All England Club faces controversy after blaming ball boy for AI line judge fault that halted Wimbledon quarter final
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Red-faced bosses at Wimbledon have only just issued an apology after its faltering electronic line-calling system was accidentally turned off during a high stakes Centre Court match.
Now the All England Club is facing even more controversy after seeming to blame a ball boy on Tuesday when the state-of-the-art tech appeared to malfunction again, this time during a men’s quarter-finals clash between Taylor Fritz and Karen Khachanov.
Play during the Court One showdown had to be halted after a phantom ‘fault’ was called out by the system – which has replaced traditional line judges at Wimbledon for the first time.
Swedish umpire Louise Azemar-Engzell shouted ‘stop’ in the opening game of the fourth set when a fault was called incorrectly despite Fritz’s forehand landing well inside the baseline.
The crowd responded with jeers as she said: ‘Ladies and gentleman we will replay the last point because of a malfunction. The system is now working.’
The call, rather than a shot being judged as ‘out’, and the positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking the American’s serve as opposed to a rally.
And the club last night blamed a ball boy’s position for the error after he collected a ball from the middle of the court after Fritz’s first serve and returned to his position.
‘The player’s service motion began while the BBG (Ball Boys and Girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn’t recognise the start of the point,’ a spokesman said.
Defeat: Cameron Norrie lost to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the Men’s Singles quarter-final
Famous fans: Jodie Foster, Tom Holland and Sir Mark Rylance react to the action court-side
Glamorous: Sienna Miller, front, and Katherine Jenkins take their seats in the Royal Box on day nine of Wimbledon
‘As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed.’
Russia’s Khachanov, who went on to lose the match by three sets to one, said he preferred the traditional line judges and that it was ‘scary’ to leave the calls to ‘machines’.
He added: ‘That’s questionable why this is happening. Is just like error of the machine or what’s the reason?’
It is the second time the club has blamed issues with the system on ‘human error’ after it missed three calls when it was accidentally turned off in a fourth-round match on Sunday.
The technology was deactivated for more than six minutes during British star Sonay Kartal’s match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova resulting in the pair having to replay the point.
Bosses, who said they had ‘full confidence’ in the system, launched a review and upgraded the system overnight to prevent it from being turned off again.
Leading Britons Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu have also complained about the accuracy of the system, which is widely used in other tournaments.
Tuesday’s malfunction came as the UK’s Cameron Norrie crashed out to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. The 29-year-old, who was the last British player left in the tournament, lost to the Spaniard, 22, in straight sets after just one hour and 39 minutes.
Sienna Miller led a star-studded royal box watching the quarter-final match-up on Centre Court, with US actress Jodie Foster, 62, also in attendance. Ms Miller, 43, wore a floral mini-dress as she took in the action on day nine of the championships. Classical singer Katherine Jenkins, 45, also took in the action from the royal box in an embroidered pink gown.
Tom Holland, who watched from the stands, was seen wishing Alcaraz good luck ahead of the match. And actor Sir Mark Rylance also appeared animated as he watched world No1 Aryna Sabalenka triumph over Laura Siegemund earlier in the day.
