Wimbledon technology change ‘has turned officials into glorified butlers'

Yahoo

09-07-2025

A former Wimbledon line judge said the tournament has 'de-skilled' her ex-colleagues and turned them into 'glorified butlers' by replacing their expertise with technology.
Pauline Eyre, 58, officiated at 16 Wimbledon tournaments between 1988 and 2003 including Centre Court finals and high-profile matches such as Serena Williams playing her sister, Venus.
Ms Eyre, who is from north London, said she felt 'some of the joy has been lost' from the tournament after it replaced line judges with an electronic line-calling system this year.
Some former line judges have returned to this year's tournament in the role of 'match assistants', who sit either side behind the chair umpire and assist with ball changes.
Discussing the new role, Ms Eyre told the PA news agency: 'Rather than being very skilled professionals who were wearing this fancy uniform, which was a nice bit of advertising for Ralph Lauren, you've now got a few of them just sitting and doing nothing.
'They look like glorified butlers. They're taking players to the toilet, they're standing and watching ball kids changing the balls.
'They've been completely de-skilled, which seems to be what happens when you get machines to do things – you just de-skill people who are perfectly capable of doing the job and you then don't give them roles that are as well-paid.'
Ms Eyre said spectators liked to see players 'not arguing against a machine, but dealing with adversity', adding: 'Those lovely moments are part of the joy of Wimbledon.'
Discussing the rise of AI and electronic systems in wider society, Ms Eyre said: 'It's just people losing their livelihoods.
'It's not that they are being replaced with another livelihood that's as good, you just need fewer people and more of the machines.'
Wimbledon's electronic line-call system faltered again in Taylor Fritz's semi-final on Tuesday.
Swedish umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell called 'stop' in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when 'fault' was incorrectly announced after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline.
Responding to the incident, Wimbledon organisers said: 'The player's service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognise the start of the point. As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed.'
Discussing the role of chair umpires, Ms Eyre said of the officials: 'If you just had a machine calling the score – there's nothing then for the players to rail against, there's nobody there to explain things to players.
'There's nobody there to show compassion to a player.'
Ms Eyre is taking a comedy show, called Anyone For Tennis, about her experiences of being a line judge for 20 years to the Edinburgh Fringe.
The former line judge, who officiated at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the US Open, added: 'I was a little girl who dreamed of playing at Wimbledon and I got to be part of it.
'I didn't have the talent to play at Wimbledon, but I did get a chance to be really key to its success.'
Wimbledon organisers said on Sunday they were confident of avoiding further issues with the technology after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw.
On that occasion, the new system failed to call 'out' when a shot by Kartal bounced well behind the baseline.
After an investigation, organisers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court.
Britain's leading duo Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have each complained about the accuracy of the system, which is widely used on the tour but has only just been introduced in SW19.