Live Electronic Line Calling To Be Used At All ATP Events From 2025
ATP
All of the ATP tournaments will use the live electronic line calling, starting from the 2025 season.
Tennis is a traditional sport that likes to stick to its traditions, one of which are the line judges. However, at a time when athletes are getting stronger, faster, and more precise than ever, a human eye might struggle to keep up with the fast-flying tennis balls.
At the end of the day, it's not a rarity to see a serve fly at 240 km/h (149 mph), and seeing whether it landed in or out by a fingernail might be impossible.
That's why the hawk-eye has been present for a very long time, but it was still insufficient at times, as players were limited only to three challenges per set. From 2025, they won't have that issue anymore.
The ATP will adopt the live electronic line calling across all tournaments, practically ensuring that every single ball is checked by the hawk-eye, but in real time.
It's a massive moment for tennis, and it comes shortly after the ATP World No. 1 player, Novak Djokovic, was on the receiving end of a big umpiring mistake during the Monte-Carlo Masters.
ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi spoke about the new change, and he was delighted to bring this new feature, which was first used at the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals and proved to be a real success.
"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."
