Wimbledon makes changes after AI system controversy as Tim Henman hits out at ‘rubbish’ complaints from sceptics

In theory, it should eliminate controversial calls from the game, but that has not been the case at Wimbledon.

During that game, a call was missed that prevented Pavlyuchenkova from winning a key point.

“You stole the game from me,” complained Pavlyuchenkova afterwards to umpire Nico Helwerth, who did not overrule the missed call and instead opted to replay the point.

“While the source of the issue was human error, this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made.”

There have also been other frustrations from players over the new system.

Belinda Bencic has had the experience of playing on four different courts at Wimbledon this year.

After her victory on Court One over Ekaterina Alexandrova that saw her reach the quarter-finals, Bencic said she does not “trust” the line-calling system.

“I don’t want to talk about it too much, but it’s really stressful,” Bencic said. “Sometimes you see a ball that’s out, you want to stop playing, but now I’m reminding myself to just play every ball.

“It’s difficult to say. I don’t just feel this in my matches. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not sure. But I also see a lot of bad calls in other matches.”

Bencic, who returned to the tour earlier this year after becoming a mother, added: “At one serve I almost stopped playing because I thought they’re going to call it out, and she kept playing.

“I’m really trying to focus on playing every ball and not stopping play just because my eyes think that the ball is in or out.”

Former Wimbledon runner-up Marin Cilic said he found some of the calls “weird” and also questioned the decision to scrap line judges, who had been in place for all of Wimbledon’s 148-year history.

“I felt like I missed a serve by this much, and it was called in,” Cilic said. “Some were out. I don’t think there is a necessity.

“I don’t know if it’s easier for the tournament. Okay, you just put the electronic line calling. I have no idea.

“For years the line judges were doing great. Maybe there is a mistake. You know, that’s okay. You have still a challenge which you can use. You have enough or even if you were just questioning that, you can increase from three to four.

“I see no reason just to have no line judges because also for them, if you look at years in the past, all the chair umpires now, they were at line judges at finals of Wimbledon, finals of US Open, big tournaments. They have this experience. They come to the chair. What happens now?

“If all the tour is electronic line calling, how do you get to chair umpire? Where is your experience?”

Emma Raducanu is another player to have expressed concerns, saying some of the calls are “dodgy”.

“It’s kind of disappointing that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been OK,” Raducanu said. “I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. Hopefully they can fix that.”

Asked if she trusted the line calling, Raducanu said: “No, I don’t – I think the other players would say the same thing, there were some pretty dodgy ones but what can you do?”

The AELTC have said they continue to have “full confidence in the accuracy of the ball-tracking technology”.

Former British No. 1 Tim Henman, who is an AELTC committee member, said the technology works “extremely well” when activated.

“When you’re on the court, you’re hoping that it goes out, because if it goes out, you win the point. But actually, 100 times out of 100 when you go back and look at it, the human – the player – gets it wrong. The technology doesn’t.”

With the current system, there are no challenges and video replays are not used.

Henman said the error in the match between Kartal and Pavlyuchenkova was “totally separate” to players questioning the accuracy of calls.

“This is technology that’s been around for a long, long time,” Henman said. “It’s a Hawk Eye version when we had line judges. So this is an enhanced version. So is the technology accurate? Absolutely, 100%.

“So then when you move to the Sonay Kartal element, and there’s been a statement from the club, that’s human error, that is someone that has un-clicked a box, and so therefore, the system is deactivated. So if it’s not activated, it’s not going to work, and it didn’t work. So they’re two totally separate situations.”

Alex de Minaur also gave his support to the line calling after his fourth-round loss to Novak Djokovic.

“It’s a machine,” De Minaur said. “You play until the out call, and that’s basically it.

“I don’t think there were many bad calls. Obviously there are so many close ones here and there. But, again, I think if you are playing with line umpires, there’s still the possibility of human error.

“Then it relies on the player to not only focus on trying to play the point out, but if a ball is close, they’ve got to make a split decision whether they’re going to stop the point and forfeit the point potentially if they think it was out or play on, right? At least this way the player plays until the out call.”