Vietnamese umpires assigned to work at Wimbledon for first time
Two Vietnamese umpires will work at Wimbledon, beginning on July 1 in London, the UK.
It will be the first time that tennis officials of Vietnam have been assigned to officiate at one of four Grand Slam events.
They are Pham Trung Hieu, Head of the Referee Council of the Vietnam Tennis Federation (VTF) and his deputy Vo Huynh Nhan. Both of them are the International Tennis Federation (ITF)'s white badge umpires.
According to Nguyen Hong Son, the VTF General Secretary, the ITF allows the selection of up to two umpires from each country. The world tennis governing body's selection is in recognition of Vietnam’s umpire quality. It is also a good opportunity for the umpires to improve their professionalism.
"They will learn a lot from international elite tournaments. Their experience will help Vietnam organise international events and will passed on to local umpires to improve their level," Son said.
Wimbledon will see the world strongest tennis players competing in singles and doubles categories until July 14. A huge prize pot of US$64 million will be given away at the championship, with winners walking away with US$3.45 million, about US$450,000 higher than in 2023.
