Emma Raducanu slammed Wimbledon's fully electronic line-calling system last summer, calling some calls 'very wrong', while BBC pundit and All England Club committee member Tim Henman dismissed her complaints as 'utter garbage'.
Raducanu's Criticism of the Electronic System
Raducanu, the British No. 1, expressed her disappointment with the technology during last year's tournament. She said: 'It's kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong.' She added: 'For the most part they've been okay. It's just, like, I've had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong.'
The fully electronic system replaced traditional line judges at Wimbledon, ending a 147-year tradition of human officials determining ball in/out calls. The automated technology will continue to be used this year, with a small adjustment after a 2025 fourth-round match between Sonay Kartal and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova saw the system accidentally switched off for a single game.
Henman Defends the Technology
Henman, who sits on the All England Club committee, dismissed Raducanu's grievances. He said: 'The narrative around players questioning the accuracy of the calling is just utter garbage.' He explained that when he commentated on matches and reviewed slow-motion replays, the calls were correct. 'They are on the outside edge of the line, they hit the line. You can sometimes see even that little puff of white chalk, whatever it is. Is the technology accurate? Absolutely, 100 per cent.'
Henman added: 'You've got to take into account when you are the player, you're seeing the ball and you're hoping, 'Oh, I hope that's going to go out.' We have the technology, let's use it because the ball is travelling around 140 miles an hour and it's really difficult to call the lines. It's garbage that the players say it is garbage.'
Adjustment to Prevent Future Errors
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) confirmed it has 'removed the ability for Hawk-Eye operators to manually deactivate ball tracking' after the 2025 incident, attributing the mishap to 'human error'.
