Patricia Baillie-Lane first came to Wimbledon at the age of seven as the Scottish Under Eight champion in Short Tennis (now known as Mini Tennis). “We were invited to come and play in a demonstration on a court at The Championships," she says. "That was my first taste of coming here and I’ve loved it ever since.”

Roll on to Wimbledon 2025 and Baillie-Lane, smartly dressed in the familiar Ralph Lauren regalia for officials, continues to embellish her tennis CV as a member of the 80-strong team of match assistants – a new role at The Championships.

Throughout 10 years working as a line judge, her Wimbledon highlights included calling the line on three singles finals – in two men's and one ladies’. “Last year I was one of two team leaders on the ladies’ final. That was a personal high.”

In 2022, she even made a snippet on national television news when she became “entangled”, as she puts it, with a charging Frances Tiafoe, who didn’t apply the brakes in time as he hurtled towards the back of the court during a fourth round match against the Belgian David Goffin.

In the much-published image, it looks like Baillie-Lane – in her official white trousers, stripy shirt, cap and sunglasses – is preparing to go into a scrum with the muscular 6ft 2in American.

“My family watched him running into me live,” she recalled. “It was funny. [Tiafoe] was lovely. He made sure I was OK, he was very nice.”

The electronic line calling (ELC) system introduced at the All England Club for 2025 spelled the end of an era for a cohort of 300 line judges. Baillie-Lane, an experienced line official who has worked at other tournaments in the UK, was one of many who applied to come back in the role of “match assistant”.

A visible presence courtside, sitting on either side of the chair umpire, the match assistants have a fabulous front-row view of the action. But what does their role entail?

“Two match assistants are assigned to a court at one time, so we work in a team of two and we're there to assist the chair umpire with a number of duties on court,” she explained.

“That's primarily opening the balls, assisting with the ball change, measuring the net at the change of ends and escorting the players for toilet breaks. We sit behind the chair umpire so that we can maintain eye contact. We’re just a glance away so we can jump up and get involved in something if we need to.”

The match assistants are also on hand to switch in an appropriate replacement ball from the famous 3, 5, 7 tins (balls played for approximately 3, 5 or 7 games) should one be unretrievable after flying off into the crowd or goes flat or a player reports a ball is dead.

Without the pressure of concentrating on an assigned line and players potentially challenging calls, the new role sounds like a wonderful way to be involved at The Championships (without the risk of collisions).

Baillie-Lane agrees: “You’re right there, close to the action. You’re still playing a pivotal role, but it is very different. Of course it is. The pressure is less because you're not focusing on that particular moment of the ball hitting the line.

“It's great to still be involved. You're still part of the team. You're always working with another match assistant as well.
And obviously with the chair umpire. So the team's smaller than it used to be, but it's very much still a team.”

From the Programme: Many hands make light work

She took up position on Centre Court on Monday, No.1 Court on Tuesday, No.2 Court on Wednesday. “We’re on three-day rotations of the teams of two. We'll change the rotation so that some of my other colleagues will get the opportunity to work on the show courts for a few days and then others, like myself, will work on some of the outside courts.”

Like most people who work at Wimbledon, she considers it a privilege. "People who'd heard on the news that Wimbledon wouldn't have line judges this year were asking me if I would still be going. I said, 'Absolutely I'm still going! It's fantastic to be working at The Championships. Nothing's changed. Our uniform is the same. Our facilities are identical. There's a nice camaraderie. There are just fewer of us."