Bianca Andreescu was unhappy with some of the line calls in her first-round match at the 2023 Bad Homburg Open.
The human factor has always played a role in professional tennis, but that will soon change, and the young Canadian will certainly be one of the players who welcome the change.
Often, there is a discussion about the umpires' involvement and their right or possibly wrong calls. This is seen especially during the clay-court part of the season, as the hawk eye is not used at those tournaments.
However, there are also some tournaments that don't have a hawk eye, or players may sometimes use all three allocated challenges during a set.
Live electronic line calling should soon be available on the ATP Tour, and all tournaments should incorporate it by 2025. The WTA didn't make a similar announcement, but it is expected that they might follow suit.
In the first round of the 2023 Bad Homburg Open, the 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu took on Sonay Kartal from the United Kingdom. The match was a real battle, as both players had their chances.
After winning the opening set 6-2, the Canadian lost the second set 3-6, and it was crucial for her to start well in the third set to keep her hopes high. Andreescu broke early and led 4-1, but soon her opponent started turning the match around.
In the seventh game of the deciding set, Kartal was able to break back, but it wasn't without her opponent's frustration. After one of the rallies, Andreescu thought that the ball was 'in', but the line umpire called it out, and she voiced her displeasure.
"There have been so many calls that were so bad."
Eventually, that didn't matter as Andreescu was able to win the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 to set up a second-round match against Rebeka Masarova, but the incident once again reminded everyone that the electronic line calling should be incorporated as soon as possible.