Wimbledon star laments 'stolen' point after major AI line judge error - and accuses umpire of pro-British bias

Daily Mail​

07-07-2025

Wimbledon was embroiled in more embarrassing line-call controversy after HawkEye technology failed to call a ball out in a crucial game.
Sonay Kartal hit a ball beyond the baseline in her fourth-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but no call came from the automated system.
Chair umpire Nico Helworth clearly saw the ball was out, and attempted to stop play, before the automated line judge called out 'Stop! Stop!' to halt the action.
Intriguing scenes!
Pavlyuchenkova thinks Kartal has put her forehand long and stops before the Brit slams back a winner.
The umpire checks and confirms the electronic line calling system was unable to track the point, which leads to the point being replayed. #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Qkz3Rickj5
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 6, 2025
After a delay of around four minutes while Helworth sat on his court-side phone to get to the bottom of the situation, he declared: 'The electronic line-calling system unfortunately was unable to track the last point so we will replay the point.'
Kartal went on to break serve, prompting a furious Pavlyuchenkova to accuse officials of favoring her British opponent.
She raged: 'I don't know if it's in or it's out. How do I know? You cannot prove it. Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.'
Helworth responded: 'The problem is that we have to go with the system. If they tell me it is up and running, there is nothing we can do. If they tell me they don't have it, that's the rule unfortunately.'
'They stole the game from me,' replied Pavlyuchenkova, who still went on to clinch the opening set. 'They stole it.'
Wimbledon has been marred by dodgy calls since the controversial decision to scrap traditional human line judges in favor of AI.
It has now been made even more farcical that the umpire is unable to make their own decision when the system fails.