The governing body at the top of men's tennis has confirmed plans to use technology instead of on-court line judges.
The ATP, in a statement released on Friday, said they will remove human line judges from all men’s events from the year 2025 in order to “optimise accuracy and consistency”. Electronic Line Calling Live (ELC Live) was introduced to some tournaments in 2017 with the Australian Open and US Open making the switch in the years since.
And that is now set to be rolled out to all of its tournaments, with a statement released by ATP confirming the change. They claim the switch is “supported by extensive research across tennis stakeholders, including fans, which identified accuracy and consistency as the most important factors in assessing different line-calling systems.”
The statement adds: “The advanced officiating technology covers all court lines for ‘out’ calls throughout matches, a role traditionally carried out by on-court line judges. The move is set to optimise accuracy and consistency across tournaments, match courts and surfaces, for players competing in both main draw and qualifying events.”
It means that tournaments like Wimbledon will look vastly different to the viewer, with linespeople surrounding the court removed - as will be the need to review close calls. ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has labelled the decision a “landmark” moment in the history of the sport.
He said: "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 said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies. Our sport deserves the most accurate form of officiating and we’re delighted to be able to deliver this across our whole Tour from 2025."
The technology won’t remove all controversy however, with no update on whether courtside umpires will be able to refer to technology for other decisions. ELC Live will focus on whether a ball is in or out, but it hasn’t answered calls for tennis to introduce a VAR-based system.
At last year’s US Open, Andy Murray was embroiled in a row with Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. The flashpoint occurred during the first of a straight-set victory for the Brit, when Cerundolo appeared to hit a winner after a double bounce.
The line judges and umpire both failed to spot the incident, with Murray only winning the point after a grateful concession. Cerundolo then stated he would be in favour for a version of VAR, adding: "They should have that replay to check if it was double bounce or not. That [would] help us.
"I had to give him the point. Of course I will do it today and I will do it many more days. If it happens again. It’s how I am. I’m not going to steal a point. Of course I’m not going to win a point if I lost it."
