Line judges will not be positioned on Wimbledon tennis courts in 2025 as a historic rule change is made.
The officials are traditionally seen standing behind each baseline to determine whether or not balls have landed out in points.
Human line judges will no longer make calls at WimbledonGetty
Cries of ‘Out!’ and ‘Fault!’ are common throughout the tournament, but line calls will have a completely different system as of next year.
Wimbledon announced on Wednesday that ‘Live Electronic Line Calling’ [Live ELC] will be in operation for the 2025 Championships.
The technology will be used throughout matches in both qualifying and the main draw for the first time in its 147-year history.
Live ELC was given the green light following extensive tests that were carried out during the 2024 tournament.
The All England Club’s chief executive Sally Bolton said: “The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation.
“Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.
“For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour. We take our responsibility to balance tradition and innovation at Wimbledon very seriously.
“Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating set-up at The Championships for many decades and we recognise their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.”
The technology was first tested in 2017 at the Next Generation ATP Finals on the men’s tour with a system called ‘Hawk-Eye Live’.
All calls are automatically made in real time through Hawk-Eye, the computer system that tracks a ball’s trajectory on the court.
It’s a huge change in the tournament’s near 150-year historyGetty
Jannik Sinner’s US Open final win in September had electronic line judgesGetty
Players’ movements are also tracked, with pre-recorded calls of ‘Out!’, ‘Fault!’ and ‘Foot fault!’ then announced.
The 2020 US Open had electronic line judges to help staff reductions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, although they weren’t present for matches at the Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums.
This was also the case at the 2021 Australian Open, with all matches using the technology for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament.
Electronic line judges have been present at both the US and Australian Opens since 2022 but, like Wimbledon, the French Open still used human judges this year.
Another key change that Wimbledon announced is that the men’s and women’s singles finalists will no longer to take court at 2pm.
Instead, the ladies’ final will commence at 4pm on Saturday and the mens’ final will do the same on the Sunday, with the doubles matches starting at 1pm on each respective day.
