Protests at this year's steamy Wimbledon have failed to stop the transition from 300 line judges to AI-driven electronic line-calling, and players seem to have accepted the change, previously announced by the All England Club, with only minor grumblings. With artificial intelligence now analyzing footage from up to 18 cameras to determine if the ball is in or out of bounds, China's Yue Yuan complained that the voices announcing the calls on loudspeakers were too quiet and drowned out by the crowd, though she noted that was a minor problem since the umpire could relay any unheard calls, per the BBC.
American Frances Tiafoe saw the missing drama over disputed calls as a downside for fans. "If I were to hit a serve on a big point, you go up with the challenge, is it in, is it out? The crowd is, like, 'ohhh'. There's none of that." But the lack of drama is exactly what appeals to Britain's Cameron Norrie. "It's pretty black or white with the calls," he said, suggesting the change improved the game. "In, out ... there's no mistake."
The All England Club noted it broke with tradition in an effort to achieve "maximum accuracy." The line-calling system developed by Sony-owned Hawk-Eye Innovations can track the ball to within 3 millimeters and issues a notification within a tenth of a second if a ball goes out of bounds, per Euronews. Yet as protesters outside the tournament grounds pointed out, the system has taken over the jobs of hardworking and attentive humans. Now, humans only verify that the system has it right.
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