Hawk-Eye Live Set To Replace Lines Judges At Top ATP Events In 2021 - UBITENNIS (2023)

The governing body of men’s tennis has agreed to implement electronic line calling at their Masters 1000 events this year, according to a report published by Tennis Majors.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the ATP has been under pressure to minimise the number of people on the court at one time. Leading to bosses leaning towards the use of electronic line calling which replaces lines judges. The system has already been used at various tournaments in the past including last year’s US Open, as well as the ATP Next Gen Finals.

It believe that the decision will apply to every Masters 1000 event which will take place on a hard court. Those events are in Miami, Canada, Cincinnati, Paris and Shanghai. The same will also apply to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells should the event take place later this year. Such a move would also reduce the overall number of people at the event at one time.

World No.1 Novak Djokovic will be one of the biggest backers of the new development after previously saying he would like to see electronic line calling implemented at every ATP tournament. As for the accuracy of the software, the managing director of Hawk-eye Live, James Japhet, told The New York Times that just 14 out of 225,000 calls made during the first week of the US Open were errors.

“With all my respect for the tradition and the culture we have in this sport, when it comes to people present on the court during a match, including line umpires, I really don’t see a reason why every single tournament in this world, in this technological advanced era, would not have what we had during Cincinnati/NewYork tournament,” Djokovic told reporters in October.
“The technology is so advanced right now, there is absolutely no reason why you should keep line umpires on the court.”

Critics argue that implementing Hawk-Eye will result in inevitable job losses, as well as high costs for tournaments. The cost of implementing the system is in the region of $50,000 per court, according to ESPN.

Kevin Anderson, who is the president of the Player Council, says further discussions will need to be made in the future regarding the potential implications for those working as lines judges.

“That’s something I guess we still have to discuss and think about, because it doesn’t maybe seem something pressing now, but obviously in a lot of sports, that’s something that’s really important. I’m sure we’ll have more conversations about that moving forward,” Anderson told Tennis Majors.

The is yet to be a formal announcement by the ATP regarding their decision of using Hawk-Eye live at the Masters events.

By Roberto Ferri

Tenzing Norgay, does this name ring a bell?

He was the Nepali-Indian sherpa who tenaciously, one step after another, with Edmund Hillary, reached the top of Mount Everest on 23^rd May 1953.

Over the last weeks a tennis player seems to have been following in Norgay’s steps and endeavouring with steadfast determination to climb up to the summit of the ATP Rankings which, unlike Norgay, he had already reached in the past: that player is Daniil Medvedev

In Dubai, he sealed his third consecutive title, after Doha and Rotterdam. In five weeks he has surged from 12th to 6th position. Yet, it’s not just a matter of figures. His game has been thriving in all domains. The semifinal he won against Novak Djokovic delighted viewers with tennis at its highest peak. In Indian Wells he will only be defending the 45 points he earned in 2022 and will be looking to continue his ascent.

TOP 20

A few comments:

• Holger Rune achieved his best ranking, No. 8.
• Rafa Nadal is still 9^th but after Indian Wells will inevitably drop out of the top 10 for the first time in 18 years.
• Sacha Zverev succeeds in reversing the downward trends of the last period and moves up two places.
• Alex de Minaur and Tommy Paul, winner and runner-up in Acapulco, are back in the top 20.

RACE TO TURIN

The race to play the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin is extremely sensitive to the weekly results, particularly in the early stages of the tennis season. The lead actors of the last week have grabbed the stage.

In particular:

• Alex De Minaur has leapt from 18^th to seventh position
• Tommy Paul has moved up from No. 6 to No. 4
• Medvedev is third·

NEXT GEN

There are some movements and new entries in the Top 8 best players born after 2021. By winning the Challenger in Pau the 18-year-old French player Luca Van Assche joins his fellow countrymen in the élite. Meanwhile, America’s Alex Michelsen makes his debut position and Rune secures the second spot behind Carlos Alcaraz.

BEST RANKING

Seven players in the Top 100 have reached their career highest.

A special mention to Max Purcell, who won the 2022 Wimbledon men’s doubles title. He has made his mark in the singles too by breaking into the Top 100 for the first time in his career after winning the Challenger in Pune.

Translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye

It is the goal of every professional tennis player to top the world rankings and Felix Auger-Aliassime is no different.

The 22-year-old has been dubbed as one of the future stars of tennis since producing a series of impressive performances on the junior Tour at a young age. So far in his career, he has contested 13 Tour finals, winning four titles with three of those being last season. He is also a former US Open semi-finalist who has registered 13 wins over top 10 players.

Auger-Aliassime is currently ranked ninth in the world which is three places below his career-high of sixth. His goal is to rise to the top of the rankings but he is maintaining a realistic perspective about his chances.

“Ultimately in my career I would love to be No 1 at some point, but you can’t force these things. You can want it all you want, and many wanted to be No 1, some were able to do it, some weren’t able to do it,” Auger-Aliassime told reporters at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The Canadian explains that his dream of becoming world No.1 is helping him to continue focusing on what he is currently doing. He is currently coached on the Tour by Frederic Fontang who has previously tipped the tennis star to produce a good performance at Wimbledon this year. Also guiding him is the uncle and former coach of Rafael Nadal, Toni Nadal.

Auger-Aliassime will next play Lorenzo Sonego in the second round.

Daniil Medvedev produced an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over Andy Murray to win the Doha title.

Medvedev continued his success from Rotterdam as he beat the two-time former champion.

After a brutal week, Murray lacked the consistency and the energy to challenge the former world number one.

It was Medvedev who started the brightest as he dictated play from the baseline and dissected Murray’s game.

The world number eight converted his fourth break point to break in the opening game before breaking again in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead.

However Murray had been threatening for the break and the Brit earned his reward for being resilient as he converted his third break point of the set to narrow the lead to 4-2.

Despite the late surge from Murray, the third seed held on as he sealed the opening set to love.

The second set started to follow a similar pattern as Medvedev once again broke in the opening game with some smart play.

However this time Murray denied Medvedev the chance to take a double break lead as he broke back for 3-3.

In the end though the time spent on court was too much for Murray as Medvedev grinded out the break in the ninth game and closed out the match on his second match point.

After the match Medvedev talked about momentum being on his side and his overall level, “I managed to find momentum in Rotterdam,” Medvedev told the ATP website.

“The first two matches I played there were tough. I didn’t feel good before that tournament, and then starting in the quarter-finals against Felix [Auger-Aliassime], I started to find my rhythm.

“I started to play really good. Serve better, move better. Today it was tough for Andy to put the balls through me many times, and now the question is [if it] can continue. I’m going to try as long as I can.”

The victory will see Daniil Medvedev overtake Rafael Nadal in the rankings and climb up to world number seven.

As for Murray he will look to use the momentum into Dubai next week when he faces Hubert Hurkacz in his opening round match.