THIS year’s inaugural Next Gen Finals in Milan has sparked up an interesting conversation on tennis line judges’ uncertainty, after the ATP announced that they will replace the judges with ‘electronic line calls’.
This means that the chair umpire will be the only official on the court, with ‘Hawk-Eye Live’ technology used to judge whether shots are in or out.
Decisions made via the technology will be final with players unable to challenge calls as they do at tournaments via Hawk-Eye playback.
Marginal calls will be accompanied by a visualisation on video screens around the stadium.
Foot-faults will be determined by a ‘review official’ who will monitor the feet of servers via cameras.
The tournament scheduled for November will be contested by the top eight players aged 21 and under and will feature a range of new innovations including a shot clock and short sets.
This new system could see line judges being phased out of the game completely in the future.
In a professional game, there are up to eleven officials on the court, which would be cut back drastically with this new technology.
But also the cost of a match would decrease as cutting back on salaries will help save money per game.
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