Association of British Tennis Officials

Officials play a crucial role at all levels of our sport, and officiating can be incredibly rewarding. If you want to be more involved in tennis and are interested in becoming an official, please read these FAQs, or contact us to find out more.

What are the different types of tennis official?

Broadly speaking, tennis officiating can be categorised as ‘on court’ and ‘off court’. As the term suggests, ‘on court’ officials are those that carry out their duties on the tennis court i.e. Chair Umpires and Line Umpires. ‘Off court’ officials are Referees and Court Supervisors. They work primarily off the court and only come onto court if needed to resolve an issue. Please refer to the tabs above to find out more about each type of official.

How do I become a tennis official?

To become a tennis official in the UK,  you first need to pass either a Referee Course, a Basic Line Umpire Course or a Court Supervisor Course. These are organised by the LTA, and you can find out about upcoming courses here.

Once you have passed the relevant course, you can apply for an LTA officials’ licence and you will also need to have undergone a successful criminal record check in the last 12 months.

Is officiating a full-time role?

This really depends on what you want to achieve as a tennis official. For some, officiating is a hobby, whereas for others it can be something that you do on a full-time basis. There are grading structures and progression pathways that support either route.

What are the progression pathways?

We appreciate that everyone has their own individual aspirations in terms of how far and how quickly they wish to progress as an official, so the LTA has put in place structures that provide a clear pathway through the various grades. You will start at the entry-level grade as applicable for the officiating role, and once you have worked a prescribed number of days or events, and received satisfactory assessments you can progress up the grades. There are also a host of online CPD (Continuous Personal Development) courses available throughout the year that officials can take to stay up to date with the rules of tennis and other officiating skills. ABTO is in the process of developing a mentoring programme specifically to support those officials at the start of their officiating careers, and we are hopeful that this will become a valuable resource for new officials.

At what types of tennis events can officials work?

There are many LTA sanctioned tennis competitions taking place across the country all year round where officials are required. These range from local club and county tournaments, through to professional World Tennis Tour events and the Wimbledon Championships, and include tournaments for all ages and abilities. We have listed below some of the other types of tennis where officials can get involved.

• Disability tennis offers many opportunities for officiating, with competitions taking place regularly across the country for all impairment groups. These include wheelchair, visually impaired, learning disability and deaf tennis events. The rules and procedures differ across the different types of events, so as officials, it’s important that we learn the rules for each specific type of tennis. Officiating at these events can be hugely rewarding and can help officials develop their skills in many different areas, for example by learning to announce the score in sign language! You can read more about disability tennis here.
• Beach Tennis is a cross between tennis, beach volleyball and badminton and preserves most of the rules and scoring of traditional tennis, with the exception that the ball cannot touch the ground. As a result, the game is played entirely with volleys and this makes for a quick and dynamic game. Beach tennis tournaments will sometimes have a requirement for officials, though these opportunities are limited. You can learn more about beach tennis here.
• Padel is the newest form of tennis that is increasing in popularity and is fun and easy to play. Refereeing opportunities in padel are becoming more available and LTA Licenced referees wanting to upskill can take a free one-hour online conversion course to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the rules of padel. This will enable you to deliver competitions as part of the LTA Padel Tour and GB Seniors Padel Tour. You can find out more about padel here.