Michael Davies umpires as the tennis player wins the men’s final at the
London Olympics, 5 August 2012
This was a rematch: Andy Murray had played
Roger Federer in the
Wimbledon final a month earlier, and lost. He was tearful afterwards. I was a line umpire during that match, too. It’s intense work: you have to concentrate all the time, particularly with players like Roger, who hits his cross shots so hard. And when Andy is playing, there’s a different pressure: you don’t want to make a single mistake. One wrong call can throw a player.
I started umpiring when I was 15 and managed to get to Wimbledon in that first year, 2002. Before that, I’d been a ball boy, and had enjoyed that responsibility. I came to it through my teacher at school in the Midlands; I was never a player – I was always more interested in football.