Portal:Tennis/Selected article/01 2008

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An official in the sport of tennis is a person who insures that a match or tournament is conducted according to the International Tennis Federation Rules of Tennis and other competition regulations. At the highest levels of the sport a team of up to ten officials may be on court at any given time. These officials are broken up in to categories based on their responsibility during the match. Contrastingly, many tennis matches are conducted with no officials present. Tennis officials are certified by their respective national association. The ITF also certifies officials in the categories of chair umpire, referee, and chief umpire. Each International Tennis Federation certification or "badge" is broken into four certification levels. The first, white badge, is considered sufficient for officiating at the highest levels of tennis within the officials own nation and is not divided into categories. The following three, bronze (chair umpire only), silver, and gold badge, are considered international certifications. These international officials are those seen at the highest levels of play like the Grand Slams, ATP and WTA Tours, and the Fed and Davis Cups.