The cream of British and overseas talent descends on the HOP London Padel Open this week at the National Tennis Centre – and barely noticed in the background will be another world-class practitioner.
Kris Dymond is tournament referee at the FIP RISE event – the biggest padel tournament ever to take place in the UK – which starts on Thursday (3 August) in Roehampton.
He has recently diversified into padel having been a fully qualified tennis coach, referee, event referee and line umpire for 15 years (he recently received an LTA long service award).
Earlier this summer, Kris was a line judge at the Cinch Championships at Queen’s Club, Wimbledon qualifying, an all-star exhibition event at Hurlingham Club, then for the full Wimbledon fortnight, crouching behind the baseline on Centre Court and Court One. He even makes a few fleeting appearances on the new hit Netflix show Break Point.
The 41-year-old has his International Tennis Federation (ITF) ‘White Badge’ certification, meaning he can run senior, junior and wheelchair ITF competitions. “I have refereed lots of national and international tennis tournaments and fit in padel events when I can. I do wonder whether my padel work might outstrip tennis in the future,” he tells The Padel Paper.
“There are lots of unseen things that happen before an event which I am responsible for – the minutiae of booking courts, categorising players, compiling the schedule, filling out lots of forms… all sorts of things. People arrive at the tournament when it’s fully-formed and don’t always appreciate how much preparation it takes to get to that stage.”
Kris initially played and coached tennis at David Lloyd in Nursling, Southampton and is now a member of Avenue Club in Havant, north of Portsmouth.
The start of his padel sideline began last September during a trip to watch the Laver Cup at the O2 (Roger Federer’s farewell tournament). Having heard plenty of hype about padel, Kris decided to visit Stratford Padel Club out of curiosity while he was in London. There, he met coach Diego Sterpetti.
“I asked him a million intricate questions!” recalls Kris. “He very happily answered all of them, then a week later, the head of the club emailed me to ask if I would be interested in refereeing some of their events.”
Thus began his journey into padel officiating. Since then, Kris has worked at several LTA padel events including the national finals. In February, he was one of four British officials to be invited on a FIP referee instruction course to learn the intricacies of running FIP accredited events.
But the big question is, with far fewer line call disputes to adjudicate on in padel (apart from the serve) and no ‘chair umpires’, as in tennis, what does a padel tournament referee actually do?
“I am called upon slightly less often at padel events than in tennis,” he admits. “You occasionally get asked to adjudicate whether a ball touched the side wall, but in padel the calls are largely dictated by physics. The vertical and horizontal surfaces will show you where it bounced. Largely, it’s pretty straightforward.
“Padel players are used to self-policing these things. There are four sets of eyes on the ball, so they tend to decide between themselves. I don’t have to interject all that much.
“If I adjudicate on a contentious call in a padel match, my tennis head tends to apply tennis logic. I might say, ‘It happened on your side of the net, so you make the call!’ That’s how padel players spot that I’m a tennis referee. In padel, the players will often replay the point quite amicably!”
Before he talks himself out of a job, Kris adds that he is required for more procedural questions, such as how much warm-up time players are allowed, when does the match clock start if a player is missing and how courts are allocated to each match in the draws. “It’s stuff that, if you turn up as a spectator, looks like it just happens automatically – but actually takes a lot of organisation,” Kris says.
Kris is surrounded by high-profile athletes in his day-to-day work, but has no desire for a share of the limelight. “I see my role as facilitating their game,” he states. “I consider it a good tournament if I’ve gone unnoticed, just like a football referee. I work quietly and diligently in the background and let the players perform.”
But Kris will be stepping on court with racket in hand once this weekend’s HOP London Padel Open finals are done and dusted. He’ll be staying on at Roehampton as there’s a big tennis tournament next week which he’s refereeing. “I’ve been on WhatsApp with the other officials and we’ve already booked a morning hit on the padel court!” he chuckles.
Get full info on the FIP RISE HOP London Padel Open here.
