WIMBLEDON is considering a major shake-up by replacing line judges with AI robots.
And it is a move that Andy Murray would be in favour of following his devastating SW19 exit.
Wimbledon could opt to replace line judges with AI robots
The Championships are synonymous with the line judges dotted around the edge of the courts in their Polo Ralph Lauren clobber and extravagant dips to get out of the way of tennis balls fired down at 130mph.
But that soon could become a sight of the past should Wimbledon decide to move on from the human helpers.
The Australian Open and US Open have embraced the electronic line calling – using the Hawk Eye technology to then make ‘live’ judgements on whether the ball was in or out and bellowing an audible “fault” through the speakers if required.
The ATP – which oversees the men’s tennis tour – announced in April that the circuit would adopt the innovation for all their tournaments from 2025.
Wimbledon has the Hawk Eye cameras in place, enabling players to challenge decisions they think may be wrong.
However, the next step would be to use the tech for every close call – ensuring they are all correct and removing the risk of human error, as Murray experienced in Friday’s crushing loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
And the former world No1 and two-time Wimbledon champ would welcome its adoption at the prestigious and traditional All England Club.
After being informed a crucial line call incorrectly went against him against No5 seed Tsitsipas, a devastated Murray said: “Right now, I obviously would rather it was done automatically.
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“It’s a hard one because I probably prefer having line judges on the court. It feels nicer to me and I think the crowd quite like it. I think for TV they probably quite like it.
“When big mistakes are getting made, obviously as a player you don’t want that.”
And now Wimbledon’s tournament director has admitted All England bosses are mulling over the dramatic change.
Jamie Baker said: “Line calling obviously is something that is accelerated in the rest of tennis and we are not making any decisions at this point, but we are constantly looking at those things as to what the future might hold.
“We are constantly trying to balance the parts of our heritage that are absolutely sacred, absolutely worth protecting, because half a million people come here every year and it’s a big part of their experience.
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“But there are also other parts of our heritage that don’t actually carry the same value they did in the past but don’t anymore, so we are looking at ways that we can change and innovate in a way that keeps up with things that are happening in society, but also doesn’t devalue the really important heritage points which basically nobody else has here.
“I’m sure things are going to change over the next ten, 15, 20 years but our challenge as an executive team here is to make sure those changes don’t erode the heritage because it’s really important to us.”
Wimbledon has used AI to help collect stats and produce player power indexes for the last few years.
And for 2023, IBM introduced AI-generated captions and audio in their three-minute video highlights reels – and can even replicate individuals’ voices with consent.
It is thought the AI could be used for commentary on all the outside courts throughout the tournament.
However, there are no plans to scrap live human commentary on the show courts.
Andy Murray was undone by an incorrect line call against Stefanos Tsitsipas
The line judges have been a permanent fixture on the All England Club lawns
