Pavlyuchenkova almost paid the price for a technological mistake - Photo: REUTERS
In the fourth round of Wimbledon, Pavlyuchenkova faced British opponent Sonay Kartal. The match went smoothly, until the score was 4-4 in the first set. At this time, Kartal had a situation where the ball went out.
Pavlyuchenkova reflexively dropped her racket and did not hit. However, there was no shout of "out" to signal that the ball was out. Pavlyuchenkova tried to explain that the ball was no longer in the court, confusing the main referee Nico Helwerth.
He announced, "We will check the system again because we did not hear the notification sound." He then made a call and gave a follow-up announcement that the system could not check the situation just now.
The result was replayed. If it had been a point for Pavlyuchenkova, she would have won the game. Instead, Kartal won the game and broke it. Fortunately for the Russian, she was brave enough to turn the game around and win the match 7-6, 6-4.
The image clearly shows the ball going out but the electronic referee technology did not give any notice - Photo: BBC
The "system" that referee Nico Helwerth is referring to is the electronic line-calling system. With this technology, tennis tournaments will no longer need line judges, who make announcements when the ball goes out of play. Instead, cameras installed around the court will track the ball's path. Sensors will also help determine if the ball is out, and the sound system will automatically shout "out" if it detects a ball going out.
During the match between Pavlyuchenkova and Kartal, the electronic line refereeing technology was somehow disabled. Therefore, despite winning, Pavlyuchenkova was still upset when she told the referee: "You took a game away from me".
Wimbledon later issued a statement about the incident, saying that "human error" was the cause and not a system problem.
"The electronic line refereeing technology was accidentally turned off in a controversial situation due to operator error. We have apologized to the involved. The organizers have absolute confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology and will review the working process to avoid human error in the future."
This is the first time in Wimbledon's 147-year history that the new technology has been used. However, the system has been controversial in terms of its accuracy.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cong-nghe-gay-tranh-cai-suyt-lam-tay-vot-nga-tra-gia-o-wimbledon-20250707055346154.htm
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