The days of tennis players arguing whether balls are in or out could be coming to a close, after the smooth introduction of electronic line judging at the Australian Open on Monday.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a major change, with human judges replaced by ball-tracking cameras to reduce the number of people on site at Melbourne Park.
Real time calls
The cameras are set up along each line and automatically announce their decisions in real time, with a recorded human voice calling “out”, “fault” and “foot fault”.
“It’s interesting, It’s definitely different,” said 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams after powering into the second round. “I’m loving it here, so... I just needed to adapt, and now I’m adapted to it. I think it’s for the best.”
The electronic calls feature pre-recorded voices of Australia’s front-line workers in the country’s pandemic response such as firefighters and other emergency response personnel.
Keep the ball kids!
Novak Djokovic, the eight-time Australian Open champion, agreed. “I don’t see a reason why we need the line umpires, to be honest, if we have technology like this. I would of course keep the ball kids, but line calls I’m in favour of this technology.”
US Open champion Dominic Thiem was another supporter of the decision.
