Wimbledon makes major change to tennis matches for the first time in 148 years sparking controversy
Topics: Wimbledon, Technology, Sport, UK News
Madison Burgess
Featured Image Credit: Visionhaus via Getty Images
Topics: Wimbledon, Technology, Sport, UK News
Wimbledon has undergone a huge change in terms of the way it keeps score for matches - and people are not happy.
The annual London-based tennis competition kicked off last week and is set to come to an end on Sunday (13 July).
As the world’s oldest tennis tournament, it’s no surprise that Wimbledon has some old-fashioned rules, including a very strict dress code for both spectators and those competing on the court.
One of the shocking regulations that’s since been scrapped was that female players previously had to remove their bras if they weren't white, according to WalesOnline.
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However, they did get rid of this rule and in 2023, the tournament also relaxed the strict all-white regulation, permitting women to wear dark-coloured undershorts to ease the stress of periods.
But, is change always a good thing? The latest switch-up has left people unsure.
For the first time in 148 years, Wimbledon has no line judges and is instead using electronic line calling.
This means that the usual chants of ‘fault’ and ‘out’ are no longer coming from an actual human person, but instead are now coming from AI.
The advanced technology uses 18 different cameras which are set up around the courts to track the ball while producing automated voice calls. However, a lot of people are missing the, usually exquisitely-dressed, line judges, who were seen by some as a staple of the tournament.
And with good reason, as the competition have already been forced to apologise for an error related to the new electronic line calling.
The technology was accidentally turned off on Centre Court on Sunday and a ball that clearly landed long was not called out in a match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal.
Officials have since apologised for the incident after Pavlyuchenkova claimed the ‘game was taken away from her’.
As per Sky Sports, in a statement, a Wimbledon spokesman said: "It is now clear that the live ELC system, which was working optimally, was deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court for one game by those operating the system.
"In that time, there were three calls not picked up by live ELC on the affected part of the court. Two of these were called by the chair umpire, who was not made aware that the system had been deactivated.
"Following the third, the chair umpire stopped the match and consulted with the review official. It was determined that the point should be replayed. The chair umpire followed the established process. We have apologised to the players involved."
Meanwhile, chief executive Sally Bolton added: "It was important for us to to explain as much as we could at that point in time what we believed had happened, and to apologise to the players for it happening in the first place.
"We're deeply disappointed that this has happened in the Championships. It was a human error. The ball-tracking technology is working effectively."