Heatwave breaks hawk-eye at Wimbledon as weather causes meltdown at All England Club
ATPWednesday, 24 June 2026 at 19:45
Last year, hawkeye malfunctioned after it was accidentally turned off mere days after it was introduced to replace the line judges in a damning indictment of the new system. But now it is the heat that proved the issue this afternoon as players had to leave the court due to the heat rule but also a malfunction.
Players left the courts at Roehampton due to a perceived electrical issue soon after noon after officials made the decision that the chair umpires could not be entrusted to make line calls and there would be no reserve line callers available for qualifying in case of malfunctions unlike at next week's main draw at the All England Club.
With temperatures hitting 35 degrees celsius in Roehampton, a power outage saw the players taken off court. A spokesperson described the issue as per The Telegraph.
“There was a temporary loss of power to part of our Qualifying venue, which meant that the electronic line calling system could not function. Power has now been restored and play has resumed.”
Roehampton was also under an extreme heat weather warning anyway, and it was believed that the heat played a factor in the power failure. The All England Club will still carry out a full investigation to ascertain what caused the issue. At the time of the outage, the welfare of players and guests was taken into account over continuing. 16 second-round singles matches in progress at Roehampton at the time.
“We are wondering whether it is the heat that is wreaking havoc with the electronic line-calling system, which has gone down all around the grounds,” said Annabel Croft on the BBC’s live coverage of qualifying who herself was puzzled as those in attendance as to what was going on.
Dan Evans ends career in whimper
It also saw Dan Evans be taken off court in what was his final a match of his career in singles.
“I was playing really well when I went off, and he wasn’t playing... well, he was playing alright, but not as good as I knew he could play,” said Evans. “And he was too good when we came back. I think he went 10 from 10 first serves.
“It took the sting out of the match a bit. I was really in the match. But all credit to him, he played well. Yes, just a bit disappointing, but that’s life, isn’t it? I went in the ice bath very quickly [during the break], and then had a shower, got changed. It hasn’t happened to me before but it’s just so hot, isn’t it? I guess something happened, but yes, a first in my career.”
Dan Evans very scathing about LTA.
He was also very scathing about the LTA and them failing to support his case for wildcards. “Not one member of the LTA came to watch one of my matches,” said Evans. “Actually, [national coach] Colin Beecher did because he’s my friend. It’s not that deep, chaps or ladies. So that’s how you want to act, carry on, it’s pathetic."
He also said that he is not close enough to the perception for the LTA consider him in terms of his class and believes it is classist what went on. "It didn’t get me very far, did it? I’m a little too far up the M40 [for the LTA’s liking]. I spoke about working-class people in tennis, and that didn’t go down well. They like to keep things under wraps, and, you know, play to their tune.”
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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