Wimbledon told they owe grovelling apology to Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper

Wimbledon should apologise to Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper for dismissing the pair’s criticism of its automatic line-calling system.  That’s the view of talkSPORT host Jeff Stelling who was backed up by tennis superstar Nick Kyrgios in his disappointment about the technology’s failure.

The British duo have been among a number of tennis stars to suggest that the technology, which is replacing line judges for the first time in the Championship’s 148-year history, is not accurate.  Despite the automated, Hawkeye-powered ‘ELC’ system using cameras, computers and sensors to track the ball’s trajectory, it has come under huge scrutiny at the All England Club following a number of hairy moments.

Most notable of all these was during a last-16 clash between Britain’s Sonay Kartal and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Sunday.  The system quite clearly failed during the Centre Court match when a shot from Kartal landed nearly a foot out, but no call came.  Had the call been correct, it would have given Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set, but instead umpire Nico Helwerth ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game.

The glaring error sparked an angry reaction from the Russian at the changeover, who raged at the official: “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.”  In total, the line-calling system missed three calls in that game, prompting a Wimbledon spokesperson to reveal the club had apologised to the players after finding that the technology was: “Deactivated in error on part of the server’s side of the court for one game.”

There have since been further developments in the saga, with match official Helwerth notably absent from Monday’s Wimbledon schedule after his controversial handling of the events.  The All England Club insisted he has not been demoted, like a Premier League referee can be, and was on a normal day off.

Umpire Nico Helwerth halted the match between Pavlyuchenkova and Kartal to check the technology was working

However, chief executive Sally Bolton appeared to suggest the fault lied partly with Helwerth for Sunday’s mishap, as she laid the blame at the person who ‘deactivated’ the system and the umpire for not making the correct call from his chair.  Bolton explained in a press conference: “The electronic line calling system was working optimally.  “The issue we had was human error in terms of the tracking system having been inadvertently deactivated, and then the chair umpire not being made aware of the fact that it had been deactivated.”

The All England Club’s recent admission of fault was in stark contrast to their previous response to criticism from Raducanu and Draper.  Raducanu believed the line-calling system had got a number of calls wrong during her third round exit against Aryna Sabalenka.  Meanwhile, Draper stated he didn’t trust it after his second round defeat to Maran Cilic, saying: “I don’t think it’s 100 per cent accurate, in all honesty.”

This prompted All England Club chair Debbie Jevans to respond strongly, where she shared her confidence in the system.  She told BBC Sport: “It’s funny, isn’t it, because when we did have linesmen, we were constantly asked why we didn’t have electronic line calling because it’s more accurate than they do the rest of the tour.  “The players wanted it because they were asking us: ‘Why do we have linesmen?’ Because of potential human error. And now we have it in situ.”

But after the competition were forced to admit the technology’s recent shortcomings, talkSPORT’s host Stelling has urged Wimbledon to hold their hands up over their previous comments.  Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast, he said: “I think Wimbledon should apologise as well to Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper, who criticised some of the calls there and said: ‘This isn’t working properly’.  “And then when it’s found not to be working [they were proven right].  “I thought Pavlyuchenkova took it brilliantly – she had a grumble when she sat down in her seat and then she got on with it, because it was such an appalling error.”

2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios also weighed in on the controversy on talkSPORT Breakfast, where he criticised the new system, and insisted Wimbledon should have continued to employ line judges.  The Australian, who stars on Wimbledon Unfiltered for talkSPORT, was asked how he would have reacted if the technology had failed during his match.  To this, he replied: “I think there would have been a couple of rackets flying around, that’s for sure.”

Kyrgios then said of the system: “Look, it’s not good enough, in my opinion, to be honest.  “It’s the greatest tournament that we have in the world, and this is exactly why I thought that Wimbledon shouldn’t be trying to incorporate the electronic line-calls – I feel like they almost rushed it this year.  “They’re playing for potentially millions of dollars out there, players have been training their entire lives to get to a point where they’re playing Wimbledon, and they want everything to be absolutely perfect.

“And for Wimbledon to come out and say that the electronic line-call machine was turned off, it’s just not good enough.  “So I can completely understand the frustrations from Pavlyuchenkova, and luckily she gets through and she wins.  “But what happens if she doesn’t win that first set and she ends up losing the match?  “This is where the problems can really start happening. But, look, they should have just kept the line umpires because that’s where the content is as well.”