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Wimbledon officials on Monday attributed a significant error in the tournament’s electronic line-calling system to a human mistake.
They extended their apologies to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal following the technical malfunction during their fourth-round match on Centre Court on Sunday, which Pavlyuchenkova won in straight sets.
After conducting an inquiry, organisers admitted that the technology had been mistakenly turned off for a portion of the court during a game, with the error only becoming evident when a shot from Britain’s Kartal, which missed the baseline, was not judged out.
If the call had been accurate, it would have given Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 advantage in the first set; however, umpire Nico Helwerth ruled that the point should be replayed, ultimately allowing Kartal to win the game.
Wimbledon released a statement on Sunday indicating that the system had been “deactivated in error” for one game by those monitoring the system.
Sally Bolton, the Chief Executive of the All England Club, informed reporters on Monday that the system was “functioning optimally.”
A fully automated system replaced human line judges at Wimbledon in 2025, aligning with practices at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Nonetheless, the incident in Sunday’s fourth-round match follows concerns voiced by various players regarding the technology, including British athletes Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper.
Approximately 80 former line judges are engaged as match assistants, with two stationed on each court providing support to the umpire. However, Bolton stated that there was no necessity to reinstate them in the courts.
Automated line-calling technology has become the norm across tennis, with all events on the men’s ATP Tour and many WTA tournaments employing it.
