Call them the odd couple of ATP Officiating: Tom Barnes, the poker-faced former marine who would hold his own in a stare down with Clint Eastwood, and Thomas Karlberg, the mild-mannered softly spoken Swede. The career-long friends and colleagues were both honoured for their lifetime of service in December as part of the ATP Officiating department's year-end meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Barnes, who lives in Fresno, California, worked his last event at the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals. Karlberg stepped away after officiating in Basel in October this year.
At first glance, they seem as different as topspin and slice. But peel back the surface layer and you’ll find an underlying dichotomy that connects them.
"Tom is a very, very good friend,” Karlberg said. “He may scare most of the people around him, but that's just on the surface. If you look under his skin a little bit he is a golden-hearted person and very fun to be around."
Similarly, Barnes said that first impressions of the genial Karlberg don’t paint the full picture. “He’s probably the strongest one out of all of us even though he doesn’t look or act like he is,” Barnes said. “He’s a very strong character, critical thinker, friendly guy and good to be around.”
Barnes' career has spanned the birth of the ATP Tour in 1990 through to its newest events, including the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. Photo: Getty Images.
Barnes worked his first event in Guam in 1990 and completed his tournament report on three laminated pieces of paper. Known by many as ‘Baaaaarnes' after being given the moniker by former World No. 4 Brad Gilbert, the Californian said that over the years he bonded with some of the game’s more prickly players.
“I tend to get along better with the difficult players than the not-so-difficult players,” he said. “Why, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of my marine corps background. It’s all personal relationships.
“We have one goal in mind and that's to provide good tennis. The Supervisor is in charge of everything and is the final authority on site. The most challenging part of the job is to keep everything in balance and make judgments when it’s important. I always try to consider what is best for the tournament, players, and spectators.”
Karlberg was a Supervisor for the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council and Tournament Director of the Bastad ATP event before joining ATP in 1991, the year after the Tour was formed. Having worked alongside thousands of players from Jimmy Connors to Pete Sampras to Carlos Alcaraz, Karlberg said that to preserve impartiality he would be friendly to players, but would not seek to become their friends.
“It’s like a circus with everyone travelling around, players, coaches, officials, and everyone else, so it’s inevitable that you develop relationships, but you have to be clear where the line is,” Karlberg said. “Of course we will have friendly conversations with players and their teams, but we wouldn’t go out for breakfast or dinner.”
"Every Supervisor and Chair Umpire currently working for ATP has been mentored by Tom and Thomas," said Ali Nili, ATP Senior Director, Officiating Administration. "They are an institution in Officiating and there will never be another Tom Barnes or Thomas Karlberg. They will be truly missed, but their legacy will live forever."
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While elements of the job have evolved through the continued growth of technology, Barnes said that the key quality he looks for in good Supervisors has not changed in his 30 years in the job.
"Common sense is the number one thing,” he said. “We constantly have to make decisions and some of them are pretty significant, like defaulting a guy. You can easily make the wrong choice in either direction. You have to have a mindset that can look at incidents and shut out all the other noise and think about what the situation deserves.
“The most challenging thing is to keep everything in balance and make judgments when it’s important. Always try and consider what is best for the tournament, players, and spectators.”
Karlberg added: “Knowing how to deal with people is also very important. To be calm when something goes wrong, to listen to other people, show respect to the players and the people you work with.
“And there’s no substitute for having full knowledge of the rules. When you’re called out on court in the heat of the moment with thousands of spectators looking on, you can’t reach for the rulebook.”
Thomas Karlberg sends Rafael Nadal back to the locker room during a rain delay at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Photo: Getty Images
Both men have been privileged to sit courtside for thousands of matches, watching the game’s greatest champions up close. But they don’t view matches in the same manner as fans.
“It is a nice perk of the job, but I don’t watch tennis like my wife does,” Barnes said. “I’m looking at it from a technical standpoint and not really from the artistic level. I’m making sure the ballkids are doing what they’re supposed to do, linespeople, chair umpire are doing things correctly and the players aren’t misbehaving.”
With both men spending decades on the road away from their families and homes, Karlberg and Barnes paid tribute to their wives, Eva and Debbie, for the sacrifices they made that allowed them to pursue their careers with the ATP.
“I didn’t realise when I started this job what my life would become,” Karlberg said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try that’. Now I’ve had more than 30 years with the ATP. My wife has always supported me to do this; she realised I really loved to work in tennis. I thank her very much. I realise that she has done a hell of job raising three kids and working at the same time. I have her to thank.”
Barnes said of his wife, Debbie: “She’s my rock. We made the decision together that I would pursue this as a full-time career. I did it a little later in life, our son was already off in college so no young ones at home to worry about, which may have made it a little easier.”
Both men are also thankful for the friendships they made on the Tour, in what Roger Federer once called his "second family”.
“The relationships that I’ve developed, the friends that I’ve made is something I will always treasure,” Karlberg said.
Barnes added: “With my colleagues, everyone, travelling and seeing different countries and meeting different people, I learned a lot from that. It’s like we live together; in many cases guys spend more time with each other than their own family, especially in the beginning when you work 30 weeks in a year.”
Now both men can enjoy plenty of family time at home.
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