At Wimbledon men’s final, his job was on the line

ACE Indian tennis umpire, Mumbai’s Nitin Kannamwar couldn’t have asked for more. He has been to Wimbledon for the last eight years and had always been dreaming to officiate in the finals. ‘‘It was simply fantastic. I mean the kind of atmosphere that we have been witness to throughout our life, officiating on the Centre Court was a great experience. In fact, that day I got to officiate in three finals, men’s singles, ladies singles and mixed doubles final,’’ an elated Kannamwar described his London sojourn to The Indian Express after his arrival on Tuesday evening. ‘‘Apart from that I also did veterans over-45 doubles final on previous day (Saturday).’’

The 39-year-old recalls the drama that was in store for him on the D-day. He was assigned a job at the centre service line for the men’s final and he felt shivers down his spine when he got to know that the Cyclops machines installed had stopped working. ‘‘At the kind of speed these players serve, it was indeed a tough job without machines. Since one was not operating, organisers had to stop the other as well. Luckily they were no overrules for me,’’ recalls the smiling official.