By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Electronic line calling is now standard at most tour events and the majors. But this year’s Australian Open is leaving one important call up to the human umpires.
And that’s left several players confused and incredulous during the fortnight down under.
Typically in a tour match, when a let happens (when a serve hits the net) a machine will give out a noise letting everyone know. But this year in Melbourne, lets are being called by the umpire themselves, using their own judgment. That’s even when players feel that a ball hit the net according to their own eyes or ears.
Both Alexander Zverev and Tommy Paul complained about the reality after their quarterfinal meeting. Zverev won the match 7-6(1), 7-6(0), 2-6, 6-1 to reach the semifinals where he will next face Novak Djokovic.
Pure relief for Sascha 😮💨#AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/mu6vS8lo1I
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2025
In the opening set tiebreak, a missed let call by the umpire appeared to confuse both men as Zverev was awarded the point. Paul questioned the umpire’s decision, saying, “If you don’t hear that one or see that one you are not going to see any.”
After the match, Paul admitted that the missed call didn’t affect the whole outcome of the match, saying, “It is what it is. That didn’t lose me the match or anything. My unforced error count was way too high.”
Zverev also after the match thought that that the let call should have been made.
“To be honest, the point that Tommy Paul complained about, it was an incredibly clear let. You know, I didn’t know what to do in that situation. I have to continue playing because if there’s no call and I stop playing, then it’s a loss of point for me.”
“You know, in that situation there’s nothing much you can do but to continue playing. But he was absolutely right, you know. It is a clear let call. I don’t blame the umpire too much for it, because it is tough to hear, especially if you are sitting higher up. But for me it’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s such a surprise why we don’t have a simple let machine at Grand Slams that we used to have for the past 25 years in tennis.”
Earlier in the tournament, Canadian doubles player Erin Routliffe, along with her partner Gabriela Dabrowski faced off against Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Sigemund in the third round. During a tiebreak, Haddad Maia hit a wide serve that Routliffe barely returned.
The Canadians thought the serve clipped the net and expected a replay. Yet the chair umpire, Julie Kjendlie, thought otherwise and awarded the point to the other team. Her reasoning was that she herself did not hear a let.
Frustrated, Routliffe shouted out, “Oh my God, we have robots everywhere and we don’t have them for the net?” Routliffe and Dabrowski ended up winning the match, but Routliffe’s complaint caught the attention of Jessica Pegula who replayed it on social media.
We have cameras in every player area and everywhere we turn but we don’t have a net machine? 💀 😂 https://t.co/hsnmFYQIaj
— Jessie Pegula (@JPegula) January 21, 2025
Routliffe later herself reposted it on her own social media account and added “I feel like I have a point, but also why so dramatic?”
The Australian Open started using all electronic line calling (ELC) in 2021 as a way to reduce staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was the first Grand Slam tournament to do so. The ATP recently announced that ELC will be used at all tour levels events starting this year.
