Umpire Switches Places With Player During Doubles at Wimbledon

The chair umpire was asked to get out of his seat and take the court and he didn't disappoint.

Wimbledon may have just stumbled upon the greatest idea ever: Let the officials play.

During a gentlemen's senior invitation doubles match Tuesday, Henri Leconte decided he needed a break late in the match and wanted to take a seat. But he needed a replacement.

So he grabbed the person closest to him and tossed the chair umpire into his place. Naturally, Leconte then took over in the chair and the hilarity ensued.

It wasn't just that Leconte's partner Patrick McEnroe was now adjusting to playing with the chair ump and not his actual partner, but Leconte also provided top-notch commentary throughout the affair.

And, despite one embarrassing stumble, the chair umpire was mostly able to hold his own against Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis.

Imagine if this happened in other sports.

What if Tom Brady just decided to switch spots with Bill Vinovich in the middle of a game and started throwing flags while the veteran referee was tossing touchdown passes? Or if James Harden told Scott Foster to swap shirts and then had the nerve to call a travel on a step back?

It doesn't matter that Eltingh and Haarhuis won the match because we all know who the real victor was at the end of this.

And it's about time an official finally got to be the star of a sporting event for a good reason. After all, that's who people spend their money to come see.