By Gaurav Tripathi
Wimbledon organizers have apologized after the electronic line-calling system on Centre Court failed to detect three calls in a single game. The incident occurred during the fourth-round match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal, with Pavlyuchenkova claiming a game was stolen from her due to the missed call. The All England Club later confirmed that the technology was deactivated in error on one side of the court for a single game, due to a human error. The match was halted when Pavlyuchenkova saw a Kartal backhand go long and stopped play. Chair umpire Nico Helwerth was unaware of the system’s deactivation and called two of the three missed calls himself. After realizing the electronic system couldn’t track the last point, he ordered it to be replayed. This decision allowed Kartal to break for a 5-4 lead in the game. The All England Club has since apologized to the players involved in this incident. A spokesperson for the club said they still have full confidence in the accuracy of their ball-tracking technology. In this instance, there was a human error and as a consequence we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes, they added. Despite the controversy, Pavlyuchenkova went on to win the match. However, she was left wondering why the umpire didn’t call it out himself. That’s why he’s there, she said. He also saw it out, he told me after the match. The Russian player suggested tennis should adopt video checks like football does for such situations in future tournaments. The automated line-calling system, introduced at Wimbledon for the first time this year, has been under scrutiny. Players like Emma Raducanu and Belinda Bencic have expressed doubts about its reliability. Despite these concerns, some players have backed the system including former world number one Iga Swiatek who said she has had doubts but has to trust the calls.