Electronic line calling (ELC) remains in place at Wimbledon – as the Championships continue to embrace technology.
The system replaced line judges in 2025, after 147 years of humans calling the shots on the famous grass courts.
Wimbledon approved the use of ELC because they believe the technology is more accurate than the human eye. It was also backed by the players.
But the system was accidentally deactivated last year during the match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkov and Sonay Kartal, due to “human error”, missing three calls in one game.
It also failed during Wimbledon qualifying at Roehampton due to a power outage that was likely caused by extreme heat, with play suspended for an hour.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu said she did not completely trust ELC, saying there had been some “dodgy” calls, while Jack Draper said he did not think it was “100 per cent accurate”.
Speaking ahead of Wimbledon, chief executive of the All England Club Sally Bolton said there was confidence in the system before this year’s tournament.
“The way live electronic line calling works is it’s a combination of humans and technology working together,” she said.
“There was an issue last year, that was rectified and the review was undertaken during last year’s Championships.
“We will always test our systems, every single system we have as we go into the Championships, but we’re confident that that issue was in fact rectified last year.”
ELC uses the same technology as the Hawk-Eye system, which previously allowed players to ‘challenge’ questionable line calls.
ELC uses 18 cameras set around the court to track the ball’s movement and trajectory in real time, with sensors and computers producing a 3D image of where it lands.
An automated voice mimics that of a line judge, with a loud call of “out!”, “fault!” or “foot fault” emitted within a tenth of a second.
This year, Wimbledon has also introduced visual indicators on the scoreboards, after some fans complained that they could not tell if a ball had landed in or out without the on-court line judge.
Wimbledon will also introduce video review technology for the first time at this year’s Championships.
It allows players to challenge calls made by the umpire – such as on whether a ball has bounced twice or if a player has touched the net.
The All England Club confirmed that the ‘VAR’-style technology will be available on the six main show courts, including Centre Court and No 1 Court.
Video reviews were introduced on the ATP Tour last year and have been available at the US Open since 2023 and the Australian Open since 2025.
The presence of video review means that the umpire can ask for a replay to help determine a call if the ELC fails.
The Australian Open replaced line judges with ELC in 2021, with the US Open following suit in 2022. ELC has been in place on most ATP and WTA Tour events since 2025.
The French Open is now the only grand slam tournament to still use line judges, with the tournament backing humans despite a controversial incident during the men’s draw.
Casper Ruud questioned a call during a pivotal moment of his match against Joao Fonseca, believing the ball had landed out despite the chair umpire ruling the mark was in.
However, the Hawk-Eye image showed the ball had landed out, leading French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo to say the “reliability of the system is not absolute”.
With a review set to take place ahead 2027, Mauresmo added: “As of today, the machine is not 100 per cent reliable, so we continue to place our confidence in human officials.”
