Wimbledon’s human touch yields to electronic eyes
The All England Club’s decision to jettison line judges in favour of technology carries an air of inevitability as the world embraces AI but the human arbiters of the boundaries of the tennis court are hoping to continue playing a key role.
Convention has almost been a religion during Wimbledon’s 148-year history but advancements in technology have been impossible to resist with live Electronic Line Calling (ELC) set to take over from impeccably-attired line judges when action begins at the grasscourt major on Monday.
The tournament’s once-robust pool of around 300 line judges has been cut to 80 and they will serve as “match assistants”, who support chair umpires and step in should the ELC – powered by more than 450 cameras – fail in any of the 18 courts in use.
The Association of British Tennis Officials (ABTO) said the new position, which will be adopted at events that use live ELC, provided a fresh avenue for its officials with strong interest expressed in the role.
“Whilst this evolution has resulted in a reduction in the overall officiating days for line umpires, the impact has been partially offset by the creation of the match assistant position,” the ABTO told Reuters via email.
The body noted that although line judges will no longer be used at Wimbledon or ATP tournaments, there were still opportunities for them at other levels including at many WTA events and ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments.
Interest in the traditional role is likely to be sustained with the pathway to becoming a match assistant on the grandest stage involving training as line umpires.
First deployed as an experiment at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan in 2017, the ELC system was adopted more widely during the COVID-19 pandemic before eventually being used across all ATP Tour events from this year.
The Australian Open and U.S. Open have also replaced line judges with ELC, but the French Open has not favoured the switch despite the availability of technology specific to claycourts as traces left by the ball help umpires with their decision-making.
LARGELY POPULAR
The ELC system is largely popular among the players even if some, including world number one Aryna Sabalenka and three-times Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev, expressed their disbelief at decisions during the recent claycourt season.
Tournaments relying on the human eye are not entirely immune to controversial calls, however, and the All England Club’s move that comes after extensive testing last year is likely to only ruffle the feathers of the most staunch traditionalists.
Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) said it understood the decision amid changes to officiating globally and expressed its commitment to continue developing officials in the country going forward.
“We are working with the ABTO to develop a joint strategy that will ensure officials can be retained within the sport, new officials can be recruited and the officiating community will be supported through the changes,” the LTA said.
Line judges often bring their own theatrical element to the sport with their distinctive voices, postures, and interactions with players but All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said many of them understood that change would come.
“The time is right for us to move on,” said Bolton.
“We absolutely value the commitment that those line umpires have provided to the Championships over many years.
“We do have a significant number of them coming back in a new role … so we’re really pleased to have many of them still involved with delivering the Championships.”