Wimbledon has always been about tradition. But this year, a major one was left behind. The All England Club swapped out its 300 sharply dressed line judges for a system of up to 18 HawkEye-powered cameras on each court. In came the Electronic Line Calling (ELC), a tech-driven referee, and out went the human calls. Still, for all the buzz around innovation, it didn’t take long for the new system to hit a snag. Now, Nick Kyrgios is weighing in on the topic.

The issue unfolded during the fourth-round match between Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Britain’s Sonay Kartal. With the first set tied at 4-4 and Pavlyuchenkova holding game point at Ad-40, Kartal sent a backhand flying past the baseline. Only, there was no call from the system. As Pavlyuchenkova paused, expecting a call, umpire Nico Helwerth intervened and halted play. An automated voice chimed in late with a “stop, stop.”

That’s when things got messy. After a long discussion with officials, Helwerth explained to the players and the Centre Court crowd that the ELC had stopped working during the point. That meant the point had to be replayed, despite TV footage clearly showing that Kartal’s shot had landed out. The game should’ve gone to Pavlyuchenkova. But instead, Kartal won the replayed point and the game, edging ahead 5-4.

Naturally, Pavlyuchenkova was fuming. At the changeover, she let the umpire know what she thought and said, “Because she’s local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.” Even with the drama, Pavlyuchenkova kept her cool and ended up taking the set and the match. But the blunder didn’t go unnoticed. Wimbledon officials later apologized to both players for the tech failure. And now, 2022 finalist Nick Kyrgios has joined the conversation.

Appearing on talkSPORT’s ‘Wimbledon Unfiltered’, Kyrgios was asked for his opinion. He didn’t hold back. The Aussie star said, “Look, it’s not good enough, in my opinion, to be honest. It’s the greatest tournament that we have in the world, and this is exactly why I thought that Wimbledon shouldn’t be trying to incorporate the electronic line-calls – I feel like they almost rushed it this year.”

“So I can completely understand the frustrations from Pavlyuchenkova, and luckily she gets through and she wins. But what happens if she doesn’t win that first set and she ends up losing the match? This is where the problems can really start happening. But, look, they should have just kept the line umpires because that’s where the content is as well,” he said.

Kyrgios isn’t the only one with concerns. A few others in the draw have voiced their doubts about the ELC system.

Players call out Hawkeye for not being “accurate”

British No.1 Jack Draper had some thoughts after his second-round loss against Marin Cilic. “I don’t think it’s 100 percent accurate, in all honesty,” he said while talking about a serve he thought was out. “A couple of the ones today it showed a mark on the court. There’s no way the chalk would have showed.” Still, he admitted, “I may well have been wrong.”

Emma Raducanu, also a British No.1, had her own doubts. During her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the third round, she disputed a key call. The Belarusian had shot down an ace which the ELC counted in even though it was out. In her presser, she said, “It’s kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been OK. It’s just, like, I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong.” 

So far, most players still trust the system more than humans. But errors like these are making people ask tough questions. Wimbledon wanted to future-proof its courts. But the future may still need some fine-tuning. Should they bring back the line judges? What do you think? Follow the Championships in real-time with EssentiallySports’ Live Blog updates.