Wimbledon will follow the American and Australian Opens in implementing video review systems.
Replay technology will be launched at The Championships in the upcoming tournament.
Players are granted the ability to contest certain decisions from the official, following the practice already in place at both the American Grand Slam and the Aussie major.
The new system is slated for use on the main stadium and the number one court for the duration of the tournament and on the other four featured courts when they are staging singles contests.
This development comes just a season following the AELTC introduced ELC, which effectively ended the longstanding role of line judges.
Reviewable Decisions
Players cannot to challenge the call of the ELC system, but they can ask for the umpire to review other decisions, such as:
- Whether a ball has double-bounced.
- Whether a ball touched an opponent's racquet or person on the way past.
- Potential hindrance at the conclusion of a point.
Importantly, there is no limit on the amount of challenges a player can initiate.
Practical Application
A recent case 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 call for the official, but thought his rival had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire watched a video and determined Draper was responsible for interference, granting the rally to Medvedev.
Broader Adoption
This technology aren't exclusive to Grand Slams. The system has been in use at the American major since 2023 and the Australian Open this year.
Additionally, it is becoming more common on the WTA circuit, and by next season the ATP circuit will have video reviews implemented at every one of its events.
Additional Innovations
A further innovation at Wimbledon this year will be the addition of graphical cues on scoreboards to support the audio calls from the ELC system.
This addresses situations where the crowd have occasionally been uncertain if a ball was out or in.
In other news, with exactly 100 days remaining until the beginning of the Championships, the AELTC have also announced an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifying competition in Roehampton.
