Technology instead of linesmen: ELC causes discussions at Wimbledon
As at many other tennis tournaments, technology is now also used at Wimbledon to determine whether balls were out of bounds or not. But there are problems.
Structure of the system at Wimbledon
(Image: Wimbledon Championships)
After the technology used to check rallies at the Wimbledon tennis tournament since this year has repeatedly caused problems, a debate has broken out about electronic line calling (ELC). This was reported by The Guardian, among others, and explains that the technology dominated a press conference with Wimbledon boss Sally Bolton yesterday, Monday. The background to this was an incident during the match between Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal, in which it was suddenly noticed that the technology on one side of the court had not been working for some time. But other issues also contributed to this.
Lots of excitement
ELC is not a new technology: it has been used in tennis for many years to automatically check whether balls have landed out of bounds or in the court. The system called Hawk-Eye has also replaced line judges at Wimbledon since this year. At Grand Slam tournaments, only the French Open still relies on humans for the task. According to the Guardian, the system used in England supplements the mere tracking of the ball with an AI that predicts where it will go. In principle, the players have welcomed the system, the newspaper summarizes, but the issues are still causing a stir.
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The Guardian now calls the incidents during Pavlyuchenkova's match "disastrous". However, after a ball flew far out of bounds, the ELC failed to decide. It eventually became clear that the cameras on the Russian's side had not been working for a while. After the necessary replay, the Russian complained that points had been stolen from her. However, because she ultimately won, there were no major debates. In another party, meanwhile, players were urged to hurry because the technology needed enough daylight. Apart from that, there were reportedly numerous complaints about incorrect decisions made by the system.
(mho)
