sport news Graham Liddle was hit in the head by Nick Kyrgios and booted off court by John ... trends now
When Graham Liddle began his tennis officiating career at Wimbledon Ted Heath was Prime Minister and Ilie Nastase was the scourge of tennis officials everywhere.
It was 1972 and John McEnroe was still at high school in New York but - as Liddle would come to learn first hand - another enfant terrible of the Centre Court was on the way.
Brushes with both, and the many highs such as being a line judge for Andy Murray’s historic 2013 final, are among the features of a remarkable 50-year stint of service that will end at the All England Club in the coming fortnight.
Graham Liddle is bowing out after 50 years of Wimbledon officiating with a lot of memories
Like the large majority of officials, he has combined an outside career with being a linesman and umpire, first working in local government and for the last two decades as a coach driver.
While there have been concerns this year over standards of player behaviour, Liddle believes it has improved overall. Certainly since the innocent days of the Seventies it was comparatively like the Wild West, with the influx of big money and personalities like Nastase and Jimmy Connnors.
‘The problem was there was no code of conduct back then and the authorities didn’t have the power to clamp down,’ says Liddle, 72, from Hemel Hempstead.
‘It has actually got a lot better now because there are more rules in black and white. There were no weapons at your disposal in the 70s, you felt quite relieved to get through the match.’
When Liddle began his tennis officiating career at Wimbledon, Ted Heath was Prime Minister
He did a lot of umpiring in that decade, and it was not long before his path crossed with the famously temperamental Nastase.
‘He was probably the most difficult. In 1976 I was umpiring the old John Player tournament at Nottingham in the semi-final, playing Stan Smith.
‘Whenever Stan was ready to serve Ilie was deliberately fiddling about. I told him you have got to be ready to receive or I might consider these to be stalling tactics, but we had no power to inflict time violations.
‘The crowd were all pro Smith and against Nastase and his antics. He smashed his racket into the grass, which would now considered a serious offence because it damages the surface. Really all you could do was try and stay calm and appeal to his better nature.’
Five years later he got to experience peak McEnroe, in the summer of his infamous ‘You cannot be serious!’ outburst at Wimbledon.
Liddle experienced high and lows - with one of the highs being the time he was a line judge for Andy Murray’s historic 2013 final win (above)
Liddle sitting in the umpire's chair during one of Ilie Nastase's matches at Wimbledon
‘I did one of his matches in 1981 as what we called a ‘court captain’ I was on the side of the court, but not actually part of the line crew. He noticed me for some reason, and asked the umpire what I was doing there.
‘He couldn’t seem to get me out of his head and made more remarks about me being on court. I ended up being asked to leave, which was annoying, but there was not much I could do.
‘But I wouldn’t say anyone has lost it with me. You have to try and be cool when they look you in the face, you are told not to respond. Others like Borg, Federer and Nadal, never a problem, real gentlemen.
‘Connors could be difficult as well but you have to say the
