Young Mukherjee is a tennis umpire and has returned to the city after overseeing key matches at the Australian Open.
Last year, the young tennis official had hogged the limelight, briefly though, when he earned the prestigious call to officiate at Wimbledon. However, he was assigned for just the qualifiers of the Grand slam. He was posted on the service line in 10 main draw matches at Wimbledon.
As a result of his impressive showing in the Wimbledon, Mukherjee was rewarded with the prize assignment of officiating in the matches in yet another Grand Slam, the Australian Open this time round, which was held from January 14 to 27.
No wonder the fast-improving tennis official is excited with his new found success, even as he spoke to The Indian Express this evening recalling his 12-match experience in the Grand Slam Down Under.
In fact, the Kolkata-born Mukherjee was inducted to duty on the service line as the line umpire in some high-profile matches in the Australia Open involving Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Wilfried Tsonga. He was also on the service line in the crucial doubles quarter-final match of the Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi in their Aus Open tie.
Following the Australian Open, routine evaluation of the match officials at the tournaments was carried out by the chief of affiliated umpires Wane Spencer. And Mukherjee fared well above average in the assessment. Asked about his own showing at last month’s Australian Open, Mukherjee said: “I need to improve my mental toughness to monitor and control those crucial matches in top players like Sharapova and Serena played.”
Now that he has impressed the powers-that-be in the international tennis community with his umpiring and officiating skills, 29-year-old Mukherjee has earned the ultimate distinction — he has been given a call-up for the Bejing Olympics Games, slated for August-September this year. He is one of two Indians assigned for officiating in the Olympics, the other being Nitin Kannmwar from Mumbai.
Mukherjee is naturally overwhemled with the call-up for the Beijing Olympics. “It is really quite an achievment for me. It is extremely difficult to get an assignment for the Olympics since you are picked from among 300 probable umpires for the big event,” Mukherjee said.
The city lad has now set his eyes on regularly officiating key international matches as chair umpire. His next assignment, and as chair umpire, is the one-month-long ITF Pro-circuit to be held in the New Zealand, starting next week, where he is one of the three umpires picked from Asia.