Wimbledon Adopts Video Challenge Technology This Season.
The tournament joins the US and Australian Opens in employing replay technology.
Video review systems will make its debut at The Championships in the upcoming tournament.
Competitors are granted the option to question certain rulings from the official, following the protocol already in place at both the US Open and the Aussie major.
This technology will be operational on the main stadium and the number one court throughout the tournament and on the remaining show courts when they are staging singles matches.
This step follows just a year after the All England Club rolled out ELC, which terminated the centuries-old tradition of line officials.
Scope of Challenges
Competitors cannot to dispute the accuracy of the electronic line calling, but are allowed to ask for the umpire to re-examine specific decisions, such as:
- If a ball has bounced twice.
- If a shot made contact with an opponent's racquet or body during play.
- Potential interference end of a point.
Notably, there will be an unlimited number on the amount of reviews a player can request.
A Recent Example
An illustrative incident took place in Indian Wells last week, where Daniil Medvedev used the video challenge against his opponent.
The British player conceded it was a difficult situation for the umpire, but thought his opponent had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire viewed a video and determined the player was responsible for hindrance, awarding the point to his opponent.
Broader Adoption
This technology are not new for major tournaments. The system was adopted at the US Open for two years and the Aussie Open this year.
Furthermore, it is becoming more common on the women’s WTA Tour, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour will have the system in place at all of its events.
Further Updates
A further change at Wimbledon this year involves the addition of visual indicators on scoreboards to support the verbal announcements from the electronic line calling system.
This addresses instances where spectators have sometimes been unsure if a ball was out or in.
Finally, with exactly a century of days remaining until the beginning of the tournament, the AELTC have also revealed an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifiers in Roehampton.
