Wimbledon organisers apologise after line-calling system turned off in error

The Guardian

a day ago

Wimbledon organisers have apologised after the electronic line-calling system was turned off in error at a crucial moment in Sonay Kartal's match on Centre Court.
The British No 3's opponent, the 34-year-old Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, accused the All England Club of home bias and said a game had been stolen from her when the AI-enhanced technology missed a call.
Pavlyuchenkova, on game point, became convinced that a Kartal shot had landed long but there was no 'out' call by the system which controversially replaced line judges this year.
The umpire, Nico Helwerth, who did not know the system had been turned off, said the technology was 'unable to track the last point', which had to be replayed.
'I don't know if it's in or it's out. How do I know? You cannot prove it, because she's local they can say whatever. You took the game away from me,' Pavlyuchenkova said after Kartal won the point and went on to break for a 5-4 lead. 'They have stolen the game from me, they stole it.'
A Wimbledon spokesperson said the club had apologised to the players after finding that the technology was 'deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court for one game'.
Pavlyuchenkova went on to overpower Kartal, who later said she was 'devastated' that her fairytale run had ended with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat on her Centre Court debut.
Cameron Norrie became the last Briton standing after battling through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals in a five-set epic which also was not short of drama.
The 29-year-old defeated his Chilean opponent Nicolás Jarry in four and a half hours and became the only British player to reach the second week of the tournament despite a promising start from several hopefuls.
Norrie, the British No 3, fell to the floor after his 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-3 win in front of a roaring No 1 Court crowd. Spectators appeared to boo Jarry when the South American confronted Norrie as the pair were shaking hands at the net.
Jarry, the 29-year-old world No 143, had earlier complained to the umpire after appearing frustrated with how long Norrie was taking to serve.
'It is not a nervous tic, it is something he can control,' Jarry said. He later denied there had been a spat, saying all he had told Norrie at the net was the Briton had deserved to win.
In an on-court interview after the match, Norrie said of the five-set epic: 'I just had to keep fighting.'
The former top 10 player, who was knocked out of the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2022 by Novak Djokovic, went on: 'I think at the beginning of this year I was struggling a little bit with confidence and had some doubts – and just wanted to enjoy my tennis a little bit more.
'I'm doing that and I enjoyed it today, so it was a bonus today, but I was more happy I was enjoying it and I was playing point for point, that's what mattered.'
When asked about the courtside drama, he added that Jarry had told him he was 'a little bit vocal'.
Kartal, ranked 298 in the world this time last year and 51 now, earlier said she was proud of her performance this week.
'Probably for the rest of the day I'll be a bit sad,' the 5ft 4in Brighton native told reporters.
'But I think tomorrow I'll probably wake up, and I can look back on this week and be super proud of it and step back and think, you know, fourth round of a slam, it's the first experience, and for it being here, having beaten the players that I did to do that.'
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She said she had 'goosebumps' entering and exiting Centre Court to thunder and lightning. Her match was as dramatic as the weather after the embarrassing malfunction with the AI-enhanced Hawk-Eye technology.
After an investigation which included speaking to the players, Helwerth, Hawk-Eye operators and a review official, a spokesperson for the All England Club said: 'It is now clear that the live electronic line calling (ELC) system, which was working optimally, was deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court for one game by those operating the system.
'In that time there were three calls not picked up by live ELC on the affected part of the court. Two of these were called by the chair umpire, who was not made aware that the system had been deactivated.
'Following the third, the chair umpire stopped the match and consulted with the review official. It was determined that the point should be replayed.
'We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology. The live ELC system relies on the Hawk-Eye operators, the review official and the technology to work in harmony. This did not happen.
'In this instance there was a human error and as a consequence we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes.'
Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper, the British No 1s, have both complained about the new technology and questioned some of its calls.
Speaking after her win, Pavlyuchenkova said she believed the umpire should have called the ball out rather than making them replay the point.
'He was probably scared to take such a big decision. I think they should … that's why we have a chair umpire,' she told reporters.
'Otherwise, I think soon let's just play without them, right, and then we're going to have everything automatic. I think we losing a little bit of the charm of actually having human beings … it just becomes a little bit weird and, like, robot sort of orientated.'