Is the French Open the last time we’ll see line judges at a Grand Slam?

Paris – Welcome to the last stand of the line judges. They are a dying bread in tennis, but at the french open, the organizers are hoping to hold back the inevitable tide of electronic line calling (Elc) for as long as a possible.

In almost every match here at Roland Garros, there will be a disputed point. The process is the same. The call is made, the player protests, the umpire get down from their lofty perch, the player highlights the mark with their racket, and the umpire makes the call. It’s Theater – and Sometimes leads to an overturned call. Mirra Andreeva Had one Late in her first-round match with cristina bucsa on tuesday, and turned, exasper, to her please for a call to be overturned.

This year, Wimbledon will adopt electronic line calling. The line judges will no longer be there, hunched over in BetWeen point, burned guttural noises when a ball swings wide of the line. The australian open ushered in this technology in 2021, and the us opened suit in 2022. That left to have this human touch.

Some tournaments on class have adopted elc and had early problems. There have been calls where the technology and the Human Eye has not matched. In Madrid, Alexander Zverev Took a Photo of a Shot from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina That He deemed to have been out, but the elc called in.

“I will talk to the supervisors, I will talk to the atp because, as I have, this is not normal,” Zverev Said afterwards. “For a mistake to happen like this, Yes, one or Two Millimeters I Understand, But Four, Five Centimeters is not Normal.” Afterwards, the atp even moved to clarify a tennis tv post about this – pointing to how ball marks on Clay can be hard to read, given it is a dynamic surface.

Another look at the call 🧐 https://t.co/t0hhsl3yjc pic.twitter.com/lxdnuaqg6t

– Tennis TV (@Tennistv) April 27, 2025

There’s Plenty of Controversy in Tournaments Still Using the Human Touch, Too. ElseWhere, Aryna Sabalenka Took a Photography of a Call in Stuttgart During Her Quarterfinal Against Elise Mertens. This was on a shot she felt was in butt had been called out.

“Yeah, it was definitely in,” she has made afterwards. “I understand. I mean, every one can make mistakes, and I not the one who is going to be complained with the referee … [but] If you make the mistake, I think you have to have guts to admit it and make a call. “

All the WHILE, Tournament Organizers and the game’s stakeholders are creating educational videos showing Where the Human Eye can be deceived by the mark and tragic and tragic of a ball on cloud. “I think it needs a little bit of adjustment,” Casper RUUD meaning. “I think there was a pretty bad eror in the zverev match in madrid. [well] Explained. “

While the calls for Elc Keep Getting Stronger, Roland Garros Pushes Back. Gilles more “Regarding what happened in madrid and what happened in rome, the system … SEEMS to be not perfected,” Morreton Said. Morreton Also Talked about How Important The Line Judges is as Ambassadors of the Sport.

“I think we are right to keep our referees and Line Judges at Roland Garros,” Morreton added. “For Roland Garros, we want to keep our linesmen as long as the players agree with that.”

Then Came the Qualification: “Unless the players are unanimous and come to us and say, ‘we won is if there is a machine’ … then I think we’ve got a great future future of us to maintain in this style of RefEREEING. “

But the noise from the players is growing. Novak Djokovic was asked for his thoughts on monday. “Well, first i’ll say that I under the people who are more traditionalists and who like the line umpire on the course. If I have to choose the two, I would be a proponent of technology, saves time, and just maybe less.

Coco gauff agreed and sa, “if we have technology we should use it.” But she added, “I ‘not going to be out here for Advocating and pushing for it. But I would be kept on the courtyard to play on the courtyard.

Ruud added, “I think I prefer … electric line calling, I think it works very well. Calling. “

There are still some support for line judges, predominantly from the french contingent. Arthur Fils Had Previously Issued His Preference For Human Line Judges, and Gael Monfils Backed It Up Pre-Tournament. “Quite honestly, we like to have things the old ways … I think it is good to have line Judges Here because the way I grew up,” Monfils said.

Stefanos tsitsipas is also a proponent for the human Eye. “That’s what makes cloud special, in a way-that you can always review the shots. BUT ME, Personally, I would mind playing on class with maybe the Judment of a Human Instead of A Robot. “

And for others? Well, the flop-flopping bet the two methods is just a little bit to a meeting. “Honestly, I don’t know, because I had a situation with the referee in Stuttgart, and Also there was tricky calls with the hawk-aye system in rome so i ‘, To be honest, “sabalenka saad.

Chances are during the next two weeks, there will be a content, match-swinging call that increases the noise for Elc. It could also increase the noise for uniformity of using the technology Across the Four Slams. Roland Garros will contain resisting the power of ai and robots, but for how long?