Line-judges to be replaced at all Masters in 2021

Tennis is replacing the line-judges at this year's Masters events with live hawk-eye according to reports.

The news should not come as any surprise to anyone who has been following tennis for a while. It was a natural progression as sports get more technical. The ongoing pandemic just sped up the decision to do so in order to minimize human contact as much as possible. The decision is not yet official but reports suggest that all Masters events agreed to move forward with the proposition.

Calls for the permanent implementation of such as system have been present for a while and Kevin Anderson, president of the ATP Players Council has backed it. He said:

“I know we’ve spoken about it (on the Player Council). I didn’t know it was like an official decision across the board yet. I think it’s looking like it’s more prevalent. It certainly looks like things are heading in that direction. I think I saw Australia (the Australian Open) is going to do Hawk-Eye live."

He explained his reasoning of backing such a decision by saying:

“The system works really, really well. I think it completely takes out any of the guesswork. That sort of automation is happening all across the world, in so many different industries. It does seem to make sense, especially during this time. I say probably Covid’s accelerating that because it definitely reduces the human interaction.”

He also noted that there are many people employed as line judges and he called it something that needed to be looked at as well. Except more as the story develops.

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