Just because Wimbledon is awash with tradition does not mean that it does not have to move with the times.
The Championships are back for another year, with most of tennis’ top stars vying to etch their names onto the most prestigious trophies in the sport.
Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, who both won maiden titles on the south London grass last year, will be hoping to defend their crowns amid hefty competition in both the men’s and women’s singles draws.
Sinner, the Italian world No1, will be bolstered by the absence of two-time winner and his fierce rival Carlos Alcaraz, who continues to battle a wrist injury that forced him to miss the French Open.
However, he does have newly-crowned major winner Alexander Zverev to contend with, as well as Novak Djokovic, who is hunting that elusive 25th Grand Slam of his career.
Swiatek will see Aryna Sabalenka as her main competitor, while Elena Rybakina will be looking to repeat her 2022 triumph.
What will level the playing fields, however, are a couple of rule changes that are coming into practice, that all players will have to get used to.
Here, Standard Sport takes a look at what new regulations will be in force at the All England Club...
Video reviews
Players will now be able to request rugby-style ‘video reviews’ to challenge the chair umpire’s calls while on court.
While they can no longer challenge line calls, the reviews can be applied to a ball that has bounced twice before a player has hit it (known as a ‘not-up’), a double hit, or whether a player has touched a ball on its way past them.
Unlike the standard challenges, where players would get three per set, there is no limit to the number of reviews a player can request.
Unlike rugby - and football’s VAR - there will not be a dedicated video umpire, but instead, the chair umpire will watch the footage back and have the final judgement call.
The technology will only be in play on six courts - the three show courts (Centre Court, Court No1 and Court No2) - as well as Court No3, Court No12 and Court No18.
Video reviews were introduced earlier this year, and an example of it in use was when Briton Jack Draper faced Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells back in March.
Medvedev claimed that Draper had caused a hindrance during a rally in their quarter-final encounter, with the defending champion stretching his arms out wide to gesture that he thought his opponent’s shot was landing out.
As such, chair umpire Aurelie Tourte was shown the footage back on her screen, and she ruled that Draper had done “something different in the rally than you would normally do". In that instance, Medvedev was awarded the point to go up 0-30 at 5-5 in the second set.
The Russian would go on to defeat the Brit 6-1 7-5.
Where are the line judges?
As of last year, the Championships - and most tournaments across the tours - disposed of line judges, in favour of the Electronic Line Calling system (ELC).
The system debuted in 2025, ending a 147-year run of line judges manning the baselines, service lines and tramlines.
There are 18 cameras around the court which follow the ball’s path in real time, using the same Hawk-Eye technology that was previously utilised for the old challenges.
Because of the new technology, players’ challenges from previous years are no more, and they can no longer query a line call, even with their new video reviews.
What is new about this year’s ELC is that calls will now be shown on the scoreboards of every court at Wimbledon, to let spectators know if a ball is ‘out’ or there is a ‘fault’ on serve.
There was a big concern at Wimbledon qualifying in Roehampton this week, when the extreme temperatures - peaking at 34C - caused the ELC system to fail, stopping all play for an hour and a half.
Will there be hydration breaks?
Players are afforded a drinks break and a sit-down after every two games in a set, changing ends after odd-numbered games.
They are given two minutes to regroup, take on fluids, and in some cases, chomp on fruit.
This year, with temperatures reaching highs of 37C in some parts of the UK, Wimbledon will use the ‘heat stress index’ to rule whether matches should be paused because of extreme heat.
The index is measured off current temperature, surface temperature and humidity level. If the index is over 30.1C, a player can request a match be stopped.
Should the request be granted, a 10-minute break will be allowed across all singles matches, but not doubles.
The break will occur between the second and third sets for the women and juniors, and between the third and fourth sets for the men.
