Electronic line calls in any respect ATP males’s tennis occasions by 2025

There received’t be any extra arguing with line judges over calls at tennis tournaments on the ATP males’s tour as of 2025 – as a result of there received’t be any extra line judges at these occasions by then.

The London-based ATP introduced Friday that it’s going to use Electronic Line Calling Live – generally known as ELC Live – for all “out” calls in all matches starting two years from now. Each match nonetheless will likely be overseen by a chair umpire, however the line judges who was entrusted with figuring out the place photographs landed will not be current on courtroom.

It represents the subsequent step towards counting on expertise for line calls in a course of that gained velocity on the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals, when ELC Live was first tried on the boys’s tour. A spokesperson for the WTA ladies’s tour didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning any plans for digital calls at its tournaments.

Line judges have been used at fewer and fewer websites throughout the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2020, together with on the Australian Open and U.S. Open, Grand Slam tournaments that aren’t run by the ATP and thus don’t want to stick to the tour’s insurance policies.

Electronic techniques have been used primarily on arduous courts and grass courts, however the ATP mentioned its new coverage will embody each floor, together with clay courts.

Some within the sport, together with the French Open, the place main-draw play begins on May 28, have resisted switching away from people making calls as a result of tennis balls depart marks within the clay that can be utilized to find out the place a shot hit the bottom.

“This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration. Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years,” ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi mentioned.