As clay court season approaches, the long-standing discussion of whether or not to use Hawk-Eye technology returns. Tennis players have differing opinions; some are strongly in favor of electronic line calling, while others are against it. Marta Kostyuk, on the other hand, provides a unique perspective, departing from the consensus created during the recent line-calling controversies in Monte Carlo.

A lot of players, including Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev, displayed the need for the electron system over the line umpire at the Monte Carlo. Not only that, she also went against the Monte Carlo Champion’s opinion over the same, as the 21-year-old Ukrainian player decided to speak up.

Marta Kostyuk draws a different perspective on the Hawkeye system

From next year, there will be an electronic line-calling system in a lot of tennis tournaments. But looking at how things are turning out this year, recently during a press conference, the Ukrainian tennis player talked about her take on having Hawk-Eye technology in clay court events. She stated, “I think they had Hawk-Eye in Madrid last year, and it really didn’t work well. There were some really big mistakes.”

Further, she also highlighted how the technology might be useful in hard court arenas, but when it comes to clay courts, it’s not that efficient. She also detailed that when it comes to the clay events, the machine makes the same mistakes as the chair umpire.

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She added, “On clay, I think, yeah, I mean, everyone makes mistakes. Think for hard court; it’s amazing this system. I don’t think it ever makes any mistakes. It’s very, very precise. But on clay, it’s a little bit different. I think the machines are making the same mistakes as chair umpires can.”

On the other hand, Stefanos Tsitsipas, while sympathizing with the empires, revealed how it should be a regular thing on the clay courts. He stated, “I think it’s fair; it’s about time this, uh, kind of, uh, starts becoming a thing on clay courts. I think it should be standardized, you know, on all surfaces.”

Although the new technology has been working with quite an accuracy in the line-calling system across many tournaments, it has maintained a clear distance from the French Open, bringing a complex scenario. However, every surface is different when it comes to having the electronic systems on the clay courts.

Limitations of having Hawkeye technology on clay

Using the Hawk-Eye system on clay courts poses special difficulties because of the properties of the surface itself. Clay surfaces are more likely to change during play than hard or grass courts; therefore, the system must constantly be tuned to guarantee accuracy. The technology used by Hawk-Eye measures the surface undulations of the court; on clay, these undulations fluctuate more frequently and drastically because of the makeup of the surface.

There are practical challenges in maintaining and recalibrating the Hawk-Eye technology on clay courts, which takes about half an hour after every match, especially amid busy Grand Slam tournaments. Due to the potential disruption to the tournament schedule, Hawk-Eye’s usage for official line-calling on clay courts may become less feasible.

Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on the electronic system? Do let us know in the comment section below.