Caroline Wozniacki Critisizes Wimbledon’s Hawk-Eye After Her Defeat

World Number 19, Caroline Wozniacki got eliminated from Wimbledon Championships 2019 after surrendering to the Chinese Zhang Shuai, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round. At the beginning of the second set, the returns from Zhang were initially called out, and the Chinese challenged the line calls and she was successful in earning those points as the Hawk-eye challenge ruled it in.

This kept happening for multiple times. After the second challenge, Caroline Wozniacki questioned the chair umpire, “how are we playing with Hawk-Eye that is this bad? How am I supposed to play when every time the call is overruled? It’s crazy!”

Hawk-Eye was officially introduced in Wimbledon in 2007 (it is only available on the premier courts). The players are allowed three unsuccessful challenges per set and an extra challenge is given in the tiebreak and three extra if the decider is 6-6. Hawk-Eye’s decision cannot be over-ruled.

“He (the umpire) saw it differently and the linesmen saw it differently, as well. But then again, there’s nothing you can do about it. It is what it is,” Caroline Wozniacki said.“Maybe the Hawk-Eye was right. Maybe I just saw it wrong. I don’t know.”

“But you trust Hawk-Eye normally. You trust that it tells you the right thing. Sometimes you do see the balls a little differently than what the Hawk-Eye is. At least you know, okay, you can get it out of your mind.”

Caroline Wozniacki was playing on Court Number two, she mentioned that the cameras which are used to detect the trajectory and bounce of the ball were not in the right position.

“I thought there were a few ones that I saw way differently. But it is what it is. You can’t really change a Hawk-Eye call,” she said. “I do believe that it (hawk-eye) was not in the ideal place today.” Hawk-Eye technology has an error margin. The researchers state that the accuracy of the system ranges from 2.2mm to 10mm.

Former World Number one, Caroline Wozniacki pulled off her first major title in 2018 in Melbourne. Post that, injuries kept bouncing on her career also she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last year. Even this year, her tenure on the circuit is teetering.