Fijian helped officiate matches of big names like Serena Williams
By Raevenn BREEN
The 2020 Auckland Open was held from January 6 – 18 and saw matches from some of the biggest names in tennis. One Fijian tennis coach was honoured with the opportunity to officiate in a number of the matches. Sachin Shailendra Reddy, a long-standing member of Tennis Fiji and has coached some of Fiji’s top players, was invited to work as an on-court linesman during the competition.
Sachin Reddy, front row second from the left, picture alongside tennis officials at the Auckland Open 2020
“I worked for thirteen days until the men’s semi-finals. It’s a huge achievement for me because there were more experienced linesmen from similar tournaments who weren’t selected for the role,” he said.
During the Auckland Open this year, Reddy officiated matches for the likes of Coco Gauff, Caroline Wozniaki, Serena Williams, John Isner and Denis Sharpolov. “The level of tennis played was so professional. It was a challenging experience for me”.
Some of the on-court calls he made during matches were so close that they had to be re-checked by ‘Hawkeye’, the tennis equivalent of a Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Reddy’s on-court calls turned out to be correct.
Reddy’s performance at the Auckland Open has given him the opportunity to work at next year’s Auckland Open, an achievement of which he is very proud. “I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of my family, friends and Tennis Fiji who made this possible. My aim now is to become one of the officials for the finals”. His performances both locally and internationally have seen him nominated for the Sports Technical Official of the Year at the 2019 Fiji Sports Awards.
The Auckland Open men’s singles was won by Frenchman Ugo Humbert and US women’s star Serena Williams went on to win the women’s final.