By Felix Keith
Wimbledon chiefs have been left red-faced after their controversial decision to axe human line judges in favour of an AI-assisted version was questioned by Britain鈥檚 two top players. The All England Club decided back in October to scrap line judges , with 300 losing their jobs for the 2025 edition of the Grand Slam. Instead, line calls at Wimbledon this year have been made by Live Electronic Line Calling from HawkEye , with players now unable to challenge decisions. While the Australian Open and US Open already use the technology and the ATP Tour has also embraced it, Wimbledon鈥檚 call to do away with 147 years of tradition has caused much debate . Many view the move as a shame because it erodes what is special about the tournament, but there have also been a growing number of players questioning the accuracy of the technology. British No.1 Emma Raducanu was knocked out of the competition in the third round by Aryna Sabalenka after an enthralling match on Centre Court on Friday night. And her comments about the line calling won鈥檛 have been welcomed by Wimbledon chiefs. 鈥淵eah, I mean, that call was, like, for sure out,鈥 she said in her press conference. 鈥淚t’s kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been okay. 鈥淚t’s just, like, I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. So yeah, I don’t know. Hopefully they can kind of fix that.鈥 Jack Draper made similar comments after crashing out of Wimbledon in the second round against Marin Cilic. The British No.1 had been seen remonstrating with the chair umpire about a particular ace call in Cilic鈥檚 favour and explained his unhappiness post-match . HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of the new line calling system? Comment below. 鈥淵eah, I don’t think it’s 100 per cent accurate, in all honesty,鈥 he said. 鈥淎 couple of the ones today, it showed, like, a mark on the court. There’s no way the chalk would have showed. 鈥淚 guess it can’t be 100 per cent accurate. It’s millimeters. It’s for both ways. I think it’s a shame, tradition that the umpires aren’t involved. It’s obviously something that makes it easier for the players because we don’t have to worry about line calls.鈥 Meanwhile, during his third round win over Jan-Lennard Struff, world No.2 Alcaraz told the umpire: “I鈥檓 not sure about it. I would have asked for a challenge. It鈥檚 not the first time I鈥檝e seen the machine鈥 it鈥檚 not the first time. I鈥檓 not sure about some calls.” Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker defended the system on Friday. “The concept of live line calling is absolutely standard across the tour now,” he told reporters. “Two of the other Grand Slams have had it for four or five years. “The accuracy and the reliability and the robustness of the system and the process as a whole, in terms of officiating, is in as good a place as it has been for tennis.”