With all the talk of the referees in football as we call it here in Europe, I quickly came to realize that I have no clue who the Pierluigi Collinas of tennis are. Who are the main authorities in refereeing, and why don't we hear more of them? Of course, a wrong decision is not as crucial as it is in football (giving a point to the other team will in most cases not drastically alter the course of the match), but some crucial mistakes have been made in the past that have made players lose sets and matches. On a related note, I thoroughly enjoyed the Hawkeye replays on Wimbledon. I would love to know the exact statistics, but Hawkeye's call agreed with the referee's call in nearly all cases!
-- Volkert, Utrecht, Netherlands

Somewhere, a tennis administrator is smiling. If you don't know the referees and officiating administrators, it means they're doing a good job. When refs and umps become public figures, odds are there's been a dereliction of duty. Like any other sport, as a general rule, you tell the cream of the crop based on who works the biggest events. They're not going to put some hack in the chair for a Grand Slam final.

Like you, I was surprised by just how often the officials were validated by Hawkeye. Now, of course, we'll have a summer of replay technology. As we discussed during Key Biscayne, the heightened accuracy is great for tennis. But the replay statistics -- and, inevitably, we'll be bombarded by them, especially during the U.S. Open -- are not particularly helpful for judging an official's competence.

I am not trying to denigrate Venus Williams, but your call to praise her for staying at Wimbledon to compete in mixed doubles after losing in singles is sadly misplaced. She did only what she should have done: honor a commitment to a fellow sportsman.
-- Jay Lindly, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Lots of you noted this. But according to tennis etiquette (Amelie Post?), a three-time champion is well within her rights to bail on the mixed when she is upset from the singles in Week 1. You're right about honoring commitments, but the mixed is really a glorified exhibition -- the "funny cars," I believe Mary C. once called it -- that players enter seldom take seriously.

Marginalia

• The USTA is announcing that the U.S. Open prize money for 2006 will be a record $18.5 million, with a potential for $21.1 million.

• Jano Santiago from Chile (or perhaps it's Jano from Santiago, Chile) observes that the top three aces leaders are from Croatia: Ivan Ljubicic (570), Karlovic (555) and Mario Ancic (509) have served more than 500 aces each. Radek Stepanek is fourth with 393 and Roger Federer fifth with 370. Karlovic averages 17.9 aces a match!

• He's not just a Newport finalist, he's a prophet as well. Carlos of Greenwich noted that during the early rounds of Wimbledon, Justin Gimelstob wrote on SI.com: "It would be great for the sport for Nadal to advance to the final and play Federer -- and I think he will."

• For those of you who thought the phrase "Do I sound like a musical robot?" was one of the most hysterically funny movie lines, can we agree that "RRRRRrrrrrripstein" is a close second?

• Our friend Darren from Down Under writes: "I thought this link was an interesting take on the GOAT debate."

• Go ahead and lament the state of American tennis. But we were remiss in neglecting that Kellen Damico and Nate Schnugg won the boys' doubles at Wimbledon.

• M. Hogan of Houston writes: "In response to 'Where is Duke Odizor?' -- we go to church together here in Houston (Glorious Way Church) when he isn't in his homeland on business. He has a business helping the Nigerian people. He is the father of one son and has a beautiful wife. He still teaches the children at our church to pursue tennis. His website is anointedhg.com."

• Breathless dust jacket blurb: "If you read one memoir by a Scottish teenager all year, this should be it!"

• Kevin of Toronto writes: "I wanted to refer you to a blog that you might find interesting. One of the volunteer committee heads at the Toronto Rogers Cup tournament, Jason Tsang, is blogging about various items at that tournament. From items dealing with interaction with volunteers, players and other tournament news, I think this blog offers a really interesting perspective. You can check it out here. Also interesting is that this guy won one of the volunteer awards that Tennis Canada gives out. Check it out here."

• Erwin of L.A. passes on this interesting article from The Independent: Chas (Where's my shot sheet?) Steiner throwing down in the press room? Who knew?

This week's look-alike: Nadal and Ben (don't call me Eric) Jelen.

Have a good week, everyone!

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