Manuel Absolu, Tennis referee from Haut-Rhin, won the gold badge which places him in the very restricted circle of the highest ranking referees in the world. In Grand Slam tournaments, he will be able to referee until the final. At 33, he is the youngest to have reached this level.
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33 years old, the age of Christ. His holy grail is a gold badge, a distinction which allows him to referee the greatest during the biggest matches, semi-finals or Grand Slam finals. “It was a dream because not everyone becomes a gold badge“, says the man who is today the youngest referee in the world to have won this distinction. There are only around thirty thus rewarded on the international circuit. Manuel Absolu is now one of them.
Its Everest, a women's quarter-final at Roland-Garros refereed in 2020 between Iga Swiatek and Martina Trevisan. But with this badge, he should go even higher. He who rubs shoulders with Jannik Sinner (Italy), Alexander Zverev (Germany) and Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), it is with all simplicity that he regularly returns to the club of his beginnings, at TC de Cernay. His three brothers and his sister were all licensed in this club. Tennis is a family affair. A brother showed the way to arbitration. Manuel Absolu transformed the try. “We understood that it was his choice, says his mother. He left to study and after two or three months, he stopped and went back to refereeing.”
Today, it has become Manuel Absolu's daily life. “Getting into the referee's chair is like sitting at your desk. I do it about 300 times a year, I feel good there. I have the best seat on the court“, he smiles. So, when he has free time, he no longer plays tennis. His rackets are stored at the back of the cupboard, he admits. He now prefers to relax by playing golf, paddle or going run.
Manuel Absolu is today the hero of his great-nephew, Pierrot, 7 years old. He never had the opportunity to attend a Grand Slam match with his uncle, “but I saw it on TV, he says. He got down from his very high chair and said “fault!”
For Manuel Absolu, the referee's high chair is a bit like his office. He is there 300 days a year, but he recognizes that it is the best place on a tennis court.
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© Marleen Beisheim/ France Télévisions
A referee has an eye on everything. However, he sometimes makes mistakes. “It’s always possible, recognizes Manuel Absolu. We are human, just like the players, but I am not ashamed to admit that I was wrong. And that's what players appreciate. They prefer that rather than someone who remains set in their positions.” Even the gold badges are therefore not infallible, especially when the bullets reach speed records. 263.4 km/h, this was the fastest serve in the world, held by Australian Samuel Groth in 2012.
The Australian internationals are Manuel Absolu's next destination in January. Among the players announced, Jannik Sinner, the title holder who will have to fight to keep it against challengers like Carlos Alcaraz or Novak Djokovic, record holder of 10 titles in Melbourne. In the role of referee, we will undoubtedly find Manuel Absolu.
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