The road to the chair: Attending a tournament as a teenager in Indiana, Ulrich noticed, “…a bunch of people on the lines, so I asked ‘how do you get involved?’” He began locally as a line judge and worked his way up from there. “Started as a linesman, early ‘70s, so I would say eight or nine years before I started doing chairs,” he mused. “Mainly I was in college at the same time, you know, trying to figure out what to do for a living and then… this is what I ended up doing for a living.”

Thoughts on the challenge system: While Ulrich does find the challenge system has made his job easier, he also compares it to making calls on clay. “I sort of treat it like clay courts. It’s very similar to clay where, on clay, if we see something we’re not sure of, we can just jump out right away and go check,” he explained. “Here, we have to wait for the players or suggest it to the players by not calling the score that it’s pretty close. I used to do a lot of clay court matches so it was very similar to clay and it’s good to help our eyes and see how well we’re seeing or not seeing. And, of course, it helps the players."

The rule he would change: “We should have changed ten years ago the let cord rule…. you should play it. I’ll still never know why they didn’t do it.”

Best part of the job: “Traveling, meeting people you would never meet if you stayed in one place. Can’t beat it,” he says. “I don’t think of it as a job; it’s more like a lifestyle.”

What he would be doing if he weren’t a Chair Umpire: “I didn’t ever want to work in an office or sell anything,” Steve confessed. “I started out as a teacher, so I probably would have been a teacher. I started out as a tennis teacher, too.” Has he picked up any tips watching the pros play? “Mainly the training, you watch them train and practice and you can pick up stuff… I’ll never be able to hit like any of these guys.”


This interview is part of TalkAboutTennis.com's coverage from the 2010 BNP Paribas Open.

Photos from the 2010 BNP Paribas Open.