THE Hawk-Eye live electronic line calling FAILED on Centre Court.
And that sparked a furious rant towards the chair umpire in never-seen-before scenes at Wimbledon in which she accused the tournament of BIAS.
Sonay Kartal took on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the last 16.
But the Brit’s shot bounced well long at advantage Pavlyuchenkova at 4-4 in the first set.
However, there was no call from the live system – even though replays showed it was clearly out.
The audio system then declared “stop, stop”.
German umpire Nico Helwerth called play to a halt, telling the crowd that “there is a problem”.
Despite the Kartal shot clearly being out, there was no video replay available to the tennis umpire to overrule.
And after nearly a three-minute delay during which time he got on the phone to work out what was happening, he eventually said: “The electronic system was unable to track the last point so it will be replayed.”
Therefore, a let was played, although Pavlyuchenkova should have had the game because the backhand landed out on game point.
Incredibly, to add to the drama, Brighton’s Kartal battled back and won the replayed point and then went on to break at a crucial stage of the opening set.
Pavlyuchenkova complained to the umpire when she returned to her seat.
She quite rightly moaned: “I don’t know if it’s in or it’s out. How do I know?
“How can you prove it? Because she is local, they can say whatever.
“You took the game away from me.”
Helworth replied: “If they tell me [inaudible] there’s nothing I can do.
“If they tell me we don’t have it, that’s the rule.”
But Pavlyuchenkova replied: “They stole the game from me, they stole it.”
Pavlyuchenkova managed to regroup and break back immediately as Kartal served for the first set, even saving a set point.
And she forced a tie-break, winning it 7-3 after a 77-minute first set.
This is the first year of Wimbledon since the tournament ditched human line judges for the AI live system.
It meant that rather than the men and women calling the lines and players having the chance to challenge using Hawk-Eye retrospectively, the technology is supposed to use pre-recorded voices calling “fault”, “out” and “foot fault” immediately after the shots.
In a statement, 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.”
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