Overseeing proceedings at Saturday night’s Australian Open women’s doubles final was Benalla native Tom Sweeney, who has had a meteoric rise to the big stage, which started at Benalla Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club many moons ago.
Benalla Lawn greens director Henry Nam said his entry into umpiring almost happened by accident, during one of the tournaments in Benalla.
“My wife may have instigated Tom’s first steps to becoming an umpire, it was years ago at one of the women’s tournaments in town, she encouraged him to have a go,” Nam said.
“On one of the last days of the tournament, some of the Tennis Victoria coaches were seeking volunteers and Tom threw his hand up and it all went from there.”
Since then, Sweeney has ascended through the ranks of tennis officiating in Australia, starting as a line umpire when he was 16 before moving to Melbourne where he was soon getting paid for his work, working his first Australian Open in 2003.
Sweeney has now gained accreditation through the International Tennis Federation to take on the rank of chair umpire, of which there are not many around the world.
His ascendancy now allows him to officiate some of the biggest tournaments on the circuit, with the Olympics, Wimbledon and Australian Open now under his belt.
Sweeney’s most recent umpiring foray was at the Australian Open, when he chaired the women’s doubles final where Czech top seeds Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková took home the title.
Nam said it was quite special to see Sweeney on the big stage.
“It’s great to have someone of Tom’s standard connected to Benalla Lawn, you don’t get to go all the way without being one of the best, we’re all very proud of how far he’s gone,” he said.