{"id":220152,"date":"2025-06-28T02:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T02:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220152\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T02:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T02:15:12","slug":"you-cannot-be-serious-wimbledon-ditches-line-judges-after-148-years-of-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220152\/","title":{"rendered":"You cannot be serious\u2026 Wimbledon ditches line judges after 148 years of \u2018Out!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LONDON, June 28 \u2014 Wimbledon is guaranteed to be picture-perfect when it gets under way next week, but the courts will never look the same again after the demise of line judges.<\/p>\n

For the first time in the tournament\u2019s storied 148-year history, the men and women stationed at the back of the courts, calling \u201cout\u201d and \u201cfault\u201d, will be missing.<\/p>\n

The Grand Slam announced in October that it was scrapping its smartly dressed officials in favour of electronic line-calling (ELC) from 2025, following the general trend in tennis.<\/p>\n

The Australian Open and the US Open have already gone down this route, leaving the French Open as the only one of the four Grand Slams still to use humans in the role.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon is cherished for its traditions, from the white kit worn by players to the strawberries and cream served to fans and the sumptuous flowers that colour the grounds.<\/p>\n

But the All England Club must balance that unique heritage with innovation.<\/p>\n

\"Hawk-Eye <\/p>\n

Hawk-Eye cameras are pictured at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in Wimbledon June 24, 2025. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

Tournament director Jamie Baker emphasised the point in an interview with AFP this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very much plugged into the wider tennis ecosystem, the wider tennis industry, on everything that we do,\u201d said the former professional player.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this was something that we\u2019ve been talking about for many years, because we could see the way that it was going.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as you would imagine, for us, balancing the tradition with innovation is really a thing that we look at in pretty much every single decision we make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker emphasises that Wimbledon is careful to protect its heritage, including the \u201cuntouchable\u201d white clothing rule, which he says is observed more strictly now than two decades ago.<\/p>\n

Competition integrity <\/strong><\/p>\n

But the former British number two said the integrity of the competition was the most important element.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, for us here, we\u2019ve got to get the competition aspects right, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s such an important part of everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd player expectation now, across the professional game at the highest level, is that the lines will be called in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker believes the people who will least notice the change are the players, who are so used to the technology.<\/p>\n

\"Wimbledon <\/p>\n

Wimbledon Tournament Director Jamie Baker pictured sitting in centre court at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in Wimbledon June 24, 2025. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

The decision to switch to live ELC, which builds on existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology, was made following extensive testing at last year\u2019s Championships.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, Hawk-Eye has assisted officials at Wimbledon on certain courts, with players able to challenge a number of calls.<\/p>\n

Its introduction added a new element for spectators.<\/p>\n

There was a buzz of excitement when the umpire signalled a video replay of a line judge\u2019s decision, followed by rhythmic clapping as it was shown on the big screen.<\/p>\n

More than 450 cameras have been installed at Wimbledon and at the qualifying tournament in nearby Roehampton this year, with machines making the decisions previously made by humans.<\/p>\n

But around 80 former officials will be employed as match assistants, with two on each court offering support to the umpire, while they will also provide back-up should the electronic system fail.<\/p>\n

So does the demise of line judges remove a bit of Wimbledon\u2019s magic?<\/p>\n

Baker thinks the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a massive positive move for us in terms of the actual look and feel of the court and the recognisable Wimbledon brand, which is green grass courts, players wearing white tennis clothes \u2014 it\u2019s instantly recognisable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the more emphasis that\u2019s on that, the better. But also, just if you get back to the very nature of the sport itself, it\u2019s gladiatorial, it\u2019s one-on-one, everything that happens on the stage should be focused around that.\u201d \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON, June 28 \u2014 Wimbledon is guaranteed to be picture-perfect when it gets under way next week, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[86845,86846,84082,79,1068,16,15,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-220152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-all-england-club","9":"tag-hawk-eye","10":"tag-line-judges","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114758584210029379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}