All-female umpire team in charge of Sofia Open making tennis history

| by Alfredo Bassanelli

Never in tennis history has an all-female officiating team taken care of one ATP event but that happened this week in Sofia.

This week's ATP Sofia Open witnessed a very wonderful occurrence because it was managed by a team made up completely of women. Also, females in Sofia are the ATP supervisor, tournament director, referee, and chief of umpires.

“To be honest we didn’t realise as it all happened organically for us. The tournament team was built with people who just love what they do," said Tournament Director Kay Godkhindi explaining how it came to be.

I’ve been involved with organising both men’s and women’s events and while they both have their special requirements, at the end of the day it’s the same thing — making sure to keep all the balls in the air, ensuring everyone is happy and that we continue to strive and deliver the best tournament"

Paula Badosa opens up about double standards between male and female tennis players
Paula Badosa opens up about double standards between male and female tennis players

“We are a small part of a greater movement that your gender doesn’t define your capabilities, but it’s great to have equal opportunity in both the ATP and the WTA and empowering women whenever possible is always a step in the right direction. It’s fantastic that the ATP are championing this by hiring ATP supervisors and chair umpires.” added Godkhindi.

Anne Lasserre, the ATP Supervisor for the ATP 250 in Sofia, is one of the officials. Lasserre is the first woman to hold the position: “I think it’s an honour as well to be the first female. I worked as a chair umpire for the ATP a long time ago,” Lasserre said.

“I think things and the situation are evolving, which I think is a good thing. It’s an honour, I’m proud of it…It’s good to think about the future and being able to break this glass ceiling and give this opportunity to other females to do the same job like we do in every sport.”

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles