Tennis fans lose it as chair umpire Marijana Veljovic steals the show
One of the greatest tennis players of all time was forced to play second fiddle as tennis fans became enamoured with the chair umpire.
Not since Carlos Ramos became embroiled in Serena Williams’ on court row has a chair umpire garnered so much attention from tennis fans.
Normally when Roger Federer steps out onto centre court all eyes tend to focus on the Swiss master and his flawless game play.
On Tuesday he was overshadowed in a big way. His opponent may have had him on the back foot, but it also wasn’t Tennys Sandgren who drew the eyeballs of tennis fans.
The attention of fans watching on instead focused on the chair umpire.
And it had nothing to do with violations being handed out or an argument with one of the players. No, this time it had everything to do with her looks.
Fans simply couldn’t take their eyes off of chair umpire Marijana Veljovic.
(ð¥@Eurosport_RU ) pic.twitter.com/h85DOrQwFW
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) January 28, 2020
Even tennis player Eugenie Bouchard couldn’t concentrate on the match as her eyes were drawn to Veljovic.
the umpire in this roger/tennys match is super pretty ð
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) January 28, 2020
Bouchard wasn’t the only one hoping to discover just who the woman behind the microphone was as google searches quickly spiked for the Serbian.
Who is this umpire in Federer match? pic.twitter.com/pn4UqkcNyt
— Tony Lupino (@TonyLupino) January 28, 2020
Who is this chair umpire for the Federer match?? ð¥
— Jye Bolton (@JyeBolton) January 28, 2020
Rising search terms related to "Roger Federer" on Google trends ððððð.
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) January 28, 2020
Marijana Veljovic is the real star of today. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/QNHp3JANVj
Veljovic received her gold badge for umpiring in 2015 and has been in the chair for some of the biggest matches on the tennis calendar.
In 2018 she officiated the 2018 Australian Open women’s singles final and in 2019 she was in the chair for the Wimbledon women’s singles final. Later in 2019 she was the umpire for the Fed Cup Final.
She has previously spoken about trying to bring more female officials to the sport.