'I can't hear it' - Wimbledon's first day of electronic calling

BBC News

3 days ago

Some players have said the calls are too quiet. Others say they miss the tradition.The absence of line judges at Wimbledon on day one of the Grand Slam has certainly been noticeable. For the first time electronic line calling has been introduced at the All England Club with the well-dressed line judges replaced by AI.In the absence of the 300 line judges that have been used for the past 148 years, up to 18 cameras, developed by HawkEye, are situated around each court to track the progress of the ball and determine whether it is in or out.The technology is already in operation at the US and Australian Opens but its introduction at SW19 has been a topic of discussion.
Court 'looks cool' with line judges but calls are 'black or white'
The emptiness of the courts is noticeable on Centre Court and Court One, where the vast space behind the baseline is now occupied only by the ball kids.Britain's Cameron Norrie said it "looks cool" with the line umpires in place and contributes to the "tradition" of the tournament."Obviously there's a lot of jobs and people that love tennis, which will definitely be missed from them," he said.But while many players agree line judges are part of the spectacle, few can argue with the accuracy of the calls."As a player it's pretty black or white with the calls," added Norrie."In, out... there's no mistake, nothing happening. Definitely you've got to feel for those linesmen and those people. That's a bit tough for them, but it's pretty black or white with the calling."The theatre of players challenging the calls has also been a notable absence with fans unable to get involved with the drama of a close call being replayed on the big screen.American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe said he would have liked to see Wimbledon keep line judges."I actually like [it] with them [line judges] on the court, because I think for fanfare it's better," he said."If I were to hit a serve on a big point, you go up with the challenge, is it in, is it out? The crowd is, like, 'ohhh'. There's none of that."If I hit a good serve now and they call it out, you may still think it's in, but it doesn't matter. I think that kind of kills it."
'I just want to hear it clearly'
The voices broadcast by the technology at the All England Club are those of its behind-the-scenes staff and tour guides but they have at times seemed quiet.More lively atmospheres mean the crowd can sometimes drown out the call, leaving players confused and uncertain."The voice, I cannot really hear it, it is a bit too low," said China's Yuan Yue, who played her first-round match against Germany's Eva Lys on court eight, an outside court where the hustle and bustle of fans moving around the grounds is constant background noise."I asked the referee can you [turn] it up a little bit. He said he cannot. He said he will try to let us know [the call] because he has a machine that can look it up."I don't really mind, I just want to hear it clearly. [The umpire's] voice is a lot more loud than the automatic one so we can hear that clearly."Norrie also suggested the calls were a bit quiet at the beginning of his match on court 18 but that there were no "bad calls" and "you get on with it" when a call goes against you.There were also protests outside the grounds with some fans holding up signs to air their grievances that technology is taking jobs away from people.But, as tradition makes way for technology, cameras will now become as much of a fixture on the courts as the pinstriped shirts and smart trousers.