After 21 Grand Slams Pretoria’s Iain Smith still has his eye on the ball
Pretoria’s internationally renowned tennis official reached a milestone in his career at the recent Australian Open.
In 1999, when South Africa’s most experienced tennis official Iain Smith started officiating, he dreamt of working at a Grand Slam.
A few weeks ago the Centurion based Smith, who is the Technical Manager at Tennis South Africa (TSA), celebrated working at his 21st Grand Slam at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Smith, a Gold Badge Referee was the Review Official at the Australian Open in charge of the Hawk Eye review system. He also carries out this duty at Wimbledon and the US Open as well as some major ATP and WTA events.
Smith also has worked as Supervisor/Referee at Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Pro Circuit Events, ITF Junior events and ATP and ATP Challenger tournaments and he was the appointed Referee at the last SA Open held in South Africa at Monte Casino.
“Working any tennis assignment is always a privilege. There are so many officials that apply for various events that it is never taken for granted and each opportunity is very special. Tennis officiating has been very good to me over the last 27 years and I have met a number of amazing officials both locally and around the globe, all whom have been very supportive throughout my career” said Smith.
After starting officiating in 1989, Smith obtained his ITF White Badge Qualification in February 1993. He retired from on court work in 1999 to focus on Supervising/Refereeing passing the level 3 school in Cairo in April 2001 to obtain the International Referee Certification (Silver Badge). In December 2008 Smith was promoted to Gold Badge Referee.
Even Smith’s wife Bettie was a tennis official and they met on court doing work in South Africa.
“My wife was incidentally one of the first officials whom I met at the first local events we worked. Tennis officiating introduced me to my wife and gave me my family and I am forever thankful for this,” Said Smith.
Smith credits many colleagues for his officiating success but makes special mention of the late “mother of officiating” in South Africa, Nelly Garvin, who introduced him to tennis officiating. Then there was Anton Rens, who was responsible for training officials for the national tennis body. Rens assisted in his training and development.
Smith also recognizes Gauteng North Tennis and his employers TSA who have given him backing not only in his own career but also to his aims and objectives of setting up a top notch officiating programme in South Africa which today is recognized worldwide.
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