tennis already imposes too many restrictions on the press. I’d like to see reporters have more access, not less, and more transparency from the people who control the game. Why should an entire category of experts – key participants in every match – be put in purdah and pledged to a vow of silence? In the 80s and 90s when I wrote books about both the men’s and women’s tours, umpires were an invaluable source of information. So I urge all journalists who care about their profession and who care about tennis to insist that Damian Steiner be reinstated.
Michael Mewshaw is the author of 22 books, most recently The Lost Prince: In Search of Pat Conroy.
