Latest news with #NicoHelwerth
Fast Company
5 days ago
- Sport
- Fast Company
What happened at Wimbledon? ‘Human error' blamed for ball-tracking tech mishap
The All England Club, somewhat ironically, is blaming 'human error' for a glaring mistake by the electronic system that replaced human line judges this year at Wimbledon. The CEO of the club, Sally Bolton, said Monday that the technology was 'inadvertently deactivated' by someone for three points at Centre Court during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's three-set victory over Sonay Kartal a day earlier in the fourth round. On one point, a shot by Kartal clearly landed past the baseline but wasn't called out by the automated setup—called Hawk-Eye—because it had been shut off. Hours after Bolton spoke with reporters, the club issued a statement to announce that it 'removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking,' meaning 'this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made.' Bolton declined to say who made the mistake on Sunday or how, exactly, it occurred or whether that person would face any consequences or be re-trained. She did note that there were other people at fault: the chair umpire, Nico Helwerth, and two who should have let him know the system was temporarily down—the review official and the Hawk-Eye official. 'We didn't need to put line judges back on the court again,' Bolton said. 'We needed the system to be active.' Is Wimbledon using AI for line calls this year? No. But like most big tennis tournaments nowadays—the French Open is one notable exception—Wimbledon has replaced its line judges with cameras that are supposed to follow the balls on every shot to determine whether they land in or out. There are those, particularly in the British media, who keep referring to this as part of the ever-increasing creep of artificial intelligence into day-to-day life, but Bolton objected to the use of that term in this case. 'The point I would want to emphasize—and perhaps contrary to some of the reporting we've seen—is it's not an artificial intelligence system. And it is electronic in the sense that the camera-tracking technology is set up to call the lines automatically, but it requires a human element to ensure that the system is functional,' Bolton said. 'So it is not AI. There are some humans involved. And in this instance, it was a human error.' What happened on the missed call at Wimbledon? Russia's Pavlyuchenkova was one point from winning a game for a 5-4 lead in the first set against Britain's Kartal on Sunday when a shot by Kartal landed long. But there was no ruling from Hawk-Eye. After a delay, Helwerth decided the point should be replayed, which Pavlyuchenkova thought showed bias toward an opponent competing in her home country. With Hawk-Eye back up and running after a delay, Kartal won that game, but Pavlyuchenkova took that set and the match. The All England Club looked into what happened and found that the line-calling system actually was off for three points before anyone noticed. The system itself worked 'optimally,' Bolton said repeatedly. 'In this instance, sadly,' she said, 'it was the human part of the operation that made a mistake.' Why was the Hawk-Eye system accidentally turned off during a match? Bolton said the system is shut down between matches—'and the humans are the people that need to do the activating and deactivating'—and someone accidentally did so during Pavlyuchenkova vs. Kartal. Asked why, Bolton responded: 'Well, I don't know. It was a mistake, obviously. . . . I wasn't sat there, so I don't know what happened.' She said Helwerth could have made a ruling himself on the controversial non-call, the way he did on the prior pair of points, but instead just decided to pause the match. 'I'm assuming,' Bolton said, 'he felt he had not seen it properly.' Pavlyuchenkova said after the match the official told her he thought the ball was out. What do players think about the use of technology at Wimbledon? Players are divided on whether there even should be electronic rulings during matches—unless it is fool-proof—or whether there should be a return to Wimbledon's old way of doing things. Since 2007 through last year, there was a combination of the human touch and technology: There were line judges on court to make calls, but players were allowed to challenge and ask for a video replay of a point if they thought there was a mistake. 'It's such a big match, big event,' Pavlyuchenkova said. 'Since we have already automatic line-calling and so much invested into this, we should probably look into something else to have better decisions.'
Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- Free Malaysia Today
Wimbledon blames ‘human error' for embarrassing line-calling glitch
Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was made to replay a point following the line-calling system error. (AP pic) LONDON : Wimbledon chiefs today 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 today 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.
National Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- National Post
Wimbledon blames 'human error' for mistake by the tech that replaced officials
The All England Club, somewhat ironically, is blaming 'human error' for a glaring mistake by the electronic system that replaced human line judges this year at Wimbledon. Article content The CEO of the club, Sally Bolton, said Monday that the technology was 'inadvertently deactivated' by someone for three points at Centre Court during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's three-set victory over Sonay Kartal a day earlier in the fourth round. Article content Article content On one point, a shot by Kartal clearly landed past the baseline but wasn't called out by the automated setup — called Hawk-Eye — because it had been shut off. Article content Hours after Bolton spoke with reporters, the club issued a statement to announce that it 'removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate the ball tracking,' meaning 'this error cannot now be repeated due to the system changes we have made.' Article content Bolton declined to say who made the mistake on Sunday or how, exactly, it occurred or whether that person would face any consequences or be re-trained. She did note that there were other people at fault: the chair umpire, Nico Helwerth, and two who should have let him know the system was temporarily down — the review official and the Hawk-Eye official. Article content 'We didn't need to put line judges back on the court again,' Bolton said. 'We needed the system to be active.' Article content No. But like most big tennis tournaments nowadays — the French Open is one notable exception — Wimbledon has replaced its line judges with cameras that are supposed to follow the balls on every shot to determine whether they land in or out. Article content There are those, particularly in the British media, who keep referring to this as part of the ever-increasing creep of artificial intelligence into day-to-day life, but Bolton objected to the use of that term in this case. Article content 'The point I would want to emphasize — and perhaps contrary to some of the reporting we've seen — is it's not an artificial intelligence system. And it is electronic in the sense that the camera-tracking technology is set up to call the lines automatically, but it requires a human element to ensure that the system is functional,' Bolton said. 'So it is not AI. There are some humans involved. And in this instance, it was a human error.' Article content After a delay, Helwerth decided the point should be replayed, which Pavlyuchenkova thought showed bias toward an opponent competing in her home country. With Hawk-Eye back up and running after a delay, Kartal won that game, but Pavlyuchenkova took that set and the match.
Khaleej Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Khaleej Times
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.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Wimbledon umpire at centre of line-call controversy has ‘rest day' on Monday
The umpire who officiated the fourth-round match that featured a controversial line call is having a 'rest day' on Monday, according to the All England Club 's chief executive. Nico Helwerth, who was the chair umpire for the fourth round match between Sonay Kartal and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, was at the centre of the controversy after an operator error meant that the new electronic line calling technology was deactivated for one game. Kartal sent a shot long when game point down at 4-4, though this was not detected and the system instead made automated calls to "stop". And Helwerth then opted to replay the point, which Kartal then won. He was criticised by Pavlyuchenkova, who said at the time that he 'took the game away from me', later adding that 'the chair umpire should be able to take the initiative'. When asked about Helwerth's absence from the match list for Monday 7 July, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said that the competition has 'rotation of our umpires regularly', reports the BBC. 'A little bit like the players, the umpires also need rest days throughout the tournament. So he's having a rest day today. "He's fine. Look, it's really important to say that the umpire followed the protocols in place. He did what he needed to do on court and acted entirely correctly,' added Bolton. In this case, the rulebook states that if the electronic line-calling system is unable to make the call, then the chair umpire should make it. If they are unable to determine whether the ball was in or out, the point should be replayed. The new technology was introduced at this year's tournament, and is an enhanced version of the previous Hawk-Eye system. In a statement on the new system, a Wimbledon spokesperson said: 'We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball-tracking technology. The live ELC system relies on the Hawk-Eye operators, the review official and the technology to work in harmony. This did not happen. "In this instance there was a human error and as a consequence we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes."
