PARIS — Welcome to the final stand of the road judges. They’re a dying breed in tennis, however on the French Open, the organizers are hoping to carry again the inevitable tide of digital line calling (ELC) for so long as doable.
In nearly each match right here at Roland Garros, there will probably be a disputed level. The method is similar. The decision is made, the participant protests, the umpire will get down from their lofty perch, the participant highlights the mark with their racket, and the umpire makes the decision. It is theater — and typically results in an overturned name. Mirra Andreeva had one late in her first-round match with Cristina Bucsa on Tuesday, and turned, exasperated, to her field when her pleas for a name to be overturned have been ignored.
This 12 months, Wimbledon will undertake digital line calling. The road judges will not be there, hunched over in between factors, bellowing guttural noises when a ball swings vast of the road. The Australian Open ushered on this expertise in 2021, and the US Open adopted swimsuit in 2022. That leaves the French Open because the final to have this human contact.
Some tournaments on clay have adopted ELC and had early issues. There have been calls the place expertise and the human eye haven’t matched. In Madrid, Alexander Zverev took a photograph of a shot from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina that he deemed to have been out, however the ELC known as in.
“I’ll speak to the supervisors, I’ll speak to the ATP as a result of, as I mentioned, this isn’t regular,” Zverev mentioned afterwards. “For a mistake to occur like this, sure, one or two millimeters I perceive, however 4, 5 centimeters is just not regular.” Afterwards, the ATP even moved to make clear a Tennis TV submit about this — pointing to how ball marks on clay might be exhausting to learn, given it’s a dynamic floor.
One other have a look at the decision 🧐 https://t.co/t0HHsl3YjC pic.twitter.com/lxdNuaqg6T
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 27, 2025
There’s loads of controversy in tournaments nonetheless utilizing the human contact, too. Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka took {a photograph} of a name in Stuttgart throughout her quarterfinal towards Elise Mertens. This was on a shot she felt was in however had been known as out.
“Yeah, it was undoubtedly in,” she mentioned afterwards. “I perceive. I imply, everybody could make errors, and I am not the one who’s going to be complaining with the referee … [but] in case you make the error, I feel it’s a must to have guts to confess it and make a name.”
All of the whereas, event organizers and the sport’s stakeholders are creating instructional movies displaying why the human eye might be deceived by the mark left by the bounce and trajectory of a ball on clay. “I feel it wants a bit little bit of adjustment,” Casper Ruud mentioned. “I feel there was a fairly unhealthy error within the Zverev match in Madrid. I’ve seen some others. I assumed the tutorial video that the ATP posted was [well] defined.”
Whereas the requires ELC hold getting stronger, Roland Garros pushes again. Gilles Moretton, the president of the FFT, says the French Open will preserve human line judges for so long as doable. “Relating to what occurred in Madrid and what occurred in Rome, the system … appears to be not good,” Morreton mentioned. Morreton additionally talked about how essential the road judges are as ambassadors of the game.
“I feel we’re proper to maintain our referees and line judges at Roland Garros,” Morreton added. “For Roland Garros, we wish to hold our linesmen so long as the gamers agree with that.”
Then got here the qualification: “Until the gamers are unanimous and are available to us and say, ‘We cannot play if there is not a machine’ … then I feel we have got a terrific future forward of us to take care of this fashion of refereeing.”
However the noise from the gamers is rising. Novak Djokovic was requested for his ideas on Monday. “Effectively, first I am going to say that I perceive the people who find themselves extra traditionalists and who wish to have the road umpires on the courtroom. I feel it is a part of our tradition and custom that has been there for many years. But when I’ve to decide on between the 2, I am extra of a proponent of expertise. I’d say it is simply extra correct, saves time, and simply perhaps additionally much less folks on the courtroom.”
Coco Gauff agreed and mentioned, “If we’ve got expertise we must always use it.” However she added, “I am not going to be out right here advocating and pushing for it. However yeah, if I had a desire I’d select to play on the courtroom perhaps the place the robots are making the selections.”
Ruud added, “I feel I desire … electrical line calling, I feel it really works very properly. I’d say I desire that. I feel out of all of the calls which are made, the margin of error is smaller with digital line calling.”
There’s nonetheless some assist for line judges, predominantly from the French contingent. Arthur Fils had beforehand issued his desire for human line judges, and Gael Monfils backed it up pre-tournament. “Fairly truthfully, we wish to have issues the previous methods … I feel it is good to have line judges right here as a result of that is the best way I grew up,” Monfils mentioned.
Stefanos Tsitsipas can be a proponent for the human eye. “That is what makes clay particular, in a method — that you could at all times evaluate the pictures. … Clearly, you possibly can’t deny that digital line-calling is the long run, and every thing is transferring in direction of AI and synthetic intelligence. However me, personally, I would not thoughts enjoying on clay with perhaps the judgment of a human as an alternative of a robotic.”
And for others? Effectively, the flip-flopping between the 2 strategies is just a bit bit an excessive amount of. “Truthfully, I am so confused, I do not know, as a result of I had a scenario with the referee in Stuttgart, and likewise there was difficult calls with the Hawk-Eye system in Rome. So I am actually confused what I desire, to be sincere,” Sabalenka mentioned.
Likelihood is that through the subsequent two weeks, there will probably be a contentious, match-swinging name that will increase the noise for ELC. It might additionally enhance the noise for uniformity of utilizing the expertise throughout the 4 Slams. Roland Garros will proceed resisting the pull of AI and robots, however for a way lengthy?
