Electronic line calling is coming in 2025 to all courts on the ATP and Novak Djokovic shared his thoughts on the situation.
Electronic line calling was always going to be the final stage in that stage because it never seemed likely that the ATP could justify not using the technology. It's not perfect, however, it is still rather reliable, far more than human umpires.
Djokovic knows what it feels like to get the short end of a stick on a bad call, as one prominent one in Monte-Carlo recently aided in his defeat to Lorenzo Musetti. He was asked about his thought on Tour-wide electronic line calling at the 2023 Italian Open and ultimately he thinks it's a good decision even though he understands the reluctance.
Obviously, we pride ourselves in tennis that we maintain the tradition and culture and history. This is one of the things that has been there forever, the line umpires. Of course, it's not an easy change for a lot of people to accept because they're part of the game, they're part of the sport. We are so used to having line umpires.
Djokovic has never been one to subscribe too much to tradition though he can appreciate it for what it is. Federer notoriously wasn't in favour of hawk-eye introductions though Djokovic was always one to push boundaries and advance the sport forward.
I think it's one of these things that I think it's a good decision because technological advancements have improved so much in the last decade or so. We probably won't have the drama that I think people like to see sometimes, especially on clay, arguing with the umpires of whether the ball was in or out, looking at the mark, having the crowd get into it.
It's not perfect technology but ultimately Djokovic thinks that it will limit the amount of errors to a minimum which should be good enough.
Yeah, I think it's a good decision. It's the right direction to move into when it comes to that. I'm not supportive of technology taking over everything but in this direction I'm supportive of that.
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