The AI-enhanced electronic line-calling (ELC) system at Wimbledon, Hawk-Eye Live, replaced line umpires this year but has been making errors on court.

Yesterday (6 July) on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova played the UK’s Sonay Kartal in the fourth round of the women’s singles.

In the first set of the match, Kartal hit a ball long but ELC failed to register it. 

Television replays showed that Kartal’s shot was clearly out, yet the chair umpire ruled that because the technology had not tracked it, the point needed to be replayed. 

Kartal went on to win the point but had the ball been called out, Pavlyuchenkova would have won the point and taken the game.

Three further calls were missed by the system on the same side of the court during the game.

In a statement by the All England Club later in the day, organisers admitted that, after further investigation, it was found that the technology had been “deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court for one game”.

“We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball-tracking technology,” the club said. 

“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.”

The fact Pavlyuchenkova went on to win the match meant the system’s malfunctions were not as detrimental as they could have been.

This is the first time in Wimbledon’s 148-year history that human line umpires have not presided over matches, with each of the 18 courts now using ELC technology. 

ELC has replaced the 327 line umpires that have traditionally covered the more than 650 matches played during the championship. 

The technology tracks the ball’s movement through 12 cameras strategically placed on every court, indicating if a shot lands outside a line or if it was in.

ELC is already in operation at the US Open and Australian Open, but this is the first time it has been used at Wimbledon. 

At the time of the announcement last autumn, Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, said: “The time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.”

However, ELC’s accuracy has come under scrutiny during the past eight days of the championship. 

On the first few days, BBC Sport reported that some of the players were complaining that the calls from the ELC system were too quiet.

On Friday (4 July), Wimbledon organisers also had to defend remarks from British number one Jack Draper following his game with Marin Čilić. 

Draper grew frustrated with the technology after one of his opponent’s serves was not called out in the fourth set.

“I don’t think it’s 100% accurate, in all honesty,” Draper said in his post-match press conference.

“A couple of the ones today, it showed a mark on the court. There’s no way the chalk would have showed that. I guess it cannot be 100% accurate – it’s millimetres.”

According to The Guardian, Jamie Baker, the tournament director, defended the accuracy of the system and refused to say whether he missed human line judges.

In other sports, the Football Association announced in February 2025 that it was trialling semi-automated offside tech in the fifth round of the FA Cup.