You cannot be serious? Wimbledon abolishes line judges after 147 years

[6Foot2]

Link: You cannot be serious? Wimbledon abolishes line judges after 147 years | Wimbledon | The Guardian

 

Wimbledon will break with tradition and replace line judges with electronic line calling from next year’s championships, the All England Club confirmed on Wednesday. The sight of immaculately-dressed line judges standing or crouching at the side and back of the grass courts has been a feature at the Grand Slam for 147 years.

 

In will come Live Electronic Line Calling, the technology already widely used in the sport, including at the Australian Open and US Open, and the All England Club has now made the decision to follow suit.

 

The electronic system, which reacts within one tenth of a second of the ball landing, is regarded as more accurate than human line judges who are often seen ducking for cover to avoid being struck by a 100mph serve. A simple computer-generated call of “out” or “fault” will now be the final word on line calls.

 

Since 2007, Hawk-Eye has assisted the officials at Wimbledon on certain courts, with players able to challenge line calls, but the system will now be fully automated across the site, including during qualifying at Roehampton.

 

Wimbledon’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, said: “The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at the championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation. Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at the championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.

 

“For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour. We take our responsibility to balance tradition and innovation at Wimbledon very seriously. Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating set-up for many decades and we recognise their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.”

 

The French Open, which has relied solely on human officials, is now the outlier, although it may well follow suit, with all ATP Tour events to feature the technology from next year.

 

One major concern for Wimbledon – first staged in 1877 – had been the loss of a prestigious opportunity for officials and the effect this could have at the lower levels of the sport, but ultimately progress has won out.

 

Meanwhile, a change to the schedule next year will see the two singles finals pushed back from 2pm on the final Saturday and Sunday to 4pm, with the men’s and women’s doubles finals to be held first at 1pm

[Ditto]

ATP driven and the march of technology - they will be missed. It will be interesting to see if the French follow suit.

 

McEnroe would probably support the idea, in spite of the fact, in relation to an earlier technology known as Cyclops, McEnroe said "I'm not paranoid, but that machine knows who I am" - https://www.sportskeeda.com/tennis/i-m-paranoid-machine-knows-i-am-when-john-mcenroe. In hindsight, was calling the technology 'One-eyed' such a good idea

[jthompson]

I hope they pick a voice that sounds just like Scarlett Johansson.

[Andrew_C]

Or Brian Blessed? Obviously for different reasons.

[mavhc]

Imagine how much cheaper the tickets will be now

[smurfomatic]

Imagine how much cheaper the tickets will be now

 

Not at all, they'll have to replace all the line judges with highly paid IT support staff!

[Rob_D]

Second for Brian Blessed voicing it. Or the ref from Gladiators.

 

Failing that, how about a national, fully televised competition over 14 weeks (with BBC 2 companion show) to find the new "Voice of Wimbledon!"

[Jawloms]

Surely it should be Alan Dedicoat, "The voice of the balls"?

[Dos_Box]

Brian Blessed would get my vote too, closely followed by Alan Partridge.

[Cazab]

Must clear quite the admin overhead, even if they are all volunteers.

[jthompson]

Maybe this will clear the way for an entire new difficulty level of tennis for the super-elite players: get rid of the lines themselves and see how well they can do.

[Ditto]

Does this kill the challenge system? I know some tournaments have auto line calling, but it can be challenged but the result is known! It can be done just through sheer annoyance or more arguably to see how far out the ball is.

[dapaulio]

Probably fed up of being sued every time someone got hit. Surprised hadn’t come sooner.

[Ditto]

Probably fed up of being sued every time someone got hit. Surprised hadn’t come sooner.

I've never heard of that happening. I know players have been fined for hitting ball boys/girls . Apologies for the binary terminology, but that's what Wimbledon insist on using as affirmed in 2024. Other grand slam tournaments use "ball kids" or "ball crew" I'm led to believe - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/30/ballkids-no-thanks-well-stick-to-boys-and-girls-says-wimbledon

[smurfomatic]

I've never heard of that happening. I know players have been fined for hitting ball boys/girls . Apologies for the binary terminology, but that's what Wimbledon insist on using as affirmed in 2024. Other grand slam tournaments use "ball kids" or "ball crew" I'm led to believe - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/30/ballkids-no-thanks-well-stick-to-boys-and-girls-says-wimbledon

 

I recall a few years back, a male player got disqualified from the Queens Club final for hitting out in anger and injuring a line judge.

[Ditto]

I recall a few years back, a male player got disqualified from the Queens Club final for hitting out in anger and injuring a line judge.

 

Oh yes, your right. It was David Nalbandian. He kicked the silly little boxes the line judges were made to sit in for a few extra inches of advertising. The box he kicked snapped and smashed it to the line judge's shin which bled. Marin Cilic as awarded the title. Even so, I'm not aware of anyone being sued, but there would have been a hefty fine. If you search, you will find there das been a linesman death on court. There was a law case brought against the tennis federation not the player.

Edited October 10, 2024 by Ditto