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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘It helped me be free': Madison Keys on therapy, America and her husband as coach
Before she won her first grand slam tournament at the Australian Open in January, Madison Keys had spent more than a year talking to a therapist about her life rather than just her tennis career. 'When I'd gone to see sports psychologists in the past it had been a little tunnel-focused on routines and big moments on the court,' she says on a sleepy Sunday afternoon in London. 'So being able to talk to someone about broader life philosophies helped me get to the root of why I was feeling that way instead of just being uber-focused on decisive moments in a match.' The 30-year-old American, who is ready for another tilt at Wimbledon, remembers some of the wayward suggestions that specialist sports psychiatrists would advise her to follow at crucial stages of a match. 'It would be, like: 'Make sure you look at your strings and do this specific thing and that'll just help the nerves go away.'' Keys pauses when I ask if it was hard to open up to a stranger about her deeper and usually more hidden emotions during a therapy session. 'I don't know if I would say that was hard,' she replies. 'It was more that I was actually trying to be honest with myself about what I felt. There were a lot of instances where I would say something and I was surprised that's actually how I felt. Those are the kind of things that live in the back of your head you don't ever really pay attention to.' She still talks to the same therapist and says: 'One of the biggest things I've learned about myself is that, because of our sport, and our constant striving to be better, there's always something else [to do]. Sometimes you don't really take a moment to acknowledge how you feel or think about what's going on inside. You just put your head down and keep going into the next thing. At some point that catches up with you and so it was really important for me to learn how to actually just sit and be introspective and figure out what I was feeling and why. And then just being OK with that and not immediately trying to fix it and make it go away.' The best tennis players are so consumed by their careers, and life on tour, that it often seems as if their true selves, as people, are forgotten. Did Keys become better at separating her personal identity from her tennis-playing persona? 'I was able to do it more, but there are times when it feels like you've figured it out and things are great only for you to find it's not so simple. 'The hardest part about focusing on your mental health is that you've never done it [completely]. It's never box-checked off, so it's something I'll have to continue to be conscious of, because it's easy to fall into bad habits.' Keys faced a difficult draw in Melbourne and had to win five three-set matches, beating four opponents in the top 10, including Iga Swiatek, world No 2 at the time, in an epic semi-final, and then the world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka. She survived a match point against Swiatek and was pushed to the brink by Sabalenka before winning 7-5 in the third set. 'I was most proud of how I took every round just as that round,' Keys says. 'I was so focused and never got ahead of myself. Playing all these hard matches against top players really allowed me to focus and keep persevering. The fact that I played so many three-setters and was able to hold the trophy at the end of the two weeks was amazing.' Eight years had passed since her only previous slam final when, at the 2017 US Open, she was crushed 6-3, 6-0 by her friend Sloane Stephens. The pressure of the occasion had been too much against Stephens and, in Melbourne, Keys said: 'I've obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years.' So, did her recent therapy help in those clutch moments of her first slam victory? 'It helped me be a lot more free and have a clear mind in the moment,' Keys confirms. 'I was able to force myself to be a little braver in those moments instead of being careful and tentative, and just go for it. It got to the point where a lot of the time you'd rather be brave. Maybe things don't go exactly how you want but you did them on your terms and you feel you have no regrets, versus if you're a little tentative or trying to be careful and it doesn't work out. That's when you really have regret.' That regret had also been felt acutely in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open. Keys led Sabalenka 6-0, 5-3 but, rather than maintaining her positivity, she became passive and hesitant and lost the match on successive tie-breaks. 'I don't know if that was the exact moment, but obviously it was a tough loss,' Keys says of what prompted her to seek therapy. 'Being in that position and not to be able to cross a line was definitely a kind of final reminder that: 'Oh yes, maybe there's something that we can work on.'' Keys also switched from using a Wilson racket to the larger Yonex and she tweaked her serve, but she admits that, apart from working on her mind, the most positive change in the past two years has been the appointment of her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, as her coach. 'I was struggling when I asked him to help me out,' Keys recalls of the June 2023 move. 'At the time it was supposed to be short term but then we immediately had success. I think the biggest hurdle for him was being comfortable in telling me what to do. That took time to get used to but, now, we're finding our stride.' Fratangelo was a player who briefly cracked the world top 100 in 2016, but what are his best attributes as a coach? 'He's really great at analysing what's going on [in a match] and he does it so quickly. Coupled with the fact that we obviously know each other very well and know how to communicate, he's able to see some things that I'm not seeing on the court. He then communicates in a way that I can actually do it.' Keys says that as a couple, away from the court, 'we do a pretty good job of balancing things. When we're home, we're very much home and tennis is off. Home is home and work is work. Sometimes it's harder to do than say but, for the most part, we've done a good job.' In the French Open this month Keys looked on course for the semi-finals when she won the first set against Coco Gauff. But she crumbled in the third set of an error-strewn match and her fellow American went on to beat Sabalenka in another dramatic final in Paris. 'I was able to watch the last set,' Keys says, 'and it's so amazing for Coco. I thought I could have won our match but nearly beating someone doesn't actually count.' Keys laughs and then says of Gauff: 'She's playing some great tennis and her clay season was phenomenal. It's obviously disappointing to be so close and then lose to the eventual champion. But at the same time it gives you a lot of confidence.' Wimbledon is next and it is a tournament where she has reached two quarter-finals. In 2015 she beat Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams before losing to Serena Williams while, eight years later, she lost to Sabalenka in the quarters. Last year was even more painful when, in the fourth round, she was 5-2 up in the third set and two points from victory against Jasmine Paolini. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'I then tore my hamstring,' Keys says with a grimace. She retired at 5-5 and Paolini went on to make the final. 'Hopefully this is the year I make it past the quarters because Wimbledon has always been something that I dreamed of. It has this aura which means that, I think, for all tennis players it's the tournament.' It's hard to believe that Keys, a teenage prodigy, has been playing professionally since she was 14. 'I feel every one of those past 16 years,' she says with a groaning kind of laugh. Staying in Chelsea for a change, Keys reveals: 'I wish I could say I'll be doing some sightseeing but I'd be lying if I feel like that actually might happen. But it's been nice to see a different part of London. I'm notorious for being stuck at Wimbledon all the years I've been here, so it's fun just to be in another part of the city.' What would she most like to do in London? 'When I'm in a big city I've always really loved doing that touristy bus thing where you can kind of see everything in one trip. If I have an afternoon off that would be the one thing I'd love to do – just hop on a bus and see all of the sights at least once.' Kindness Wins is the non-profit foundation she set up in 2020 and its very name offers insight into her character and philosophy of life. 'It means a lot to me,' she says, 'because tennis has brought so much into my life and it's opened so many doors for me. I felt it was important to also give kids that opportunity because tennis teaches so many important life lessons. It helps kids learn those in a way where they can be competitive but also a good sport. 'So I wanted to make sure that I did whatever I could to make tennis more accessible for as many people that wanted to play it. Tennis also gives so many opportunities to go to college and meet new people – but it's a really expensive sport. So we try to help.' The world seems short of kindness right now so how does she feel as an American living under Donald Trump? 'It's definitely a tough time and it's hard to balance where you want to be informed and know what's going on but, at the same time, it's crazy. 'Sometimes it's hard to shut it off enough that you don't pull your hair out but also not being oblivious to what's going on and the realities of everything. It's definitely difficult at the moment.' Keys smiles ruefully when I say that there are just three and a half more years of Trump's presidency to survive. 'I know. After a few months I was like: 'Oh, it's only been a few weeks!'' At least the first month of Trump's return to the Oval Office also marked her victory at the Australian Open. Keys grins more broadly when I ask if the reality of winning her first grand slam lived up to the dream she had pursued for so long. 'It was great,' she says with another pealing laugh. 'Being able to do it with that group of people around me was really special. So, yes, it was just pretty great.'
The Guardian
a day ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘It helped me be free': Madison Keys on therapy, Donald Trump and her husband as coach
Before she won her first grand slam tournament at the Australian Open in January, Madison Keys had spent more than a year talking to a therapist about her life rather than just her tennis career. 'When I'd gone to see sports psychologists in the past it had been a little tunnel-focused on routines and big moments on the court,' she says on a sleepy Sunday afternoon in London. 'So being able to talk to someone about broader life philosophies helped me get to the root of why I was feeling that way instead of just being uber-focused on decisive moments in a match.' The 30-year-old American, who is ready for another tilt at Wimbledon, remembers some of the wayward suggestions that specialist sports psychiatrists would advise her to follow at crucial stages of a match. 'It would be, like: 'Make sure you look at your strings and do this specific thing and that'll just help the nerves go away.'' Keys pauses when I ask if it was hard to open up to a stranger about her deeper and usually more hidden emotions during a therapy session. 'I don't know if I would say that was hard,' she replies. 'It was more that I was actually trying to be honest with myself about what I felt. There were a lot of instances where I would say something and I was surprised that's actually how I felt. Those are the kind of things that live in the back of your head you don't ever really pay attention to.' She still talks to the same therapist and says: 'One of the biggest things I've learned about myself is that, because of our sport, and our constant striving to be better, there's always something else [to do]. Sometimes you don't really take a moment to acknowledge how you feel or think about what's going on inside. You just put your head down and keep going into the next thing. At some point that catches up with you and so it was really important for me to learn how to actually just sit and be introspective and figure out what I was feeling and why. And then just being OK with that and not immediately trying to fix it and make it go away.' The best tennis players are so consumed by their careers, and life on tour, that it often seems as if their true selves, as people, are forgotten. Did Keys become better at separating her personal identity from her tennis-playing persona? 'I was able to do it more but there are times when it feels like you've figured it out and things are great only for you to find it's not so simple. The hardest part about focusing on your mental health is that you've never done it [completely]. It's never box-checked off so it's something I'll have to continue to be conscious of, because it's easy to fall into bad habits.' Keys faced a difficult draw in Melbourne and had to win five three-set matches, beating four opponents in the top 10, including the world No 2, Iga Swiatek, in an epic semi-final and the world No 1, Aryna Sabalenka, in the final. She survived a match point against Swiatek and was pushed to the brink by Sabalenka before winning 7-5 in the third set. 'I was most proud of how I took every round just as that round,' Keys says. 'I was so focused and never got ahead of myself. Playing all these hard matches against top players really allowed me to focus and keep persevering. The fact that I played so many three-setters and was able to hold the trophy at the end of the two weeks was amazing.' Eight years had passed since her only previous grand slam final when, at the 2017 US Open, she was crushed 6-3, 6-0 by her friend Sloane Stephens. The pressure of the occasion had been too much against Stephens and, in Melbourne, Keys said: 'I've obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years.' So did her recent therapy sessions help in those clutch moments of her first grand slam victory? 'It helped me be a lot more free and have a clear mind in the moment,' Keys confirms. 'I was able to force myself to be a little braver in those moments instead of being careful and tentative, and just go for it. It got to the point where a lot of the time you'd rather be brave. Maybe things don't go exactly how you want but you did them on your terms and you feel you have no regrets, versus if you're a little tentative or trying to be careful and it doesn't work out. That's when you really have regret.' That regret had also been felt acutely in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open. Keys led Sabalenka 6-0, 5-3 but, rather than maintaining her positivity, she became passive and hesitant and lost the match on successive tie-breaks. 'I don't know if that was the exact moment, but obviously it was a tough loss,' Keys says of what prompted her to seek therapy. 'Being in that position and not to be able to cross a line was definitely a kind of final reminder that: 'Oh yes, maybe there's something that we can work on.'' Keys also switched from using a Wilson racket to the larger Yonex and she tweaked her serve, but she admits that, apart from working on her mind, the most positive change in the last two years has been the appointment of her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, as her coach. 'I was struggling when I asked him to help me out,' Keys recalls of the June 2023 move. 'At the time it was supposed to be short-term but then we immediately had success. I think the biggest hurdle for him was being comfortable in telling me what to do. That took time to get used to but, now, we're finding our stride.' Fratangelo was a former player who briefly cracked the world top 100 in 2016, but what are his best attributes as a coach? 'He's really great at analysing what's going on [in a match] and he does it so quickly. Coupled with the fact that we obviously know each other very well and know how to communicate, he's able to see some things that I'm not seeing on the court. He then communicates in a way that I can actually do it.' Keys says that as a couple, away from the court, 'we do a pretty good job of balancing things. When we're home, we're very much home and tennis is off. Home is home and work is work. Sometimes it's harder to do than say but, for the most part, we've done a good job.' In the French Open this month Keys looked on course for the semi-finals when she won the first set against Coco Gauff. But she crumbled in the third set of an error-strewn match and her fellow American went on to beat Sabalenka in another dramatic final in Paris. 'I was able to watch the last set,' Keys says, 'and it's so amazing for Coco. I thought I could have won our match but nearly beating someone doesn't actually count.' Keys laughs and then says of Gauff: 'She's playing some great tennis and her clay season was phenomenal. It's obviously disappointing to be so close and then lose to the eventual champion. But at the same time it gives you a lot of confidence.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Wimbledon is next and it is a tournament where she has reached two quarter-finals. In 2015 she beat Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams before losing to Serena Williams while, eight years later, she lost to Sabalenka in the quarters. Last year was even more painful when, in the fourth round, she was 5-2 up in the third set and two points from victory against Jasmine Paolini. 'I then tore my hamstring,' Keys says with a grimace. She retired at 5-5 and Paolini went on to make the final. 'Hopefully this is the year I make it past the quarters because Wimbledon has always been something that I dreamed of. It has this aura which means that, I think, for all tennis players it's the tournament.' It's hard to believe that Keys, a teenage prodigy, has been playing professionally since she was 14. 'I feel every one of those past 16 years,' she says with a groaning kind of laugh. Staying in Chelsea for a change, Keys reveals: 'I wish I could say I'll be doing some sightseeing but I'd be lying if I feel like that actually might happen. But it's been nice to see a different part of London. I'm notorious for being stuck at Wimbledon all the years I've been here, so it's fun just to be in another part of the city.' What would she most like to do in London? 'When I'm in a big city I've always really loved doing that touristy bus thing where you can kind of see everything in one trip. If I have an afternoon off that would be the one thing I'd love to do – just hop on a bus and see all of the sights at least once.' Kindness Wins is the non-profit foundation Keys set up in 2020 and its very name offers insight into her character and philosophy of life. 'It means a lot to me,' she says, 'because tennis has brought so much into my life and it's opened so many doors for me. I felt it was important to also give kids that opportunity because tennis teaches so many important life lessons. It helps kids learn those in a way where they can be competitive but also a good sport. 'So I wanted to make sure that I did whatever I could to make tennis more accessible for as many people that wanted to play it. Tennis also gives so many opportunities to go to college and meet new people – but it's obviously a really expensive sport. So we try to help.' The world seems short of kindness right now so how does she feel as an American living under Donald Trump? 'It's definitely a tough time and it's hard to balance where you want to be informed and know what's going on but, at the same time, it's crazy. Sometimes it's hard to shut it off enough that you don't pull your hair out but also not being oblivious to what's going on and the realities of everything. It's definitely difficult at the moment.' Keys smiles ruefully when I say that there are just three and a half more years of Trump's presidency to survive. 'I know. After a few months I was like: 'Oh it's only been a few weeks!'' At least the first month of Trump's return to the Oval Office also marked her victory at the Australian Open. Keys grins more broadly when I ask if the reality of winning her first grand slam lived up to the dream she had pursued for so long. 'It was great,' she says with another pealing laugh. 'Being able to do it with that group of people around me was really special. So, yes, it was just pretty great.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why these underdogs can stun Wimbledon's biggest stars once again
Tatjana Maria's run to the Queen's title two weeks ago was not just a fairytale. It was also a reminder of the unpredictability of women's tennis, most of all on grass. On a surface that rewards huge serves and power-hitters, Maria's win was a reminder that slice, craft and guile have their place too. Is Wimbledon really that much of an outlier among the majors? One fact frequently trotted out is that the last eight Wimbledons have gone the way of eight different players. But that says more about the era of women's tennis that we are in than anything specific to SW19. Advertisement For context, of the last eight times the other three slams have been contested, there have been six Australian Open, five French Open, and eight US Open champions. You'd have to go back 11 years to find a repeat winner in New York: Serena Williams, on a run of three titles. Perhaps it's more that, as Maria showed, a variety of gamestyles can thrive on the turf. There's an element of the sudden turnaround from clay, too, as the blink-and-you-miss-it three-week buildup to Wimbledon throws some off-kilter. Whatever the reason, there's always an element of magic in the Wimbledon women's draw. It could be anyone's year. How to narrow the contenders down? Grass suits the ferocity and pace of Madison Keys' groundstrokes. 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini has not reached the same heights as last season, but has consolidated her place in the world's top four and reached a doubles final on the grass in Berlin. Elina Svitolina is a consistent force at all majors; Amanda Anisimova has shown repeated flashes of her brilliance this year, including a run to the Queen's final. The last three champions – Barbora Krejcikova, Marketa Vondrousova, and Elena Rybakina – have all endured difficult spells since lifting the trophy, dogged by injuries and poor form. A new thigh issue for Krejcikova, which cropped up in Eastbourne, may be fatal for her chances. But Vondrousova's immaculate grass-court game was apparent as she sealed the Berlin title last week. Rybakina has had an indifferent couple of years, but her clean, destructive groundstrokes are hard to top on grass. Coco Gauff burst onto the scene as a teenager at Wimbledon (Getty Images) Coco Gauff is the form pick, reaching three straight finals across the clay-court swing and winning a maiden Roland-Garros title earlier this month. Wimbledon was her breakout tournament, when she reached the fourth round as a fresh-faced 15-year-old all the way back in 2019. She has since gone further at every other major, but grass remains a surface she thrives on. A first-round exit in her first grass-court tournament is likely to be no more than a blip; not everyone can be Carlos Alcaraz. Advertisement She has proven herself against all her likely opponents, her relentless defence fracturing Aryna Sabalenka's peerless offence in Paris. What feels more significant is her own, renewed faith in her ability. Who knows – she may have manifested a Wimbledon title too. 2022 champion Rybakina is a force to be reckoned with on grass (Getty Images) Sabalenka herself is, as ever, a serious contender. The Belarusian has reached the final in six of the last nine majors she has contested, and her huge game is well-suited to grass. But cracks have crept into her game, and her mind, in the last few months. She was open about how crushing her Australian Open final defeat was; Roland-Garros seemed to only magnify that, as she ranted and railed at her box, and as she hit harder and harder, trying to punch through Gauff, her game completely unravelled. The 27-year-old has been vocal about the work she has done to iron out her serving yips and self-doubt. Over the last half-season, those issues have reared their heads again. She has now lost three slam finals in a row, and lead by a set in two. Sometimes it seems that she is her own worst enemy on court. Advertisement And what of Iga Swiatek? The Pole dropped out of the world's top two this May for the first time since 2022, and has now slid further down to world No 8. She has not won a title since the 2024 French Open; she has not even reached a final. Defeat in the last four at Roland Garros this year – including a 6-0 collapse in the final set, when her self-belief seemed to melt away entirely – was a real nadir. Sabalenka's best result at Wimbledon has been reaching the semi-finals twice (Getty Images) But that means that things can't, really, get any worse for the 24-year-old. She has had a positive start to her grass-court season, reaching the quarter-finals at the Bad Homburg Open. It is not a surface that has historically agreed with her, but she was Wimbledon girls' champion in 2018, so a run of form on the turf is not out of the question. She heads to SW19 in the rare position of being an underdog. Perhaps the comparative lack of pressure on her shoulders will now allow her to swing freely. Recent history suggests that is the way to win. It has frequently been an outsider who lifts the Venus Rosewater Dish, but not a totally unheralded name – Vondrousova was just the first unseeded player to win the title. So three years on from her run to the semi-finals, could it be Tatjana Maria's time?
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wimbledon women's singles: Three talking points
Coco Gauff (left) and Madison Keys are among the leading contenders to win Wimbledon (Dimitar DILKOFF) The battle to be crowned Wimbledon women's champion is wide open, with the possibility of an eighth successive first-time winner at the All England Club. Since Serena Williams lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish for a seventh time in 2016, the tournament has been in search of a new dominant female star and her fellow American Coco Gauff could be poised to seize the mantle. Advertisement Reigning champion Barbora Krejcikova is hampered by a thigh injury, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka is aiming to break her recent habit of losing Grand Slam finals. AFP Sport looks at three talking points ahead of the tournament, which starts on Monday: Gauff eyes more Wimbledon history Six years after she became the youngest player in the Open era to qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff could be poised to win the tournament for the first time. Gauff was just 15 when she captured the hearts of fans in London, combining school tests in the evening with a stunning run to the last 16 that included a victory over one of her idols, Venus Williams. Advertisement Now ranked second in the world, the American has matured into a significant force and she arrives at Wimbledon on a high after winning the French Open. Gauff has appeared in three Grand Slam finals, winning the 2023 US Open and triumphing on the Roland Garros clay earlier this month. Wimbledon, where she has never been past the fourth round, has been Gauff's least successful major, while no American has won there since Serena Williams nine years ago. But the 21-year-old has the game for grass, according to nine-time champion Martina Navratilova. "The great athletes always shine on grass. She's the best athlete in the women's game. That should pay off for her, and she's flying high after winning the French Open," Navratilova said. Advertisement "She's found the happy medium, the equilibrium between being focused and fired up." Sabalenka looks to bounce back Aryna Sabalenka has her sights set on a fourth Grand Slam title as she looks to erase the painful memories of her final flops in 2025. The 27-year-old Belarusian was beaten by Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January before narrowly losing another three-setter against Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros showpiece. Sabalenka also lost the Stuttgart final to Jelena Ostapenko in April and the Indian Wells title match against Mirra Andreeva the previous month. She did take the Miami and Madrid titles but Sabalenka's habit of stumbling with the silverware up for grabs might play on her mind at Wimbledon. Advertisement Navratilova, though, is confident Sabalenka, who won both the Australian Open and the US Open last year, can cope with the pressure at a tournament where she has twice lost in the semi-finals. "Looking at her record, it's hard to think she's not the favourite this year. I'm wondering if losing the French Open final will actually help motivate her," she said. Krejcikova in fitness scare Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova is entering Wimbledon under an injury cloud after pulling out of the Eastbourne Open with a thigh problem. The Czech world number 17 is sweating on the outcome of a scan before deciding if she will be fit for the All England Club. Advertisement Even if she features, there is no guarantee Krejcikova will make it to the latter stages. She has endured a difficult time since defeating Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the final last year. Krejcikova, who has played just six matches in 2025, was out of action until May after suffering a back injury and lost in the second round of the recent French Open. Among a host of players hoping to replace her as champion is world number six Madison Keys, who won her maiden Grand Slam title in Australia this year. Poland's Iga Swiatek, ranked eighth, has five Grand Slams to her credit but has never won Wimbledon, while American world number three Jessica Pegula and Chinese world number five Zheng Qinwen are looking to win a first major title. smg/jw/iwd
Straits Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Wimbledon's human touch yields to electronic eyes but officials embrace new role
FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 4, 2024 Line judge is pictured during the second round match between Madison Keys of the U.S. and China's Wang Yafan REUTERS/Matthew Childs/File Photo BENGALURU - The All England Club's decision to jettison line judges in favour of technology carries an air of inevitability as the world embraces AI but the human arbiters of the boundaries of the tennis court are hoping to continue playing a key role. Convention has almost been a religion during Wimbledon's 148-year history but advancements in technology have been impossible to resist with live Electronic Line Calling (ELC) set to take over from impeccably-attired line judges when action begins at the grasscourt major on Monday. The tournament's once-robust pool of around 300 line judges has been cut to 80 and they will serve as "match assistants", who support chair umpires and step in should the ELC - powered by more than 450 cameras - fail in any of the 18 courts in use. The Association of British Tennis Officials (ABTO) said the new position, which will be adopted at events that use live ELC, provided a fresh avenue for its officials with strong interest expressed in the role. "Whilst this evolution has resulted in a reduction in the overall officiating days for line umpires, the impact has been partially offset by the creation of the match assistant position," the ABTO told Reuters via email. The body noted that although line judges will no longer be used at Wimbledon or ATP tournaments, there were still opportunities for them at other levels including at many WTA events and ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments. Interest in the traditional role is likely to be sustained with the pathway to becoming a match assistant on the grandest stage involving training as line umpires. First deployed as an experiment at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan in 2017, the ELC system was adopted more widely during the COVID-19 pandemic before eventually being used across all ATP Tour events from this year. The Australian Open and U.S. Open have also replaced line judges with ELC, but the French Open has not favoured the switch despite the availability of technology specific to claycourts as traces left by the ball help umpires with their decision-making. LARGELY POPULAR The ELC system is largely popular among the players even if some, including world number one Aryna Sabalenka and three-times Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev, expressed their disbelief at decisions during the recent claycourt season. Tournaments relying on the human eye are not entirely immune to controversial calls, however, and the All England Club's move that comes after extensive testing last year is likely to only ruffle the feathers of the most staunch traditionalists. Britain's Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) said it understood the decision amid changes to officiating globally and expressed its commitment to continue developing officials in the country going forward. "We are working with the ABTO to develop a joint strategy that will ensure officials can be retained within the sport, new officials can be recruited and the officiating community will be supported through the changes," the LTA said. Line judges often bring their own theatrical element to the sport with their distinctive voices, postures, and interactions with players but All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said many of them understood that change would come. "The time is right for us to move on," said Bolton. "We absolutely value the commitment that those line umpires have provided to the Championships over many years. "We do have a significant number of them coming back in a new role ... so we're really pleased to have many of them still involved with delivering the Championships." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
