View From the High Chair : Professional Tennis Umpire Jim Flood Says He Has to Put Up With More Verbal Abuse From Men Players

Jim Flood has taken so much verbal abuse from professional tennis players that he has a difficult time keeping track of who said what.

That’s understandable considering that the Redondo Beach resident has been a tennis umpire and linesman for almost a decade.

“It does take a unique individual to be an umpire,” he said. “You have to have a degree of patience and self-control. They (players) will try to intimidate you.”

Flood, 51, will be a linesman and umpire at the $375,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, which starts Monday and ends Sunday at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach. The 56-player field includes third-ranked Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, fourth-ranked Gabriela Sabatini and fifth-ranked Martina Navratilova, the defending champion.

A retired data processor and aspiring commercial actor, Flood has worked the Slims since 1986 and has been an official in about 300 tournaments.

Flood has worked the U.S. Open in New York, the Lipton International Players Championships in Miami and the 1992 U.S. Davis Cup match against Argentina in Hawaii.

“Davis Cup was a treat and a real honor,” Flood said. “That will always be a special one.”

Flood works nearly every Southern California tournament, including NCAA matches, the Mazda Tennis Classic at La Costa, Volvo tournaments at UCLA and World TeamTennis at the Forum. Tournaments such as the U.S. Open pay $120 a day and $65 a day for housing and food. Air fare is also included.

Flood said he will earn $70 for officiating four to five matches a day at the Slims.

He says women’s matches are easier to officiate than men’s.

“Women are a joy to do because they’re more courteous,” Flood said. “There are very few women that are not fun to be on the court with. . . . There’s also a difference between umpiring men and women. Men hit the ball so much harder that lines people have to be that much better. The match is so much more intense because of the pace of the ball.”

Tom Davidson, an umpire for the past 23 years who will also work the Slims, shares Flood’s opinion. Davidson worked last week’s Volvo tournament at UCLA.

“Women tend to be better sportsmen,” said Davidson, a 46-year-old attorney. “They have more sports etiquette and tend to be less profane. Many men have been defaulted from tournaments for their conduct, but it is a very interesting fact that in the history of women’s tennis there has never been one player defaulted because of conduct.”

Flood says most of the verbal abuse has come from male players. One such incident took place a couple of years ago during an exhibition match at the Forum between John McEnroe and Sweden’s Stefan Edberg.

“McEnroe didn’t agree with a line call and he reamed me up one side and down the other,” Flood said. “He called me every name in the book and told me to do things that were anatomically impossible.”

Flood said because it was an exhibition match, McEnroe could say anything without getting penalized. In events sanctioned by the Assn. of Tennis Professionals, players can be heavily fined for criticizing an official.

“We prepare a little differently for a McEnroe match,” Flood said. “I’ve had problems with him several times. But I’ve done all the matches of all the bad boys and bad girls. If you’re an umpire long enough, eventually you’ll have problems with all of them.”

Flood says there are players who rarely speak during matches, much less argue with officials. One of them is former Palos Verdes High player Pete Sampras, the world’s top-ranked player.

“Pete is very low-key and never real emotional,” Flood said. “You never worry about him blowing up at you. Mike Chang is like that too and so is Monica Seles.”

But Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, is more outspoken.

“Martina is a very intense player,” Flood said. “Let’s just say if she sees the ball differently, she’ll let you know. If you do a good job for her everything is fine.”

One of Flood’s highlights was umpiring a Jimmy Connors match at last year’s U.S. Open. Connors, 41, has won eight Grand Slam singles titles.

“Chills went up and down my spine,” Flood said. “It was such an emotional match.”

There are plenty of funny stories, including an incident in Palm Springs about a year ago.

“A ball kid decided to relieve himself on the court. . . . Well the ball rolled right into the puddle,” Flood said.

Flood started officiating on a volunteer basis in 1968 when he was a player at Merritt College in Oakland. His father was an umpire and had worked Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

But Flood got married and became a full-time data processor. There was little time for playing and he quit the sport altogether.

After divorcing his first wife about 10 years ago, Flood got back into officiating and playing.

Flood is serving a two-year term as president of the Southern California Tennis Umpires Assn. Officiating is his prime source of income, but he also earns money doing voice-overs for corporate videos.

Flood said his job is easy compared to officials in other sports.

“Tennis is much milder,” he said. “In baseball they yell a lot more. There’s a very strict code of conduct for tennis unlike other sports and penalties are swift and severe.”