'Stole the game': Wimbledon line-calling tech malfunctions
LONDON: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova said a game was "stolen" from her after Wimbledon's electronic line-calling system failed at a key moment in her fourth-round match against Sonay Kartal on July 6.
The Russian put the controversy behind her to beat the British player 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in just over two hours on Centre Court.
But the glitch in the fourth-round match follows concerns raised by other players about the technology.
A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon in 2025, ending nearly 150 years of history.
On Sunday, a tight first set between Pavlyuchenkova and Kartal was marred by a computer failure that could have proved pivotal.
At 4-4, Pavlyuchenkova, who had saved two break points in the game, held game point when a Kartal backhand landed clearly over the baseline but no call came.
Chair umpire Nico Helwerth shouted "stop, stop" to halt play.
Addressing the crowd, Helwerth said: "We're just going to check if the system was up and running, because there was no audio call."
After a telephone call, he said the electronic system "was unfortunately unable to track the last point so we will replay the point".
Kartal went on to break for a 5-4 lead.
Pavlyuchenkova angrily made her case to the umpire, saying: "They stole the game from me, they stole it."
Bu the Russian world number 50 broke back and won the tie-break to take a firm grip on the match, breaking twice in the second set to progress to the quarter-finals.
The All England Club released a short statement on the incident.
"Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question," said an spokesman.
"The chair umpire followed the established process."
Automated line-calling technology has become standard across tennis, with all events on the men's ATP Tour and many WTA tournaments using it.
The Australian Open and the US Open are fully automated but the French Open remains an outlier, sticking to human line judges.
Britain's Emma Raducanu said she was unhappy about one call in particular during her defeat by Aryna Sabalenka on Friday.
Jack Draper, the men's fourth seed, queried the accuracy of the system after his second-round defeat by Marin Cilic.
Wimbledon chiefs have said they are confident in the technology.
"Live electronic line-calling technology is now widely used week in and week out on tour," a spokesman said on Saturday.
"The technology goes through a rigorous certification process and meets the (agreed) standards... so we can provide maximum accuracy in our officiating."
Pavlyuchenkova will play Linda Noskova or Amanda Anisimova in the last eight.
The 34-year-old was diagnosed with Lyme disease in February and has spent several months struggling to recover her form. – AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
11 minutes ago
- The Star
Sacked Russian transport minister found dead in his car with gunshot wound
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a statement to the media at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 11, 2025. Sergey Bobylev/Host agency RIA Novosti/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's sacked transport minister has been found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on Monday, hours after President Vladimir Putin fired him. A presidential decree published earlier on Monday gave no reason for the dismissal of Roman Starovoit after barely a year in the job, though political analysts were quick to raise the possibility that he may have been dismissed in connection with an investigation into corruption in the region he once ran. Reuters could not independently confirm these suggestions, though a transport industry source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Starovoit's position had been in question for months due to questions about the same corruption scandal, which centred on funds earmarked for fortifying Russia's border with Ukraine in the Kursk region. There were conflicting reports about the timing of Starovoit's death. Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement it was working to establish the precise circumstances. Various Russian media cited law enforcement sources as saying a pistol belonging to Starovoit had been found alongside his body in his car. Before being appointed transport minister in May 2024, Starovoit had been governor of the Kursk region for nearly five years. Three months after he became transport minister, Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Kursk in the biggest foreign incursion into Russian territory since World War Two and were only pushed out earlier this year after fierce fighting and widespread destruction. In April this year, Starovoit's successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, was charged with embezzling money earmarked for defence purposes amid accusations that the funds earmarked for border defences had been stolen, leaving Kursk more vulnerable to Ukrainian attack. Pressed earlier on Monday by reporters on whether his dismissal meant Putin had lost trust in Starovoit over Kursk, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "a loss of trust is mentioned if there is a loss of trust". "There is no such wording in the (Kremlin) decree." TRANSPORT CHALLENGES Starovoit's dismissal comes at a time of significant challenges for Russia's transport sector as the war in Ukraine drags on for a fourth year. Russia's aviation sector is short of spare parts and Russian Railways, the country's largest employer, is grappling with soaring interest costs as high rates - needed to curb higher inflation exacerbated by the war - take their toll. The Kremlin said Andrei Nikitin, a former governor of the Novgorod region, had been appointed acting transport minister and it published photographs of him shaking hands with Putin in the Kremlin. Asked about Nikitin's swift appointment, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said: "At present, in the president's opinion, Andrei Nikitin's professional qualities and experience will best contribute to ensuring that this agency, which the president described as extremely important, fulfils its tasks and functions." Two transport industry sources said plans to replace Starovoit with Nikitin had been in the works since before last month's International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. The transport ministry declined to comment on Monday. At his meeting with Putin, Nikitin spoke about working on the huge task of digitising Russia's transport industry in an effort to reduce cargo bottlenecks and ensure smoother cross-border flows of goods. (Reporting by Reuters in Moscow, Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Andrew Osborn/Alexander Marrow; editing by Gareth Jones)
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Wimbledon blames ‘human error' for embarrassing line-calling glitch
WIMBLEDON chiefs on Monday blamed human error for an embarrassing failure of the tournament's electronic line-calling system. Officials apologised to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal after the malfunction during their fourth-round match on Centre Court on Sunday, which Pavlyuchenkova won in straight sets. After an investigation, organisers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court for a game, with the mistake only becoming apparent when a shot from Britain's Kartal that clearly missed the baseline was not called out. Had the call been correct, it would have given Russia's Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set, but instead umpire Nico Helwerth ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game. The Russian accused the official of home bias, saying: 'Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.' Wimbledon issued a statement on Sunday saying the system had been 'deactivated in error' for one game by those operating the system. 'In that time, there were three calls not picked up by live ELC on the affected part of the court. Two of these were called by the chair umpire, who was not made aware that the system had been deactivated,' it said. 'Following the third, the chair umpire stopped the match and consulted with the review official. It was determined that the point should be replayed. 'The chair umpire followed the established process. We have apologised to the players involved.' Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, told reporters on Monday that the system was 'working optimally.' 'The issue we had was human error in terms of the tracking system having been inadvertently deactivated, and then the chair (umpire) not being made aware of the fact that it had been deactivated,' she said. She added: 'We've spoken to the players, we've apologised to them, we've very quickly moved into reviewing everything that had happened yesterday afternoon and putting in place the appropriate changes to the processes.' A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon in 2025, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open. But the glitch in Sunday's fourth-round match follows concerns raised by other players about the technology, including British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper. Around 80 former line judges are employed as match assistants, with two on each court offering support to the umpire. But Bolton said there was no need to put them back on the courts. 'The system was functional,' she said. 'It had been deactivated. We didn't need to put line judges back on the court again, we needed the system to be active.' Automated line-calling technology has become standard across tennis, with all events on the men's ATP Tour and many WTA tournaments using it. – AFP
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Sailing-Britain's Goodchild makes waves with breakthrough IMOCA victory
(Reuters) -British skipper Sam Goodchild is celebrating his first win in the ultra-competitive IMOCA class after guiding MACIF Sante Prevoyance to victory in the Course des Caps – a full-blooded 1,800-nautical mile dash around Britain and Ireland. Goodchild took the lead near Fastnet Rock off the southwest tip of Ireland and never let go, completing the race in six days, one hour and 10 minutes, with French co-skippers Lois Berrehar, Guillaume Combescure and Charlotte Yven for company. MACIF Sante Prevoyance crossed the line two-and-a-half hours clear of second-placed Elodie Bonafous on Association Petits Princes-Queguiner. 'It was intense, non-stop,' Goodchild said at the finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer. 'We started with no wind and finished with too much. It was kind of what we anticipated – a proper ride." France's Bonafous, racing her first IMOCA event, finished 46 minutes ahead of third-placed compatriot Nico Lunven on Holcim-PRB, staking her claim as a serious contender in the class. 'During the race, I got it into my head that a podium finish was possible,' Bonafous said. 'Even mid-race, I felt like crying. I told myself 'this is so cool, we're having such a great race.' So I stayed really calm because the race was still long and anything could happen,' she told the IMOCA class website. The route served up the full British Isles menu: shifty winds, sail changes on repeat, and a drag race down the North Sea. 'We really had it all,' said Goodchild, who was standing in for Charlie Dalin as the Frenchman is taking a break from the sport due to ill-health. 'On the first day, we hoisted every sail we had. And even over the past three days, we haven't stopped changing sails, changing conditions – changing everything. We truly got a full range on this race." For Goodchild, a former IMOCA Globe Series champion who finished ninth in the last Vendee Globe, this win adds another line to a growing CV – and confirms he is now one of the men to beat on the IMOCA scene. The IMOCA class is a fleet of high-performance 60-foot monohull yachts built for solo and short-handed ocean racing, best known for marquee events like the Vendee Globe. The Course des Caps marked the launch of the 2025 IMOCA Globe Series. Next up is the 100th anniversary of the Rolex Fastnet Race later this month, the Ocean Race Europe (August 10 to September 21), Defi Azimut–Lorient Agglomeration in September, and the Transat Cafe L'Or double-handed race from Le Havre in France to Martinique beginning in October. (Reporting by Ossian Shine; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
