US Open: Sören Friemel - the man who showed Djokovic the outcome
The picture book career of the German US Open referee Sören Friemel, who says: "People expect a clear and fair decision from you".
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Sep 09, 2020, 07:17 am
At the moment when the whole tennis world looked at him, Sören Friemel remained calm in person. Friemel is trained not to show any emotions, to maintain composure. As one of the most experienced referees of the traveling circus, he always pursues only one goal: to enforce the rules without corruption, to make no distinction between superstars and the apparently nameless, to maintain justice to everyone with whom he has to deal. And so the 49-year-old Novak Djokovic from Münster, the number 1 player in the industry, treated in the Arthur Ashe Stadium like many big and small, known or unknown sinners before him. Namely as the tennis laws describe it. "There was no other option than this disqualification," says Friemel, who has been the head referee in charge behind the scenes at the US Open since 2019 - rather he suddenly moved into the spotlight in the Djokovic case.
Friemel, who used to work as an arbitrator and line judge in his home region of Münster, has had a breathtaking and by no means self-evident career. Without exaggeration, he can now be described as the most influential referee in the world, the almost fifties who, after an intensive discussion, showed Djokovic the outcome in the Big Apple without hesitation and with self-assured certainty. Friemel's job as rule keeper and dispute mediator at the US Open is actually a part-time job, because the young German mainly works at the world association ITF in London as the highest authority for global refereeing.
Sören Friemel - "I'm living my dream"
Friemel takes care of referee training at the International Tennis Federation on all continents, but he is also occasionally in the beloved front line, for example as head of the Fed Cup or Davis Cup finals. “I'm living my dream,” says Friemel. In 2016 he was also responsible for the entire referee assignment at the Olympic Games in Rio, a mammoth task that resulted in a lot in his airline miles account. In the last quarter of a century, Friemel was almost exclusively involved in tennis, with the exception of a short detour to the equestrian mecca of Aachen - there he worked in the meantime on Michael Mronz's CHIO team.
Friemel has turned almost every stone in the international tennis business, he has been on all continents. As a referee, he rose to so-called gold badge status, which means he belonged to a small elite group of referees who can be used for any top match at any time. For many years, the Münster native worked as a supervisor at competitions of all sizes, whether grand slams like in Wimbledon, Paris or New York, ATP spectacles like in Halle / Westphalia. Or Challenger tournaments somewhere in Germany. Friemel regularly takes the smaller events just as seriously as the really big tennis: "Everywhere you have to deal with people who expect a clear and fair decision from you." Only at international matches is the pressure much greater when Friemel is up there the court is called because the player and referee clash when the unforeseen happens: “In the Davis Cup, emotions boil. Everyone doesn't play for himself, but for his whole country. "
"Tennis can be proud of referees like him"
When Friemel was asked about his managerial role at the US Open some time ago, he said it was a “special challenge” and also a “conscious decision” for this spectacular Grand Slam: “Whoever works there also wants it . “Friemel knows the tournament from many years, of course, very different, colorful, loud, shrill, always a little gaga and over-the-top. Now, punchline of the whole plot, he had to exclude the front man of men's tennis in the Ashe Arena, which was orphaned due to Corona, because Djokovic had not aimed at one of the many thousands of other possible points for his ball shot. Rather accidentally hit the larynx of a line judge during his outburst of anger.
It was Friemel's most important and momentous decision in a long career as a referee. But also one of the most natural things about sinners and what happened: “It doesn't matter where something like this happens. And whether it's number 1 or another player, "says Friemel," you mustn't let yourself be influenced by it. "At the renowned American internet portal" tennis.com ", it was clear and concise at Friemel's appearance:" Tennis can be proud of. " Referees like him. "