Wimbledon will follow the American and Australian Opens in utilizing video review systems.
Video review technology are set to arrive at The Championships in the upcoming tournament.
Players will gain the ability to challenge particular decisions made by the official, following the practice already in use at each of the American Grand Slam and the Aussie major.
The new system will be accessible on the main stadium and the number one court throughout the Championships and on the other four featured courts when they are staging singles contests.
This development arrives only a year after the AELTC introduced ELC, which effectively ended the 147-year role of line judges.
What Can Be Reviewed?
Players cannot to dispute the accuracy of the ELC system, but are allowed to ask for the umpire to re-examine other decisions, including:
- If a ball has bounced twice.
- If a ball made contact with an opponent's racquet or person on the way past.
- Potential interference end of a point.
Notably, there will be no cap on the amount of challenges a competitor can initiate.
Practical Application
An illustrative incident took place in Indian Wells recently, where a top player used the review system against Jack Draper.
The British player conceded it was a tough situation for the umpire, but thought his opponent had "played the rules effectively."
Official Aurelie Tourte watched a video and ruled the player was responsible for interference, awarding the point to Medvedev.
Growing Trend
This technology are not new for major tournaments. The system was adopted at the American major since 2023 and the Aussie Open this year.
Additionally, it is becoming more common on the women’s WTA Tour, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour plans to have video reviews implemented at all of its events.
Further Updates
A further innovation at The Championships this year will be the introduction of graphical cues on scoreboards to support the audio calls from the electronic line calling system.
This solves situations where the crowd have occasionally been uncertain whether a shot was in or out.
In other news, with precisely 100 days to go until the start of the Championships, organizers have also revealed an increase in daily capacity at the qualifiers in the qualifying venue.
