Wimbledon Embraces Video Challenge System This Season.
The tournament joins the US and Aussie Opens in employing replay technology.
Video review technology are set to arrive at Wimbledon for the 2025 edition.
Players will gain the ability to challenge specific rulings from the official, echoing the practice currently in use at both the US Open and the Aussie major.
The new system is slated for use on the main stadium and Court One for the duration of the tournament and on the remaining featured courts when they are staging singles matches.
This step arrives only a season following the AELTC introduced ELC, which brought an end to the centuries-old tradition of line officials.
Reviewable Decisions
Players will not be permitted to dispute the accuracy of the ELC system, but are allowed to request the umpire to re-examine other situations, such as:
- If a tennis ball has double-bounced.
- If a shot made contact with an rival's racket or person on the way past.
- Possible interference end of a point.
Notably, there is an unlimited number on the number of reviews a player can ask for.
Case in Point
An illustrative example took place in a recent tournament last week, where a top player initiated the video challenge against his opponent.
Draper conceded it was a difficult situation for the umpire, but believed his rival had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire viewed a video and determined Draper was responsible for hindrance, awarding the rally to Medvedev.
Growing Trend
Video reviews aren't new for major tournaments. The system was adopted at the US Open since 2023 and the Aussie Open this year.
Furthermore, it is becoming more common on the WTA circuit, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour plans to have video reviews in place at all of its events.
Additional Innovations
A further change at The Championships this year involves the introduction of visual indicators on displays to support the audio calls from the ELC system.
This addresses instances where fans have occasionally been unsure whether a shot was in or out.
In other news, with exactly a century of days to go until the beginning of the Championships, organizers have further revealed an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifying competition in Roehampton.
