6 July 2025, 22:05
Sonay Kartal of United Kingdom serves a ball to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their women’s singles fourth-round match.
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Wimbledon organisers have apologised after the AI line-calling system on Centre Court was switched off by mistake, missing three calls in a single game.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova claimed a game was ‘stolen’ from her when there was no ‘out’ call after British star Sonay Kartal’s backhand went long in the opening set of their fourth-round match.
Pavlyuchenkova stopped playing after seeing the ball go long, with chair umpire Nico Helwerth halting play.
The All England Club originally said the system was “deactivated on the point in question” due to an “operator error”.
A spokesperson said later following further investigation on Sunday that it was found the technology was “deactivated in error on part of the server’s side of the court for one game”.
Three calls on the affected side of the court were not picked up during that time.
Helwerth – who was unaware the system had been turned off – made two calls himself before the incident raised by Pavlyuchenkova.
Read more: Cameron Norrie beats Nicolás Jarry as last Brit standing reaches Wimbledon quarter-finals
Emma Raducanu of Britain returns to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during a third round women’s singles match.
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“We have apologised to the players involved,” a spokesperson for the All England Club said.
“We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology.
“n this instance, there was a human error and as a consequence we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes.”
It comes after a Wimbledon chief strongly denied accusations from star players including Emma Raducanu that new AI line calling is unreliable.
The 22-year-old complained the system had been “wrong” on several occasions at the Championships, including when an Aryna Sabalenka shot was ruled to have clipped the line.
She joined a growing voice of discontent among tennis players over the technology with Jack Draper also expressing doubts that it was “100 per cent accurate.”
It is a claim that has been refuted by Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Club, who argued electronic line calling was more robust than using line judges because of “potential human error”.
Ms Jevans told BBC Sport on Sunday: “It’s funny, isn’t it, because when we did have linesmen, we were constantly asked why we didn’t have electronic line calling because it’s more accurate than they do the rest of the tour.
“The players wanted it because they were asking us, why do we have linesmen? Because of potential human error. And now we have it in situ.”We have to think of innovation and we’re just moving with what the court and mostly what the players expect.”
Raducanu criticised the fully automated system, implemented at Wimbledon for the first time this year, after an intense 7-6 (6) 6-4 defeat by the world number one Ms Sabalenka.
She said: “It’s kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been OK. I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. Hopefully they can fix that.”