During a mixed doubles match at the ongoing Australian Open, the players involved were left well and truly baffled.
Australian pair John-Patrick Smith and Lizette Canbrera took on Rafael Matos and Luisa Stefani when the electronic line call technology made a shocking error on the very first point of the match. After Smith’s first serve landed inside the service box, it was called out by the automated system.
The match had to be stopped for a few minutes while the chair umpire made a call to other officials to rectify the problem with the technology, and were successful in doing so and Smith was able to serve again. The electronic line-calling was introduced for the first time at the Australian Open in 2021.
