Wimbledon organizers have apologized and explained that “human error” was the reason behind the electronic line-calling system being turned off during a match on Sunday.
During the first set of the fourth-round clash between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal on Centre Court, a backhand from Kartal went long but there was no “out” call from the electronic system, which has replaced human line umpires at Wimbledon this year.
Pavlyuchenkova, who was one point away from winning that game, stopped playing with the ball landing outside the court. Umpire Nico Helwerth called for the match to be paused, while the automated system said “stop, stop,” leading to confusion from both players and the fans in attendance.
Helwerth informed the crowd that he was going to check if the system was “up and running” before spending time on the phone.
After a short delay, he said that the electronic system “was unfortunately unable to track the last point,” which was subsequently replayed.
Kartal went on to win the point and break Pavlyuchenkova to take a 5-4 lead. In the change of ends, the Russian could be heard saying to Helwerth: “You took the game away from me … they stole the game from me. They stole it.”
The automated system did not pick up on balls landing out on three occasions in the game, with Helwerth calling the other two. The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) said that Helwerth did not know the system had not been running.
After the match had finished – with Pavlyuchenkova eventually winning 7-6(3), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals – a spokesperson for the AELTC said that the system had been deactivated in error by “those operating the system” and that a full investigation had taken place.
“We have apologized to the players involved,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology.
“The live ELC (electronic line-calling) 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.”
It added that Helwerth had “followed the established process” of replaying the point if the system goes down and it’s unclear whether the ball was in or out.
After booking her spot in the next round, Pavlyuchenkova called the whole situation “confusing,” in particular when the umpire ordered the point to be replayed instead of awarding it to her.
“I think it’s good to raise this subject for the future,” Pavlyuchenkova told reporters.
“Because if anything like that happens in a very important moment of the match, I think we should have a wire system like in football. Then it’s clear for everybody and we can move on right away instead of just guessing.”
The automated line-calling system has been a big talking point at this year’s Wimbledon. Great Britain’s top-ranked players – Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu – have both expressed their doubts about the system, with Raducanu calling it “dodgy.”
Switzerland’s Belina Bencic said that the new automated system has been a topic of discussion among players in the locker room.
The introduction of technology to replace line judges at Wimbledon follows many other tournaments around the world, including the Australian Open and the US Open.
Following her win on Sunday, Pavlyuchenkova said that Helwerth “probably was scared to take such a big decision” with the technology not working and called for more human intervention.
“That’s why we have a chair umpire,” she said. “Otherwise, I think soon let’s just play without them and then we’re going to have everything automatic. I think we are losing a little bit of the charm of actually having human beings, ballboys.
“Like during Covid, we didn’t have ballboys. It just becomes a little bit weird and robot sort of orientated.”
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