A Wimbledon ball boy has been thrown under the bus as Wimbledon‘s new electronic line-calling system suffered yet another error, causing chaos on Court One.
Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov’s quarter-final clash was halted when the system called out a phantom ‘fault’ – despite the ball being about a metre inside the baseline.
This is the second major gaffe the technology has made since coming in for this summer’s tournament, replacing a 147-year tradition of line judges calling the shots.
On this occasion, the technology malfunctioned because a ball boy was not off the court surface when Fritz began his serve, so it failed to recognise that play had begun – and there have been suggestions since that he should face blame for the mishap.
The rally went on for three strokes before an automated shout of ‘fault’ sounded because Fritz had hit the ball outside his serving area.
Umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell had to suspend play and make a call to the referees’ office, and the point, which came in the first game of the fourth set between Fritz and Khachanov, had to be replayed.
Televised footage showed the controversial sequence of events that led to the ballboy being blamed for the latest line-call incident marring this year’s showcase event.
Wimbledon bosses have been left red-faced again after their new electronic line-calling system made another error – because a ball boy was just on court as Taylor Fritz served
The technology failed to recognise that Fritz had served and later called an erroneous ‘fault’ mid-rally, with the umpire then having to delay play
Russian star Karen Khachanov has called for traditional human line judges to be reintroduced
To a chorus of boos, the umpire announced: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we will replay the last point due to a malfunction with the system.’
A spokesman for the All England Club said: ‘The player’s service motion began while the BBG (Ball Boys and Girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn’t recognise the start of the point.
‘As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed.’
Russia’s Khachanov, who went on to lose the match by three sets to one, has called for traditional line judges to be brought back and said it was ‘scary’ leaving decisions up to machines.
‘To be honest, I’m more for line umpires,’ he said.
‘Like today I think there were a few calls. I don’t know, [it’s] very questionable if it’s really touching the line or not.
‘At the same time during one point, the machine called it just out during the rally. Sometimes it’s scary to let [the] machines do what they want.’
However, Fritz, who will face Alcaraz in Friday’s semi-final, has backed the new technology.
Officials have now blamed the ball boy for a malfunction during the fourth set on Tuesday
The technology is said to have malfunctioned because a ball boy was not off the court surface when Taylor Fritz began his serve
Taylor Fritz, who advanced to the semi-finals, threw his weight behind the new technology
The system had failed to recognise that the point had begun and called fault mid-rally when Fritz hit the ball outside his service area
The iconic Wimbledon line judges have made way for technology in a controversial change
‘There’s going to be some issues here and there. I still think it’s much better to have the electronic line calling as opposed to the umpires,’ he said.
‘I do like not having to think about challenging calls in the middle of points. I do like that we don’t have to argue about calls. The ball gets called and that’s it. It’s a better system.’
It is the second time the club has blamed issues with the system on ‘human error’ after it missed three calls when it was accidentally turned off in a fourth-round match on Sunday.
The technology was deactivated for more than six minutes during British star Sonay Kartal’s match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, resulting in the pair having to replay the point.
Bosses, who said they had ‘full confidence’ in the system, launched a review and upgraded the system overnight to prevent it from being turned off again.
Leading Britons Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have also complained about the accuracy of the system, which is widely used in other tournaments.
The ELC system was created by Hawk-Eye, the company responsible for the challenge system which was introduced at Wimbledon in 2007.
Also known as Hawk-Eye Live, it was first used at the ATP Next Gen Finals in Milan in 2018, then adopted more widely during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
After 147 years of humans calling the shots, a computer now rules on whether the ball is in
The Hawk-Eye Live system has been used on the tour for a number of years
Around 300 line judges were previously used each year, with nine on court at any one time
It uses 18 cameras set up around the court to track the trajectory of the ball, with a computer processing its location in real time.
A video operator oversees the technology away from the court, but automated calls of ‘out’ and ‘fault’ are triggered within a tenth of a second of the ball landing and broadcast via courtside speakers.
For the calls, Wimbledon uses the recorded voices of All England Club staff, including tour guides. Only one voice will be heard on each match, but different courts have different voices to avoid confusion.
At this year’s Australian Open, Kartal was stopped in her tracks after serving and hearing ‘out’, but the call had come from an adjacent court and she lost the point.
Around 300 line judges were previously used at Wimbledon each year, with nine on court at any one time. They could earn up to £200 a day, plus expenses. But it was never about the money for the men and women who took a fortnight off from their day jobs for the honour of working at SW19.
Tuesday’s malfunction came as the UK’s Cameron Norrie crashed out to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. The 29-year-old, who was the last British player left in the tournament, lost to the Spaniard, 22, in straight sets after just one hour and 39 minutes.
Sienna Miller led a star-studded royal box watching the quarter-final match-up on Centre Court, with US actress Jodie Foster, 62, also in attendance. Ms Miller, 43, wore a floral mini-dress as she took in the action on day nine of the championships. Classical singer Katherine Jenkins, 45, also took in the action from the royal box in an embroidered pink gown.
Tom Holland, who watched from the stands, was seen wishing Alcaraz good luck ahead of the match. And actor Sir Mark Rylance also appeared animated as he watched world No1 Aryna Sabalenka triumph over Laura Siegemund earlier in the day.
