Wimbledon’s latest electronic line call blunder was due to the movement of a ball boy.
The faltering system was thrust back into the spotlight on Tuesday afternoon following an embarrassing malfunction during Taylor Fritz’s four-set quarter-final victory over Karen Khachanov.
Swedish umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell called ‘stop’ in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when ‘fault’ was incorrectly announced after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline.
🗣️ "What was that?!"
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An electronic line-call system "malfunction" resulted in an incorrect fault call in the Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov quarter-final.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/N5stnlBjTo
The cry of ‘fault’, rather than ‘out’, and positioning of the ball suggested the technology was still tracking Fritz’s serve as opposed to a rally.
Tournament organisers verified that theory, explaining the system had failed to reset because the ball from Fritz’s first serve was still being retrieved when he started lining up his second.
Neither player showed much reaction as match official Azemar-Engzell ordered the point be replayed.
Fritz led 2-1 on sets at that stage before completing a 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6 (4) victory in two hours and 36 minutes.
“The player’s service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn’t recognise the start of the point,” read a statement from the All England Club.
“As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed.”
Tournament organisers said on Sunday they were confident of avoiding further issues with the technology after a major error in Sonay Kartal’s fourth-round defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s draw.
On that occasion, the new system failed to call ‘out’ when a shot by Kartal bounced well behind the baseline.
Had the call been correct, Pavlyuchenkova would have taken a 5-4 lead in the first set. Umpire Nico Helwerth instead ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game.
However, a major scandal was avoided as the Russian, who accused the official of home bias, battled back to progress.
After an investigation, organisers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court.
Britain’s leading duo Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have each complained about the accuracy of the system, which is widely used on the tour but has only just been introduced in SW19.
The latest incident is another embarrassment for the Championships amid controversy over the removal of line judges.
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