Cheryl Jenkins (nee Herbener) loves tennis with a passion. During her years at Redcliffe State High School (1988 to 1992), she became the school’s Girls Tennis Champion along with her brother Bryan, who took out the Boys title.
She comes from a tennis loving family. Her mother Annette Herbener conducts the Friday social tennis at the Redcliffe Tennis Centre, where her father Ed and oldest brother David, have been regular committee members. It was natural as a junior that Cheryl joined the club as well, playing Saturday afternoon fixtures.
Since then, her rise to fame in the tennis officiating world has grown to the highest international stages. Starting out as a ballkid at Milton for the WTA events and Davis Cup ties, she moved into officiating during her last year at high school. From a line umpire, progressed to an International Chair Umpire where she has officiated at all four Grand Slams – Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as WTA & ATP Tour events around the world, Olympic and Commonwealth Games. This includes being an on court official at Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008, Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, and then has been appointed to the Assistant Chief Umpire position at the 2020 TokyoOlympics (held in 2021) and the 2024 ParisOlympics.
In 2019, she was announced for the key role of Chief Umpire for Australian’s Grand Slam event held in Melbourne each January, being the slam’s first female Chief Umpire. Cheryl started working in Chief Umpire role in 2008, and has been part of Chief Umpire team at the Brisbane International since the event began.
Chief Umpire role involves all the administration and logistics in the pre-event planning, which continues during event time including all the daily assignments of the event officiating team.
From September 2010 to June 2023, Cheryl held the position of Officiating Development Coordinator for QLD, as part of the Tennis Australia team. In 2023, was promoted to Chief Umpire Tennis Australia, where she assists with administration tasks, training and education, along with supporting tennis officials at the high performance/professional event level focusing on the key officiating roles of Chair Umpire, Line Umpire and Chief Umpire. From April 2023, she started as an Educator with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for officials attending the White Badge Schools held across our Asia/Oceania region, once or twice a year.
A link to the 2021 Moreton Daily article on Cheryl:
Cheryl Jenkins is listed on the wall of the Redcliffe Wall of Fame:
A collection of portrait and information honouring the achievements of individuals who have influenced and shaped Redcliffe. The collection is in the Jetty Arcade at 139-141 Redcliffe Parade.
For a complete list of people who appear on the wall click on the following blog post:
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