Wimbledon line judges have been abolished in favour of artificial intelligence, with the Championships ending 147 years of tradition from next year.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will install automated electronic line calling on all match courts, including Centre Court, from 2025.
Wimbledon were reluctant to ditch the long-standing tradition but electronic line calls (ELC) will be used as human judges were not deemed to be accurate enough.
Hawk-Eye has been in use at Wimbledon since 2007 – a system where players could call for reviews of disputed points – but this will be upgraded with automated voice calls. It is understood these will be heard within a 10th of a second of the ball landing out.
Around 300 line judges cover more than 650 matches across the fortnight at Wimbledon, working in teams and covering different courts on a rolling 60-minute rota. Pay varies, but experienced judges would earn around £180 a day.
Line judges have been a rich part of Wimbledon history, with John McEnroe’s infamous “you cannot be serious” tirade in 1981 following a disputed line call.
The move to AI follows the ill-fated experiment using automated commentary in 2023. Using generative AI technology from IBM watsonx, Wimbledon produced audio commentary and captions for all highlights videos during the championships last year, which was available on their website and app.
Last year, AELTC technology director Bill Jinks said there was no risk of human umpires being replaced but did not rule out line judges being phased out at Wimbledon.
“I can say that in 2023 we’ve definitely got line judges,” Jinks said. “You’re right that line calling technology has changed. We’ve been using the challenge system since 2007, and it currently works for us. Who’s to say what might happen in the future. Obviously we’ve seen what’s going on with announcements in the ATP for their plans, and things like that will be considered in the future.
“I think the players are used to both systems. I get very, very few actual things that need to be checked post-match. Hardly any per tournament, where the player has got to the point where they say, I want you to prove to me that it was the right [call]. The players are accepting about the way the technology is developing.”
AI commentary was scrapped for this year’s tournament, however, after a fierce backlash. Tennis presenter Annabel Croft said: “It’s a race against the robot for your job. Listening to that, it was very stiff, it was emotionless, no feelings at all.
“Whoever is taking the decision to put a robot on to commentary, and of course into the wider context of all jobs in life, this is going to kill humanity.”
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