Gold Badge Holder Australian John Blom Will Be the Chair Umpire of Men’s Singles Final Between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev

The last game of “Happy Slam” is upon us. Players and fans are all pumped up and ready for the entertaining game. One important factor of the match would be the game officials. As per a member of ITWA (International Tennis Writers Association) Michal Samulski, the chair umpire for Nadal-Medvedev Match would be, John Blom.

John Blom is a top-ranked Australian umpire and one of 25 worldwide ranked active chair umpire at gold badge level. Gold Badge holder umpires officiate Grand Slam, Olympics, ATP, and WTA tour important matches.

The 50-year-old umpire has vast experience officiating. Tennis enthusiast John started as a volunteer line umpire and the part-time chair umpire, but once it became his full-time job, he rose to the top of officiating.

He shared his rise to the regional Australian media group. John said, “I started as a volunteer line umpire at the NSW Open at White City in the late 80s, early 90s. In those days, it was a case of being available and doing a course covering the basic rules of tennis. I then got the opportunity to do some chair umpiring on the back courts and it went from there.”

Also read: ‘Added Fuel to The Fire’: Ashleigh Barty Says The Media Exaggerated The National Expectations

John Blom experience in Grand Slams

Blom considers Wimbledon as his favorite Slam, with the rich history and the environment. Blom will officiate his 4th Australian Open final. It includes the 2013 finals between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, where the Serbian won the match and became 1st player in the Open era to win 3 consecutive Australian Open.

Blom also officiated the 2021 Olympics, his 3rd as chair umpire and 5th overall. He has officiated 1st-week games in the 2022 Australian Open. He had one incident to forget in the 3rd round match between World number 18 Karatsev and Mannarino.

Chair umpire John Blom messed up the score and announced a game score of 40/0. But actually serving Karatsev had won the game up to that point. Luckily, Karatsev was aware of the actual score and insisted that Blom correct himself. After hesitation, Blom called the game.

Umpire is known for his control over the crowd and also pacing up the game within tennis rules. He would have millions of eyes on him as this particular final is a “definite record” setting one. Either Rafael Nadal winning his 21st Grand Slam or Daniil Medvedev with his 2nd Slam right after debut major.