Wimbledon electronic line calling failure: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova loses game after non-call

New York Times

06-07-2025

The simmering tensions around Wimbledon's use of electronic line calling (ELC) instead of line judges boiled over Sunday, when the technology malfunctioned at a crucial point on Centre Court.
Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was serving at 4-4, Ad-40 in the first set of her fourth-round match against Britain's Sonay Kartal, when Kartal hit a backhand that clearly bounced out. There was no call from the ELC, which replaced line judges for the first time in Wimbledon's 148-year history. Pavlyuchenkova was waiting for the call, and umpire Nico Helwerth stopped the point before an automated sound saying 'stop, stop' could be heard.
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After a lengthy break while he spoke to tournament officials, Helwerth explained to the players and the Centre Court crowd that the technology had not been working during the point, which meant it would be replayed. This was despite television footage confirming that Kartal's shot had been well long, and that the point and the game should have been Pavlyuchenkova's.
A spokesperson for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said in an email sent to The Athletic that: 'Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question. The chair umpire followed the established process.'
There is no mention of ELC in the 2025 Grand Slam rulebook. The ATP handbook says:
'If the live ELC system fails to make a call, the call shall be made by the chair umpire. If the chair umpire is unable to determine if the ball was in or out, then the point shall be replayed. This protocol applies only to point-ending shots or in the case when a player stops play.'
After the interruption, Kartal won the replayed point and the game to take a 5-4 lead. A furious Pavlyuchenkova told the umpire at the change of ends, 'Because she's local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.'
Even before the tournament started, there had been plenty of resistance from Wimbledon traditionalists at the decision to dispense with line judges. All ATP Tour-level events use ELC, as do the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, leaving Roland Garros — where clay helps with the identification of marks — as the only Grand Slam now to rely on the human eye. Ahead of the tournament, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said that replacing line judges with ELC was 'inevitable'.
Players are generally in favor of the technology, believing it to be more reliable and removing any need on their part to self-officiate. But there have been complaints in the first week of Wimbledon from some high-profile players — including both British No.1s. First Jack Draper said Thursday: 'I don't think it's 100 percent accurate, in all honesty,' as he reflected on a wide serve from his opponent that he was sure was out. 'A couple of the ones today, it showed a mark on the court. There's no way the chalk would have showed.' Draper did acknowledge that he may well have been wrong.
A day later, Raducanu questioned a call during her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka. Afterwards she said that the call in question was 'for sure out.'
'It's kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they've been okay. It's just, like, I've had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong.'
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Replays of the call, a Sabalenka serve, were inconclusive.
Other players have complained about not being able to hear the out calls in amongst the crowd noise, and during the clay swing, players complained about ELC calls not matching up with what the marks on the court were saying. Players have been educated about marks sometimes being deceptive, but Alexander Zverev and others took photos of the clay after what they believed were inaccurate calls. Whether or not they had the correct marks is unknown.
On Saturday, All England Club chair Debbie Jevans hit back at the player criticism, telling the BBC that: 'It's funny, because when we did have linesmen, we were constantly asked why we didn't have electronic line calling because it's more accurate than the rest of the tour.'
There have been other high-profile malfunctions. In a very similar incident to Sunday's, Taylor Fritz was on the wrong end against Brandon Nakashima in a match at the Cincinnati Open, a Masters 1,000 event. On that occasion, Nakashima hit a shot that was clearly out and would have seen Fritz up break point. No call was forthcoming however and like on Centre Court the automated 'stop, stop' call was heard. Fritz thought the point should have been his once the ball was confirmed as being out, but per the rules it had to be replayed because Fritz had not stopped play.
On this occasion, Pavlyuchenkova responded extremely well to break Kartal straight back and win the set on a tiebreak. 'It feels like justice,' said British coach and former player Anne Keothavong in commentary for the BBC.
Pavlyuchenkova kept her focus to end up winning the match 7-6(3), 6-4. She'll play Linda Nosková or Amanda Anisimova next.