The 2009 claycourt season ended in style last Sunday with Roger Federer completing a career grand slam by winning the French Open, but I for one am glad the tour has moved on to grass.

It’s so frustrating the way umpires run over to point at random marks in the clay when a player contests a decision.

I’m sure they do this in good faith. But it seems a bit of a farce (one that’s exclusive to clay as the balls do not leave an impression on other surfaces) because sometimes they end up pointing to a mark from another shot all together.

Women’s world number one Dinara Safina slammed a ball to the ground in anger when the umpire pointed at a mark to justify an in call in her Roland Garros semi-final against Dominika Cibulkova, while TV viewers could see it was well out on replays.

Belarussian Victoria Azarenka got truly rattled when she was on the receiving end of a similar incident in the last four of the Italian Open last month.

“When you don’t play your best and then you finally have a chance… and the umpire comes and just shows you to a spot where there is nothing at all and tells you that this is the mark, I think that’s pretty bad,” she told a news conference.

If they use the Hawk-Eye system at Wimbledon, why not on clay?

No one expects the umpires to be flawless but sometimes it might be better for them to stay on their perches and say: ‘It looked in (or out) to me’.

PHOTO: A line judge and the umpire discuss a call during the semi-final match between Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Robin Soderling of Sweden at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris June 5, 2009. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler