‘Stole the game': Wimbledon storm erupts as match marred by controversy

News.com.au

12 hours ago

Wimbledon's much-maligned automatic line-calling system has come under fire after it malfunctioned at a pivotal point, resulting in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova being robbed of a crucial point on Sunday night (AEDT).
For the first time ever, the All England Club does not have linesmen or women in 2025, with calls instead made by an automated line-calling system.
The move has been heavily criticised and its introduction has now caused major controversy after Pavlyuchenkova had a point taken off her due to the ball not being properly tracked.
Serving for the game at 4-4 in the opening set of her round of 16 match against Sonay Kartal, the 34-year-old stopped after Kartal hit a ball clearly long.
However, the ball wasn't called out. After several seconds, an automated voice was heard saying 'stop, stop'.
Chair umpire Nico Helwerth quickly called for help from tournament organisers and eventually ruled that due to Hawk-Eye technology not correctly tracking the ball, the point had to be replayed, despite replays showing it was several centimetres out.
You can watch the controversial moment in the player at the top of the page.
It proved a game-changing ruling with Pavlyuchenkova then going on to have her serve broken.
The Russian was understandably irate at the changeover and accused organisers of favouring her British opponent.
'Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me,' she told the chair umpire.
'They stole the game from me. You stole the game from me'.
In the end, Pavlyuchenkova regrouped to win the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, booking a place in the quarter-final.
However, the disgruntled tennis star didn't let it go post-match teeing off on tournament officials.
'I just thought the chair umpire could take the initiative. That's why he's there sitting on the chair. He also saw it out, he told me after the match. I thought he would do that, but he didn't,' Pavlyuchenkova said.
'I think it's also difficult for him. He probably was scared to make such a big decision. But I think they should. That's what they're there for, sitting on the chair.
'Otherwise, I think, soon, let's just play without them. Right? Then we're gonna have everything automatic.
'I think we're losing a little bit of this charm of actually having human being ball boys. Like, during Covid, we didn't have ball boys. It becomes a bit weird and robot sort of oriented.
'They're very good at giving fines though and code violations. This, they don't miss. Every time, any little thing, they're just right there on it. I'd prefer they looked at the lines and called the errors, mistakes better.'
Asked what she would have said if the point had ultimately cost her the match, the Russian quipped: 'I would just say that I hate Wimbledon and never come back here!'
Tournament officials were quick to apologise after the match.
'We have apologised to the players involved,' a statement from the All England club read.
'We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology.
'In this instance, there was a human error and as a consequence, we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes.'
However, it is far from the only incident at Wimbledon and fans have called for change.
'The new line call tech at Wimbledon was always likely to raise some eyebrows, but having Pavlyuchenkova replay that game-winning point against Kartal is disgraceful,' one aggrieved fan wrote on X.
'Umpire not allowed to make a call when the tech has very clearly failed?! Pavlyuchenkova's game stolen.'
'Anastasia Pavyluchenkova is absolutely right in telling the chair umpire that. That is embarrassing for tennis. It's embarrassing for Wimbledon, the ball was clearly out and the tech failed,' another wrote.
While a third added: 'Absolute shambles with the technology. That was miles out'
Several players have also voiced that they feel they have also been wronged by the new line-technology.
British star Emma Raducanu said she didn't trust it, while Jack Draper said he felt it wasn't 100 per cent accurate.