Players who want to settle for a line judge at the Australian Open after an upcoming or contentious call will have a hard time doing so this year. There will be none.
In a first Grand Slam, there will be no online judges on any of the tournament tracks in an effort to reduce the number of on-site staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only players, chair referees and ball kids will be on the court.
Tennis Australia on Wednesday announced the introduction of live electronic line calls, saying motion-activated and pre-recorded voices will be used for the terms “off”, “foot fault” and “fault” in matches during the tournament from 8 to February 21st.
Live electronic line calls are made through remote tracking cameras throughout the yard, automatically sending real-time audio line calls.
“The Australian Open will be the first Grand Slam tournament to introduce a live electronic line to all tracks, including major stadiums,” said Craig Tiley, director of the Australian Open tournament.
The new system should mean fewer line call challenges for players and less time spent reviewing replays on the stadium’s big screens.
“The system will automatically display‘ closing calls ’on the big screen on final shots,” the tournament said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press. “By default, this will be 150 millimeters (less than six inches) or less for a rally shot or 50 mm (two inches) or less for a service.
“If a player requests that he wants to see a final shot that has not been automatically animated, the game may be stopped if the referee of the chair thinks that the request is reasonable and the referee of the chair should ‘announce playback Playback should not continue until the shot is displayed on the big screen. “
Last year at the U.S. Open, No. 1 Novak Djokovic was disqualified during the fourth-round game for accidentally hitting a spare ball to a line judge. During that tournament, electronic line calls were used on the outside courts, but line judges were still used on the main show courts.
Djokovic later asked that tennis be permanently switched to electronic calls, although he said it had nothing to do with his expulsion to New York.
“I have received a lot of criticism because I have said that we should consider excluding line referees,” Djokovic said last year. “This is an opinion I have had for a few years, it had nothing to do with him being disqualified at the US Open.
“I’m not a person who loves technology and I can’t live without it. In some ways technocratic society has gone too far in my opinion, but if in tennis we can be more efficient and accurate, why not?”
This week in Melbourne Park, the same system is used for six tuning tournaments. Next week’s Australian Open will be an added touch.
Pre-recorded voices will be those of leading Australian workers in response to the country’s pandemic, firefighters, lifeguards and other emergency services personnel.
“A‘ Behind the Line ’tribute will introduce community heroes who will appear as the official voice of calls at every match,” Tennis Australia said.