Fresh Wimbledon line-call farce as wheelchair players hit with foot faults
In a BBC clip taken from the match on Court No 2, Spanish opponent Daniel Caverzaschi can be heard saying 'It's seriously impossible'. Meanwhile, the chair umpire explains to Reid that 'The technology is off the court' – presumably meaning that the issue was out of his hands.
"Do they understand the rule?"
A confusing call caused some controversy during Gordon Reid & Alfie Hewett's game at #Wimbledon... pic.twitter.com/sWFsWE2cOO
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 10, 2025
The two British players, the defending Wimbledon champions, continued to object. While Hewett pointed out that 'It's happened three times', Reid asked 'Can you double-check that they understand the rule with wheelchairs, because it's unusual it's happened twice to me and once to him.'
In wheelchair tennis, foot faults are usually triggered by a wheel crossing into the court as the server hits the ball. As Reid suggested, it would be highly unusual for there to be three genuine foot faults committed in such close succession.
The advent of electronic line-calling [ELC] has not run smoothly at Wimbledon this year. The two British No 1s – Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper – both complained that they had been the victim of incorrect calls, while Sonay Kartal's match on Sunday was disrupted by a clear error after an operator unintentionally switched the Hawk-Eye system off.
In a podcast interview, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has queried whether the All England Club should revert to its old system of uniformed line officials backed up by Hawk-Eye challenges.
Speaking to the Whistleblowers podcast, Kyrgios said that the introduction of ELC had been 'an absolute s--- show', adding that 'I feel like Wimbledon just dropped it in and it's been a disaster … Maybe Wimbledon should just be one of the tournaments where its traditions never change. You have line umpires, and you have challenges.'
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