The Chief Executive of The All England Club believes it is right for Wimbledon to adopt Electronic Line Calling, despite concerns that it may hurt certain pathways to becoming umpires.
The grass-court major is implementing the system across the entire tournament for the first time in 2025, following in the footsteps of both the Australian Open and the US Open. Calls will be automatically made via technology operated by a team working behind the scenes. Supporters of the move believe the method helps speed up matches and improves the accuracy of line calls.
On the other hand, traditionalists will miss not seeing officials standing around the court which had been a regular occurrence at Wimbledon for 147 years.
“The decision we’ve made there is very much about the way in which Wimbledon has always balanced heritage and tradition with innovation and how we walk that line. We’re always very conscious of that,” CEO Sally Bolton told reporters on Monday.
“We think about the players using an electronic line calling for most of the rest of the year on Tour. For us, it was time to make that change.”
Bolton, who has been in her current role since 2020, states the new measure is not a cost-saving exercise and said that some line judges from 2024 have returned this year in different roles. However, she didn’t provide a percentage of how many have returned.
“It’s about evolving the tournament and making sure that we’re providing the most effective possible line,” she continued.
“Calling the line judges have been such an important part of the championships for so many years, and we hugely appreciate the service that they’ve provided.
“We don’t comment on what things cost, but I think, you see, it’s not a money-saving exercise. The technology investment we’ve had to make to deliver ELC is not insignificant.”
Whilst the move to technology was always going to be inevitable, there are concerns about the impact it could have elsewhere in the sport. Historically many line judges the role as a pathway to becoming a tennis umpire.
Now this pathway is no longer there at SW19, are they considering creating an alternative pathway to address this issue?
“We worked closely with the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) on exactly that, the kind of potential impact on the officiating pipeline of the decision we were going to make. The LTA’s view was that there were ways in which we could deploy those officials in a different way.” Bolton explained.
“So whilst it’s not for us to put in place those sorts of activities, that’s very much the job of the LTA.
“We have been very supportive of them in doing that, and we’ve been very conscious of that in making the decision.
“Nonetheless, it’s still the right decision for us to make this year.”
