There will not be any extra arguing with line judges over calls at tennis tournaments on the ATP males’s tour as of 2025 — as a result of there will not be any extra line judges at these occasions by then.
The London-based ATP introduced Friday that it’ll use Electronic Line Calling Live — generally known as ELC Live — for all “out” calls in all matches starting two years from now.
Each match will nonetheless be overseen by a chair umpire, however the line judges who was entrusted with figuring out the place pictures landed will not be current on court docket.
It represents the subsequent step in the direction of counting on expertise for line calls in a course of that gained pace on the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals, when ELC Live was first tried on the boys’s tour.
Line judges have been used at fewer and fewer websites in the course of the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020, together with on the Australian Open and US Open, grand slam tournaments that aren’t run by the ATP and thus needn’t adhere to the tour’s insurance policies.
Electronic programs have been used primarily on laborious courts and grass courts, however the ATP mentioned its new coverage will embrace each floor, together with clay courts.
Some within the sport, together with the French Open, the place main-draw play begins on May 28, have resisted switching away from people making calls as a result of tennis balls depart marks within the clay that can be utilized to find out the place a shot hit the bottom.
“This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration. Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years,” ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi mentioned.
“That said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies,” Gaudenzi added.
“Our sport deserves the most accurate form of officiating.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
