Tennis is one of the most traditional sports in the world. In modern times, where technology has touched every aspect of life, even tennis has been met with innovation, namely “Hawk-Eye,” the electronic line-calling system that eliminates human error.
We regularly see this technology in both the hard and grass court Slams, but it’s totally absent at clay court tennis tournaments. Why is that?
Clay is one of the oldest surfaces in tennis history. Many believe that the lack of electronic line-calling is simply a matter of tradition. But is that the actual reason?
The real reason electronic line-calling is not used at Roland Garros or other clay court tennis tournaments
The answer to why Roland Garros and other clay-court tournaments do not use an electronic line-calling system is because of the surface itself. Notably, the red clay leaves behind marks where the ball has bounced, extinguishing the need for electronic-line calling.
Gilbert Ysern, the tournament director of the French Open, a clay-court Grand Slam tournament, responded to this matter. He said,
I don’t think we need it. There are ball marks on clay, and our chair umpires are used to checking the marks when needed, and, so why would we need Hawk-Eye?
Gilbert Ysern
This method, however, leaves room for human error, which has caused many controversies over time. Many tennis players are now calling for Hawk-Eye on clay courts.
However, Ysern, a former chair umpire himself, said,
It’s very, very rarely that the officials can’t find the mark.
Is money also a factor for not using Hawk-Eye on clay?
Many also believe that electronic line-calling at clay court tournaments, including Roland Garros, is a matter of cost-cutting. High-tech technology does come at a high price, but according to Ysern, it is more about the principle.
He explained,
Why should tennis be the same on all surfaces? We water the court between two matches. Should we water the court between two matches at the U.S. Open? Of course, I’m kidding. Each surface has its own way of working.
Gilbert Ysern
Inarguably, the events played on red dirt set a different tone than the rest of the tournaments. Said Ysern:
The chair umpire getting down and checking the mark and [going] back up, it’s part of the, how do you say, the mise-en-scene.
Gilbert Ysern
What are your thoughts? Are you in favor of or against the electronic-line calling system at Roland Garros or clay court tennis in general?
Use the technology available. After the first serve on either end the lines are a mess. We’ve seen the players and linesmen argue over which mark is the right one – ending with a shrug of the shoulders and a decision that APPEARS incorrect.
Monsieur Ysern said that Roland Garros doesn’t need line technology – these remarks look foolish now after the wrong call made at a critical time in the Men’s Final. That decision may have changed the destination of the title.
It is totally UNACCEPTABLE that the French or any other COUNTRY should ignore technolOgy. I am 85 years old and try to keep up,using my COMPUTER ever day, but Come on, human eye sight Must have LIMITATIONS.
My maIn CONCERN is the Mental stress that it CREATES for the players, not JUSTIFIED
Garry 03,06,22 at 1745 uk
Opinion of director echoes alll traditionalists, but got nothing to do with wanting to make the correct decision every time – you need technology tried and tested, humans make mistakes for many reasons unintentionally, good machines don’t. in india the Same traditionalists resisted hawk-eye in cricket now accepted, everywhere in test matches the camera does not lie though every angle harder to cover in cricket. Easy in tennis.
I saw a line judge call a serve out, after getting out of her chair to check the line. Hawkeye, then called it in. I’ve seen players argue with line judge over which mark was the correct spot. It makes no sense to allow incorrect calls on players who work so hard.
Players work too hard on Court not to have the most accurate scoring system
It is abso riDiculous that they are not using Electrinic line calliNg at all touRnaments ESPECIALLY mAjOrs. Why would you not use a process that never makes a MISTAKE vs one that makes MISTAKES nearly every Game. And yes the cHair umpire Climbing up and Down and up and Down is nothing short of stupid!
Having the umpire going through the ridiculous performance of running over to some random mark is a joke. The atp should make use of the technology mandatory for all too events.
They should use the new technology,
Hauke-Eye on all surfaces 👍
Do you remember when there was nothing but the human eye for calls? The match at the French Open when John McEnroe got a blatant bad call and he yelled out, “…. chalk flew in the air!…” was what players, back then, went through.
McEnroe was involved in the first type of technology used to confirm calls. The very first was actually called “ The Mac Cam”!
How many matches were incorrectly won or lost back then because of incorrect calls? The French refusing to use this technology is so unfair to players.
well today Krejcikova won the match, but because the umpire got it wrong, the match continued. A reply of hawk-eye showed the ball was “out” by an unquestionable length. Lucky for her she ended up winning the match. Why not include hawk-eye in the decision making? and still let the umpires have the final decision. Let’s get up to date!