06-07-2025
Pavlyuchenkova fumes after Wimbledon's 'deactivated' electronic line system misses call
Wimbledon's move to electronic line calls has raised the ire of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after the Russian lost a key point because the system was "deactivated".
A ball that clearly landed long in her Centre Court match against Sonay Kartal was not called out on Sunday because the electronic system that replaced line judges this year was shut off.
And, because the replay review procedure that used to be in place also has been scrapped, the chair umpire called for a replay of the point at 4-all in the first set — much to the dismay of Pavlyuchenkova, the player who would have won the game if the proper call had been made originally.
Pavlyuchenkova wound up getting broken there to trail Britain's Kartal, but she eventually did manage to come back to win the match 7-6 (3), 6-4 and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since organisers have apologised after the electronic line-calling system on centre court was turned off in error and missed three calls in a single game.
Organisers have apologised to the players involved and say they continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the technology. But on court, after the incident, Pavlyuchenkova was not happy.
"You took the game away from me," 2021 French Open runner-up Pavlyuchenkova told chair umpire Nico Helwerth at the changeover after the game ended.
Pavlyuchenkova, who is Russian, also said in the moment that the decision-making there went in Kartal's favour because she is a local player.
At her news conference, Pavlyuchenkova said Helwerth told her following the match that he did think Kartal's shot landed out.
"I think he felt bad, a little bit," Pavlyuchenkova said.
"He probably felt like he should have taken the initiative and called it out."
She also said Helwerth "probably was scared to take such a big decision".
Pavlyuchenkova was serving and had a game point when Kartal hit a backhand that landed beyond the opposite baseline, TV replays showed.
But there was no sound of one of the recorded voices being used for the first time at Wimbledon to reflect when the technology being used in place of human officials determines that a ball landed out.
At least Pavlyuchenkova could joke about the whole episode later.
Asked how she would have felt about it had she lost the match, Pavlyuchenkova responded with a laugh: "I would just say that I hate Wimbledon and never come back."
She also cracked that chair umpires are "very good at giving fines and code violations" and never miss those, but perhaps it would be beneficial if they did a better job of noticing mistaken calls.
Kartal said she couldn't see where her shot went.
"That situation is a rarity. I don't think it's really ever happened — if it has. It's tough. What can you do? The umpire's trying his best in that situation, and he handled it fine," Kartal said.
"I think the system just malfunctioned a little bit, and the fairest way was what he did: replay the point."
Helwerth delayed play while he made a phone call from his stand.
Eventually, play resumed, Pavlyuchenkova missed a forehand on the replay, then lost the game a few points later.
The explanation offered by an All England Club spokesman: "Due to operator error, the system was deactivated on the point in question. The chair umpire followed the established process."
The French Open is now the only grand slam tournament that still uses line judges instead of electronic calls.
From 2007 through last year, players were allowed to challenge in-or-out calls at Wimbledon; a video review was employed to decide whether a line judge's — or chair umpire's — ruling was correct.
That challenge system was removed for the current tournament, but there immediately were demands on social media from some tennis fans or observers to bring that back to aid chair umpires.
Pavlyuchenkova agreed, saying: "We should probably look into something else to have better decisions."
AP
