Every year, Brian Earley sits down with the International Tennis Federation's 34-page rulebook and reviews the 40 rules of tennis. It's required reading for the most important U.S Open referee, who never knows when he's going to be called upon to perform his job as the final authority on all rules and regulations.

"My biggest moment of fame during the U.S. Open usually comes when we've suspended a match because of rain," Earley, 51, said. "A television commentator sticks a mic in my face and asks me, 'When will play resume?' I answer, and in the meantime, they play a repeat of Connors-Krickstein (fourth round, 1991 U.S. Open) or some other classic U.S. Open match."

Besides keeping an eye on the weather, Earley is responsible for overseeing the draw and scheduling all the matches. Although this year marks his tenth consecutive year as the U.S. Open referee, a new record since the Open era began in 1968, tennis patrons recognize him more for his garb than for the decisions he has made over the years.

That's because Earley is always dressed in a suit and tie for his random public appearances throughout the fortnight. "I have seven suits, and I wear each of them twice," said Earley, who noted that he will never repeat a tie throughout the two-week tournament.

Last year, Earley got plenty of face time when he was asked to rule on whether Lleyton Hewitt's comments in his second-round match against James Blake were racially motivated. Hewitt was crucified in the press after the media interpreted his remarks about the "similarity" between Blake, who is African-American, and African-American linesman Marion Johnson, who had just called two straight foot faults on the Australian.

After Hewitt defeated Blake, Earley interviewed those involved and proceeded to watch the tape 50 times. "People were accusing Hewitt of doing and saying things that I wasn't seeing," Earley said. "So I kept rewinding it because I thought I'd see what they were talking about the next time I watched."

"I was reading in the papers about Lleyton Hewitt's 'apparent' racism or 'implied' racism, but no one could really say that they were sure." Earley subsequently said the evidence against Hewitt was inconclusive.

One of the toughest calls Earley had to make was in the 1997 U.S. Open when a frustrated Natasha Zvereva, playing Mary Pierce, accidentally hit a ballgirl in the face after losing an important point on her own serve. Although Tim Henman was ejected from the 1995 Wimbledon doubles for virtually the same action, Earley was called onto the court, gave Zvereva a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct, and play continued.

In order to be as unbiased as possible, Earley doesn't usually watch the matches. He therefore relies on the story of the umpire to make the interpretation. "The chair umpire thought it was marginal and as soon as I heard that, we decided it was unintentional," Earley said. But Earley first saw a tape of the event this year and said had he seen the event before he was asked to rule, he "might have ruled differently."

In a way, Earley has found one of the sporting world's perfect niches. He ran a public tennis center in Pittsburgh in the late '70s and eventually became interested in overseeing tournaments. "No one knew the rules, so instead of just making them up, I thought I should learn them," Earley said. The knowledge of the rulebook allowed Earley to oversee 10 to 15 tournaments a year in the early '80s, before he became a full-time employee of the USTA in 1983.

While the nature of the job requires Earley to appear very rigid, he says sometimes looks are deceiving.

"If I have a relationship with the player on the court, I might try break the tension and lighten up the situation," Earley said. "But the rules are always the rules."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espnpub.com.