Tennis custom scrapped as ATP publicizes main change to all occasions
The ATP has introduced {that a} long-standing custom of utilizing on-court line judges will probably be scrapped in favour of utilizing expertise. From 2025, all tournaments on the lads’s tennis tour will use Electric Line Calling Live (ELC Live) in what the ATP chairman branded a “landmark moment”. It’s a transfer that Grand Slams just like the US Open have already adopted.
The ATP has introduced a significant rule change for 2025 when all of its tournaments will scrap line judges for ELC Live – an officiating expertise that covers all court docket strains for ‘out’ calls all through matches. The digital system has already been adopted at some tournaments both alone or along side on-court linespeople.
In 2021, the Australian Open and US Open additionally utilised the expertise on their courts as a substitute of utilizing human line judges. In an announcement on Friday, the ATP mentioned that the swap to digital line calling would “optimise accuracy and consistency across tournaments, match courts and surfaces, for players competing in both main draw and qualifying events.”
The males’s tennis tour added: “The decision was supported by extensive research conducted by ATP across tennis stakeholders, including fans, which identified accuracy and consistency as the most important factors in assessing different line-calling systems.”
The tour additionally mentioned that the ELC Live protection would “deliver comprehensive player and ball tracking across the whole tour”, giving solution to an “unprecedented level of data for player-performance analysis and the development of new statistics”.
ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi addressed the choice to maneuver away from the custom of on-court strains judges, saying: “This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration. Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years.
“That mentioned, we’ve a accountability to embrace innovation and new applied sciences. Our sport deserves essentially the most correct type of officiating and we’re delighted to have the ability to ship this throughout our entire Tour from 2025.”
The electronic line calling system was first trialled at the Next Gen ATP Finals back in 2017, and since then has slowly been rolled out across major tournaments either in the form of ELC Live, ELC Review, or in combination with human linespeople.
The move would cut out any issues that have previously arisen from having linespeople on the court. At the 2020 US Open, Novak Djokovic famously hit a ball away in frustration during his fourth-round match which accidentally struck a lineswoman on the neck and he was defaulted.
David Nalbandian suffered a similar fate in the 2012 Queen’s final when he smashed a panel in front of a line judge’s seat in frustration, with the board hitting the linesman’s leg and cutting it open, causing it to bleed heavily. He was also disqualified, handing Marin Cilic the title.