Lars Graff welcomes role reversal as go-to face for players with Beijing tournament director gig

There was a time when Lars Graff had to maintain his distance with players. Now, interacting with the top stars of his sport is a core responsibility of his day-to-day duties.

For many years, the Swede was one of the most recognizable chair umpires in the game—who could forget when he oversaw the marathon 2009 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick? The now 64-year-old has since made quite the change in supervisory roles with an opportunity he would have regretted turning down.

TENNIS.com caught up with Graff, the current co-tournament director of Beijing’s China Open. This year's edition expanded it's WTA event to a 96-player main draw while welcoming back the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner and a certain home-country heroine.

It feels fitting to start with Zheng Qinwen: what was the energy like going in with her appearance given the notable results she’s achieved this season?

GRAFF: To have her, it's a big privilege for any tournament, especially in this part of the world. I can feel it. Doesn't matter if I'm in the hotel, if I go to the gym and someone asks me, ‘When is she playing? You know when she's playing? Who is she playing?’ People are really excited to see her, very proud. Of course, she's an Olympic champion, but also Grand Slam finalist. I think she will be huge.

And the rest of your field?

GRAFF: It’s a privilege in one way to have a tournament like this in the end of the year, because you know the players are going to play. In the middle of the year, maybe they take a break. The schedule was very condensed, especially in the summer.

I mean a lot of people asked me before, ‘Is Aryna coming to play?’ She's fighting for the No. 1 spot in the world, and there are 1,000 points on the table here. On the men's side we have the two guys who won the four Grand Slams. So it's huge for us here at the end of the year, and there's a lot of things at stake. You can't be much better.

I would never have been ready for this role 20 years ago. I've grown into it.

Where do you think your background—whether it be officer in the armed forces, chair umpire or ATP supervisor—prepared you most for jointly running a tournament of this magnitude?

GRAFF: I think it was 25 years of education, sitting in the classroom learning from the ATP side, learning the rules, learning the officiating world, learning the tournament world, and then continuing working as a supervisor dealing with the players.

So I've been prepared for this since back, as you say in the military, when you learn that you have to deliver. If somebody says you have to be there at nine o'clock, you're not coming at 9:15. When I started this role, I went back in the classroom again, because now I'm learning about streaming, data protection, marketing, sales, ticket sales. It is another dimension of how to deal with the players, but I think I'm ready for it.

I think I have a huge advantage (over) other people. Ninety percent of the male players, they call me my first name, because they know me when I was in the chair. The women players, a lot recognize me also. I think my job as the tournament director is to make sure that I take care of the players. When I meet them, I say, ‘Welcome to Beijing,’ and I introduce myself. ‘If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know.’

The first impression when they come to Beijing should be very positive, and they should leave here with a good image of what's happening here in the tournament. It doesn't matter how good we are at organizing, or our infrastructure, it's the players that's most important. I would never have been ready for this role 20 years ago. I've grown into it.

On the subject of players: as a chair umpire or supervisor, you have to maintain neutrality. Now, buddying up with them, if you will, is an essential part of your position. What’s that transition been like for you?

GRAFF: As an official, you're supposed to keep a low profile, do your job and disappear. But now I'm not supposed to fly under the radar. I'm the person that players come to. I'm allowed to socialize with them.

WhatsApp messages, I can get from anybody like Coco Gauff's mother or Iga. Requests like, ‘Oh, can I get an extra hotel room when I come to Beijing, because I'm bringing my parents?’ ‘Is there any possibility we can do some sightseeing there because my parents never been there?’ So it has changed a lot for me.

I see them, of course, differently. But what I learned as a chair umpire, what happened on the court, stays on court. As soon as the match is finished, they don't come into the supervisor's office and complain about an umpire or about a call. Now when I see them, it's fun. You have a different relationship, and they’ll tell me, ‘You remember that match when you were umpiring, when I was playing in, whatever, Cincinnati 20 years ago? You remember what happened?’

If you come from the outside, maybe you have a different perspective. It's very helpful to have been involved in the sport for a long time. You have an understanding. If a player travels from Europe to China, you're not going to put them on the next day to play the matches.

As an official, you're supposed to keep a low profile, do your job and disappear. But now I'm not supposed to fly under the radar. I'm the person that players come to.

Given that insight, how did you approach making improvements between year one and year two given the expectation to raise the bar higher?

GRAFF: I came with some suggestions after speaking to the tours. I told the tournament last November, ‘Why don't we take down this wall and make the gym a little bigger?’ When I came back this year, it seemed like the whole thing was gutted. They didn't take down a wall, they rebuilt the whole gym. It's just amazing. So now we have two gyms, the warm-up area and the main one.

The player areas, that's where they spend most of the time. So that's what we focused on. We needed to have more lockers with 96 WTA players in the main draw plus the doubles draw. Same thing, new lockers for every player and new facilities. We built a new physio room, because it was not enough. We made a permanent office for the stringers with beautiful windows, so when a player walks from the locker room, they can leave the racket to the stringer and go have lunch or dinner.

And then, we have worked a lot on the landscaping on the outside. I have never seen so many flowers and so many trees. The people here who work with me, I'm amazed by their skills.

With your rich history, you must have a wealth of intriguing stories. Would you kindly share one or two from your times in Beijing over the years to close us out?

GRAFF: I did my first WTA final in Beijing in 2007. At that time, WTA and ATP had started a cooperation.

I remember when I did that final, the crowd was very enthusiastic. It was before we moved to the new national tennis center. Jelena Jankovic started complaining and I had to calm her down. I said, ‘Come on, Jelena, they are cheering for you.’ And the WTA thought that was so funny. They told me after the match, ‘You got her completely neutralized.’ The crowd was actually on her side. They wanted her to win.

Another memory: I was at Roger Federer's last match in Beijing, the 2008 Olympic Games. He played James Blake and I was the umpire. People say, ‘You are the guy who is responsible for Federer never came back to be Beijing!’ They tell me as a joke. Because the tournament tried to get him a couple of times when he was still playing, but his schedule was too tough.