Offline: ATP To Replace All Line Judges With Electronic Line Calling Live By ’25
Friday, April 28, 2023 at 03:56PM By Barry Janoff
April 28, 2023: Describing it as “a landmark moment for our sport,” the ATP has unveiled a Tour-wide adoption of Electronic Line Calling Live, scheduled to begin in 2025.
ELC Live officiating technology will “cover all court lines for ‘out’ calls throughout matches, a role traditionally carried out by on-court line judges.”
“This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration,” Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP chairman, said via the organization.
“Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years. That said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies.
“Our sport deserves the most accurate form of officiating and we’re delighted to be able to deliver this across our whole Tour from 2025.”
ATP said this “significant officiating update follows several seasons during which a combination of ELC Live, ELC Review and on-court line judges has been used at ATP Tour events.”
ATP said ELC Live was first tested during the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017 in Milan.
The system has since been available for tournaments on a voluntary basis, but became more “widely adopted since the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Two of the four Grand Slams, which are not overseen by the ATP or Hogolic WTA Tour, use the system: the Australian Open and U.S. Open.
The French Open and Wimbledon still use line judges.
A growing number of major events have the system in place, including the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open, both of which are ATP and WTA Masters 1000 tournaments.
A WTA spokesperson wrote in an email to The Associated Press: “This is something that we have been reviewing and are very interested in.”
The ATP said “multiple suppliers are currently approved to provide ELC Live technology on hard court and on grass, while final testing is underway for clay. It is anticipated that multiple different suppliers will be approved across the various court surfaces from 2025.”
According to the ATP, “The move is set to optimize accuracy and consistency across tournaments, match courts and surfaces, for players competing in both main draw and qualifying events.
“The decision was supported by extensive research conducted by ATP across tennis stakeholders, including fans, which identified accuracy and consistency as the most important factors in assessing different line-calling systems.”
ATP said that all-court ELC Live coverage will also “deliver comprehensive player and ball tracking across the whole Tour, leading to an unprecedented level of data for player-performance analysis and the development of new statistics in the game in collaboration with Tennis Data Innovations, in addition to future commercialization opportunities.”
Back to Home Page