logo
Why does French Open not have electronic line calling?

Why does French Open not have electronic line calling?

Yahoo26-05-2025

The French Open does not use electronic line calling and continues to rely on line judges and umpires - as well as using ball marks left on clay to determine whether shots are in or not.
Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam tournament that still uses line judges and players are not allowed to use electronic replays to challenge human decision.
There are two factors for the French Open's reluctance to change: maintaining traditions synonymous with the 134-year-old tournament and an unwillingness to lose human control.
"I think we are right to keep our referees and line judges at Roland Garros," said Gilles Moretton, president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT).
"The federation wants to keep our referees for as long as we can. I hope we'll be able to maintain it in our tournaments in the future."
Electronic line calling uses cameras, computers and sensors to track a ball and is used by tennis umpires to judge whether a ball is in or out.
It has been claimed the red dust layer on the clay courts of Roland Garros compromises the accuracy and reliability of the technology because it is a 'live' surface which moves during the match.
But Paul Hawkins, the inventor of electronic line calling system Hawk-Eye, says the technology is accurate on the surface and it is the mark left by the ball on the clay that is not accurate.
"It's like a cliff edge [the plastic white line], so [the ball] can hit that part of the line and then carry on travelling forwards and not actually hit the clay until four or five millimetres beyond the line, which would then be where you would begin to see a mark on the court," Hawkins told BBC Sport.
"The mark on the court looks like it is out whereas actually it has clipped the line."
However, Hawkins believes Roland Garros is possibly "better" without electronic line calling and says that if players looking at the mark - which has been done for more than a century - is accepted, then "it is still fair".
The Australian Open and US Open - both played on hard courts - dispensed with human line judges in 2021 and 2022 respectively in favour of solely relying on automated calls.
Wimbledon - played on grass - introduced Hawk-Eye technology in 2007 to enable players to challenge calls made by line judges. This year, after 147 years of line judges, the tournament is replacing them with the electronic calling system.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.
We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.
The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.
We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.
Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.
Why do tennis players do on-court interviews?
When does it get too hot to play tennis?
What is a protected ranking in tennis?

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Alcaraz wins longest French Open final in five sets after saving 3 match points against Sinner
Alcaraz wins longest French Open final in five sets after saving 3 match points against Sinner

Boston Globe

time28 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

Alcaraz wins longest French Open final in five sets after saving 3 match points against Sinner

It was also the longest-ever French Open final — 5 hours, 29 minutes — in the Open Era. After 3 hours, 43 minutes, Sinner had his first match point. But with just over five hours since the match began, Alcaraz served for the title at 5-4 up. The drama was still not over. Sinner made a remarkable retrieve from yet another superb Alcaraz drop shot. At the very limit he could stretch to, Sinner glided the ball over the net, with the ball landing with the softness of an autumn leaf and out of Alcaraz's reach to make it 15-40. Advertisement When Sinner won the game to make it 5-5, it was his turn to milk the applause and he was two points away from victory in the 12th game, with Alcaraz on serve and at 15-30 and at deuce. But Alcaraz made a staggering cross-court backhand to make it 6-6 and force a tiebreaker, with the crowd going wild when Alcaraz's cross-court winner made it 4-0. Sinner could not find a way back and Alcaraz won the match with a superb forehand pass down the line and then fell onto his back to celebrate. Advertisement

Jannik Sinner's French Open collapse was a colossal bad beat
Jannik Sinner's French Open collapse was a colossal bad beat

USA Today

time31 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Jannik Sinner's French Open collapse was a colossal bad beat

Jannik Sinner's French Open collapse was a colossal bad beat Janik Sinner had Carlos Alcaraz beat. After two sets of the Roland Garros final, the world No. 1-ranked player was up 2-0. All he had to do was close it. That proved to be more difficult than it sounds, as Alcaraz rallied for a third-set win and +6500 odds at DraftKings after falling behind 5-3 in the fourth set to eventually claim his second straight French Open title in what will go down as one of the best matches ever. An instant classic. At his worst, Alcaraz had an implied win probability of 1.52 percent (a $10 bet on his odds would have won $650). The prediction market site, Polymarket, had Sinner at a live win probability of 99 percent. He blew it. Ahead of the final, Alcaraz opened as a small -115 favorite over Sinner (-110) at BetMGM, and he was a public favorite, drawing 61 percent of bets on a winner and 60 percent of the money. He was also the book's biggest liability from the start of the tournament. So, this was certainly a good result for most bettors. Just don't tell that to people on the other side. They just suffered one of the worst beats imaginable.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store