Malfunction in Wimbledon’s Electronic Line-Calling System Causes Replay During Quarterfinal Match

During a quarterfinal match at Wimbledon, a malfunction in the newly implemented electronic line-calling system led to a point needing to be replayed in the match between Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov. The incident took place at the beginning of the fourth set on Court No. 1, after Fritz had served and a fault call was made. The chair umpire, Louise Azemar-Engzell, paused the game and announced that the players would have to replay the last point because of a malfunction in the system.

According to the All England Club, the situation arose because the electronic system mistakenly recorded Fritz's shot as a serve due to the timing of the ball boy crossing the net. Consequently, the chair umpire decided to have the point replayed. While Khachanov won that replayed point, Fritz ultimately progressed to the semifinals with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4).

This year, Wimbledon transitioned to an electronic line-calling system that has replaced human line judges; however, it has faced some significant challenges. Earlier in the tournament, a major error was noticed at Centre Court during a match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal, where an obvious out call was missed by the automated system, known as Hawk-Eye, due to it being unintentionally turned off. The Wimbledon officials later attributed this mistake to "human error," with Sally Bolton, the club’s chief executive, confirming that deactivation of the technology had occurred for three points in the match.