Wimbledon considering AI as route to tackle line judge problem

There has been a lot of talk about replacing human line umpires in tennis with all sorts of technical solutions with the Tour moving in that direction in the future.

There has been a lot of talk about electronic line calling for a while and some events already employ the technology. It's going to come to all events on the Tour eventually though Wimbledon is thinking about utilizing AI technologies to tackle the issue. For the time being, Wimbledon will be using line judges but AI tech could be explored in the future as a solution.

The events Tech Director Bill Jinks commented on the rumours:

“What I can say is that for 2023 we have definitely got line judges. Line calling technology has changed [but] we’ve been using the challenge system since we started with line calling in 2007 and it currently works for us. Who’s to say what might happen in the future? Obviously, I know what’s been going on with announcements on ATP Tour [using electronic judges by 2025]. Things like that will be considered in the future.”

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Future of tennis

Recent events on the tennis Tour have shown that electronic line calling might become a necessity as tennis players were left frustrated more than once with some calls. The problem is very noticeable on clay where there have been several questionable calls recently. Some umpires even were unable to point out the correct mark let alone anything else.

It's not a perfect technology but it has worked pretty well in the past which is why the ATP Tour is moving towards it fully in 2025. When it comes to tennis, AI is coming in the future. Wimbledon already paired up with IBM to use AI tech for this event in the form of AI commentary and AI draw boards.

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