Wimbledon Ditches 300 Officials for AI, Ending 147 Year Old Tradition

Starting in 2025, Wimbledon will eliminate all line judges, opting for artificial intelligence technology instead.

This decision marks a significant change in the tournament’s 147-year history, as human officials will no longer be responsible for calling lines.

Wimbledon Ditches 300 Officials for AI, Ending 147 Year Old Tradition

The All England Club will implement electronic line calling (ELC) for every main draw and qualifying match.

This shift aligns Wimbledon with the other four Grand Slam tournaments and the entire ATP Tour, as all major events will adopt the ELC system beginning next year.

On Wednesday, the club announced that electronic line calling technology would be implemented during the Championships and the qualifying week, which currently occurs off-site in Roehampton.

Sally Bolton, the club’s chief executive, stated, “The decision to implement Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships came after extensive consideration and consultation.”

She added, “Based on the results from this year’s testing at The Championships, we believe the technology is sufficiently reliable, and now is the right time to enhance the accuracy of our officiating.

This change will ensure that players experience similar conditions to those at many other events on the tour.”

Regarding the choice to eliminate line judges, she remarked, “We are deeply committed to striking a balance between tradition and innovation at Wimbledon. Line umpires have been integral to our officiating system at The Championships for many years, and we sincerely appreciate their invaluable contributions and dedication.”

The Times reports that approximately 300 line judges were needed to oversee over 650 matches during the two weeks of the Championships, following a schedule of 60 minutes on duty followed by 60 minutes off.

Since 2007, Wimbledon has implemented standard Hawk-Eye technology, allowing players to contest calls made by line judges. If players incorrectly challenge three calls within a set, they forfeit their ability to challenge until the tiebreak or the next set begins.

From now on, these calls will be made automatically, with a voice announcing “out” and “fault” within a fraction of a second. The club’s transition to this system follows over a year after the ATP declared that ELC technology would be implemented across the tour starting in 2025.

This automatic calling system was initially tested at the Next Gen ATP Finals back in 2017. The US Open was the first Grand Slam to integrate this technology during the Covid-impacted 2020 tournament, ultimately replacing all line judges by 2022.

The Australian Open also adopted it in 2021. With this change, Wimbledon will be the final Grand Slam to implement the automatic system, as the French Open plans to adopt ELC next year as well.

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