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7
“Learn the
RULES and try
to control your
emotions.”
LARS GRAFF
Former ATP Chair Umpire
IT FIGURES THAT former athletes make good
officials. But do former officials make better
athletes? Lars Graff, an ATP chair umpire
for 27 years, thinks so. He first sat above
center court as a junior player in Sweden,
back when the country had a rule that the
loser of a match had to ump the next one.
“I think it was a very good system,” Graff
says. “I don’t want to brag, but if you look
at the Swedish players—Stefan Edberg,
Mats Wilander, Henrik Sundström, Björn
Borg—I don’t think you have read about
any controversies about them on the court.”
He took the responsibility seriously,
attending umpire school. In 1974, at age
14, he got asked to serve as a line umpire
for an ATP event, and at 17, he jumped
in the big chair. For a long time, Graff ’s
umpiring was a cool hobby. A captain in
the Kustjägarna (Sweden’s equivalent of
the Navy SEALs), Graff spent his vacation
time traveling around the world to officiate
Grand Slam events. Then, in ’94, he
took a full-time job with the ATP. Now a
tournament supervisor, he encourages kids
to follow the example of his generation of
Swedish players, and learn the rule book
and keep their cool: “Don’t waste your
energy too long on being upset. That is the
big difference between who is winning big
matches and who is not.”
MANY REFEREES grow up dreaming of
starring in a sport and then turn their
attention to officiating when their playing
days are over. Danielle Scott, though, has
always seen herself in stripes. Both of her
parents were referees, and from an early
age she knew that’s what she wanted to
do—even if it struck some of her friends
as strange. “I got a lot of questions,” Scott
says. “I used to go with my mom to her
rec league games when I was young. My
friends would invite me out, and I was like,
Nope, I’m gonna go watch my mom ref.”
Scott called her first rec league basket-
ball game when she was 16. Her partner
that day was her mother. “She was like,
Hey, if you guys have anything to say, come
to me,” says Scott. “She mama-beared it.”
Make no mistake, Scott can now handle
anything players or coaches throw her
way. She was identified by a referee scout,
which led to her getting a spot in the
NBA’s training and evaluation programs.
Scott spent four seasons in the G League
and also called WNBA games before
becoming a full-time NBA referee at
the start of this season. (She’s one of six
female refs, the most the league has ever
had at one time.) “It was always a dream
of mine, so I love every second of it,” she
says. “I just feel like I belong here.”
DANIELLE SCOTT
NBA Official
“It was always a
DREAM of
mine, so I love
every second
of it.”
DCOURTEAVID SHERMSY OF L ARAN/NSBAE/GETTY GRAFF (GRAFF)IMAGES (SCOTT);