Wimbledon announced Wednesday that it will replace its iconic line judges with electronic line calling starting in 2025, marking a significant shift for the historic grass-court tournament.
The presence of well-dressed umpires and line judges has been a staple of the 147-year-old Grand Slam, alongside strawberries and cream and players’ all-white attire. However, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is now following suit with other tournaments, stating that this decision aims to “balance tradition and innovation.”
In 2023, the men’s ATP Tour revealed a tour-wide adoption of electronic line calling (ELC) beginning in 2025 to enhance accuracy and consistency across tournaments, with the women’s WTA Tour also embracing this change.
The technology is used at the Australian Open and U.S. Open, though the French Open remains an outlier among the four Grand Slams.
The All England Club announced it would make the switch to live ELC starting next year.
“The officiating technology will be in place for all Championships and qualifying match courts and will cover the ‘out’ and ‘fault’ calls that have previously been made by line umpires,” it said in a statement Wednesday.
Tournament officials said the decision to use ELC, which builds on existing ball-tracking and line-calling technology, was made following extensive testing during this year’s Championships.
Since 2007, Hawk-Eye has assisted officials at Wimbledon on certain courts, allowing players to challenge line calls.
“The decision to introduce live electronic line calling at the Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation,” said All England Club Chief Executive Sally Bolton.
“Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at the Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust, and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.
“For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at a number of other events on tour.
“We take our responsibility to balance tradition and innovation at Wimbledon very seriously. Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating setup at the Championships for many decades, and we recognize their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.”
The All England Club also announced that the men’s and women’s singles finals will start at the later time of 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. GMT) on the final weekend of the tournament, pushed back from 2 p.m.
Next year’s Wimbledon takes place from June 30 to July 13.
