Nick Kyrgios blasts Wimbledon bosses for scrapping 147-year tradition

Daily Mirror

3 days ago

The All England Club has been encouraged by Nick Kyrgios to embrace Wimbledon's traditional values after making a significant change for this year's tournament in SW19
Nick Kyrgios has revealed his sadness that line judges are no longer present at Wimbledon and called on the tournament to embrace its tradition. The Aussie tennis star even claimed the All England Club should never change their rules at the world's oldest Grand Slam.
The All England club have scrapped 300 officials with an electronic system which uses artificial intelligence to tell whether a ball was in or out. Line judges were used for 147 years before the decision was made back in October to utilise Live Electronic Line Calling.
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The change moves Wimbledon in line with the Australian Open and US Open, while all ATP Tour events have also embraced the technology. Chief executive Sally Bolton suggested the technology is now 'sufficiently robust' as the tournament looks to achieve 'maximum accuracy' in its officiating.
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"I will, I will," said Kyrgios when asked whether he would miss line judges by talkSPORT's Hawksbee and Jacobs. "I actually had a conversation about this yesterday," he added. "I think Wimbledon should never change any rule.
"It should be the only tournament that holds every tradition that ever started in tennis. I think every other week can have electronic line calling, but I wish Wimbledon kept it the same.
"It's been 148 years with human line calls. I think they could have got to 150 and done a big anniversary challenge.
"Personally, I think it would have been cool to have traditions of tennis never change at Wimbledon. But the tennis world's not going to listen to me."
Though the decision has achieved support from the likes of top contenders Alexander Zverev and Lorenzo Musetti, there are those sympathetic to Kyrgios' position. Barbora Krejcikova, who won Wimbledon in 2024, is not a fan of the move.
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"I mean, to be honest, I like the old traditional style, so I like it the old way. With the new system, yeah, it's just the way it is,' she said.
World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was also sad to lose some tradition. 'I feel like Wimbledon always been like with the line umpires and kind of like historically you see the referees there," she said. "So I don't know. Maybe I would prefer that."
It is perhaps a surprise to see Kyrgios emerge as the defender of Wimbledon's traditional values however. The Australian, who was unavailable to compete this year due to injury, was previously fined for wearing a red hat and shoes during a match in 2022.
"I wore a red Jordan hat and red Jordans (shoes) just walking out there," Kyrgios said. "Predominantly, you have to wear all white. I got fined about $16,000 for wearing a red hat and then my red Jordans."