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There are 335 officials at The Championships working as Chair Umpires, Line Umpires or off-court staff. These officials cover over 650 matches played during the fortnight.

There are 275 British officials, all members of ABTO (Association of British Tennis Officials) and 60 overseas officials from all over the world. This group of officials includes the team of seven ITF/Grand Slam Chair Umpires that officiate at all four Grand Slams, and two ATP Full Time Officials.

There are around 70 officials who have come through the Junior Players Programme organised by the LTA and ABTO. This programme encourages young people to officiate and provides them with an accelerated training programme to qualify for Wimbledon selection. Some of these young officials will be seen line umpiring on show courts and the most qualified can be seen on the chair as well.

Around 45 Chair Umpires are assigned each day, with the other officials working as Line Umpires. Chair Umpires normally umpire two matches a day, although not necessarily on the same court. Line Umpires work in teams and there are two line teams per court. These line teams work on a timed rotation (75 minutes on, 75 minutes off), with 10 Line Umpires on-court officiating on Centre, No. 1 and No. 2 Courts and seven Line Umpires on the other courts.

The Chief Umpire Les Maddock is responsible for the organisation of umpires for The Championships. His role is to assign and supervise all of the officials each day. A custom-made computer system and a team of assistants help this process. Chair Umpires now use computers in the chair, the traditional scorecard having been replaced for the first time at The Championships in 2001.

If you would like to train to become an official, please contact:

LTA Officiating
Palliser Road
West Kensington
London W14 9EG

Or email: officiating@LTA.org.uk

Please note that LTA Officiating do not recruit umpires specifically for The Championships and significant training and experience working at other events is essential before umpires can be considered to officiate at The Championships.

Wimbledon was the first major tournament to use service line monitors, known as the Cyclops, which were introduced in 1980. The devices, which transmit infra red rays across the court, are used to make close service line calls on Centre, No. 1 and No. 2 Courts. Net Cord Judges are no longer used at The Championships because of the introduction of a net cord machine which is operated by the Chair Umpire.