Mariana Alves
Encyclopedia
Mariana Alves is a Portuguese Tennis Chair Umpire
. She is one of only a few women who currently hold a Gold Badge in Chair Umpiring from the International Tennis Federation; others include Eva Asderaki
(GRE), Lynn Welch (USA), Kerrilyn Cramer (AUS) and Alison Lang (UK).
and Jennifer Capriati
, Alves made several disputed calls in the deciding set, one of which was clearly shown by television replays to have been incorrect. Due to the angles of the cameras, it was difficult to tell if two baseline calls were correct or not. There were also 1 or 2 service line calls that were being called by "Cyclops," and the chair umpire was not allowed to overrule Cyclops except for the case of an obvious malfunction. US Open officials removed Alves from consideration for officiating further matches at that year's tournament and apologized to Williams for Alves's errors. Alves continued to officiate matches after that tournament, however. The Capriati/Williams match is regarded in the tennis community as being a major contributing factor in the adoption of Hawk-Eye
line-calling technology at the US Open.
Official (tennis)
In tennis, an official is a person who ensures that a match or tournament is conducted according to the International Tennis Federation Rules of Tennis and other competition regulations....
. She is one of only a few women who currently hold a Gold Badge in Chair Umpiring from the International Tennis Federation; others include Eva Asderaki
Eva Asderaki
Eva Asderaki is a Greek tennis chair umpire and one of only a few women to hold a Gold certification from the International Tennis Federation; others are Mariana Alves and Allison Lang....
(GRE), Lynn Welch (USA), Kerrilyn Cramer (AUS) and Alison Lang (UK).
Career
In the 2004 US Open quarterfinal between Serena WilliamsSerena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
and Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
, Alves made several disputed calls in the deciding set, one of which was clearly shown by television replays to have been incorrect. Due to the angles of the cameras, it was difficult to tell if two baseline calls were correct or not. There were also 1 or 2 service line calls that were being called by "Cyclops," and the chair umpire was not allowed to overrule Cyclops except for the case of an obvious malfunction. US Open officials removed Alves from consideration for officiating further matches at that year's tournament and apologized to Williams for Alves's errors. Alves continued to officiate matches after that tournament, however. The Capriati/Williams match is regarded in the tennis community as being a major contributing factor in the adoption of Hawk-Eye
Hawk-Eye
Hawk-Eye is a complex computer system used in cricket, tennis and other sports to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image. In cricket and tennis, it is now part of the adjudication process. It was developed by engineers...
line-calling technology at the US Open.