For more then two decades tennis umpire Raghubir Singh Mahajan was a permanent fixture at Wimbledon. During this period, he also fought many battles against the raging John McEnroe. In this interview to historytalking.com, Mahajan replays the memorable moments.

How did it all begin?

Well, when I was in Africa, I was very much involved with the Kenyan Lawn Tennis Association. During our times, it was not a professional tournament and we had to sponsor players whenever we had our Kenyan Open championship. Players would come from India, England, Egypt and other parts, and we had to accomodate as many players as we could afford. I got involved in organising the championship. When I came here (England) in '72 September, I went to Wimbledon and was introduced to the umpires. I was told they were looking for people like me, who were keen and interested in tennis, and asked if I could join them. Then, there were no umpire fee. They would pay your expenses and thats all. I joined them and eventually Wimbledon became a professional tournament conducted by a professional organization. We were now professional umpires and were paid. But I never took any fee, merely my expenses and that's about all.

What is needed to be an umpire?

There is no qualification to become an umpire. There are some umpires, believe it or not, who have never played the sport. All you got to do is join the umpire's association which has changed, since I was a member, nearly three to four times. They train you to be a linesman and from there on you gradutae to the Chair, depending on your ability.

The biggest matches which you have chaired... could you remember some of them?

Well, I don't remember the very big matches. I never umpired as a chair on the Centre Court (Wimbledon) but only the outside courts.

And then was this world-famous incident when John McEnroe got angry with you. Could you tell us about that?

McEnroe was one of the topmost players in the world. But he always knew how to (chuckles) get the umpires or linesmen on his side, you know, trying to prove to them that they were wrong. But I always stuck to what I saw. And that was my correct decision and I never changed because he wanted me to. He was playing against the Amritraj brothers (Vijay and Anand from India) and I was doing the centre serve and I called the ball out. And he said, "No, you are cheating, you are an Indian." And I said, "I am sorry, I am not an Indian, I am from Kenya, and a Kenyan." But I think this bugged him more than anything else.

When was this and what eventually happened?

I don't remember the year exactly. He blew up quite a bit after that and started calling all sorts of names and then Anand Amritraj also got involved and told McEnroe, "Try and behave yourself." And eventually, the matter was taken to higher authorities where he was fined for about $2,000.

And 'you can't be serious' incident was after that?

Well, I had many incidents with him. I had quite a few incidents with him at Queen's Club. When he was playing semi-final againt Ivan Lendl, he wanted me to be removed from line umpiring. Lendl came and said, "No way, he can go. If he goes, I don't play the match." There were many, many incidents with him because he could recognise me and he knew that I was the only one who was very strict and would make the calls the way I see them, because I am there to do a job and not favour anybody.

Any other cherished memories, the matches you remember, something personal which came out of Wimbledon...

Well, there are many, I mean, I have done so many matches... Ivan Gulligong, Chris Evert and all that. I have done the final of Chris Evert as well and... Martina Navratilova... They all know me, recognise me. From a distance, while going out, they would say thank you. There have been great moments, many of the players like even Lendl, they all recognise me, and I mean, if you are doing a good job they would recognise anybody. And I know all these English boys, Henman (Tim) and Greg (Rusedski) they know me very well. They always greet wherever we meet. The only person I was close with was Malivai Washington, who made the final of Wimbledon once. He came to our house quite often and he was quite friendly with the family.

You have seen all the modern greats. Who were you most impressed with?

I think, McEnroe was an excellent player and I think he was gifted. I won't say there was anybody better than him at that time.

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