Wimbledon will follow the American and Australian Opens in implementing replay technology.
Video review technology are set to arrive at The Championships in the upcoming tournament.
Competitors will gain the right to challenge certain calls from the chair umpire, following the protocol already in place at both the American Grand Slam and the Aussie major.
This innovation will be accessible on the main stadium and Court One throughout the Championships and on the remaining show courts when they are staging singles matches.
This move comes just a year after the AELTC rolled out ELC, which effectively ended the centuries-old role of line officials.
Scope of Challenges
Players cannot to dispute the call of the ELC system, but are allowed to ask for the umpire to review other situations, such as:
- If a ball has double-bounced.
- Whether a shot touched an rival's racket or person during play.
- Potential interference at the conclusion of a rally.
Notably, there will be an unlimited number on the amount of reviews a competitor can request.
Case in Point
A recent incident took place in a recent tournament recently, where Daniil Medvedev initiated the review system against his opponent.
Draper conceded it was a difficult call for the umpire, but thought his opponent had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire viewed a replay and ruled the player was guilty of interference, granting the rally to his opponent.
Growing Trend
Video reviews are not new for major tournaments. It was adopted at the US Open for two years and the Aussie Open since 2025.
Furthermore, it is becoming more common on the women’s WTA Tour, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour will have the system in place at all of its tournaments.
Other Changes
A further change at Wimbledon this year will be the addition of visual indicators on displays to support the audio calls from the electronic line calling system.
This addresses instances where the crowd have sometimes been uncertain if a shot was out or in.
In other news, with exactly a century of days to go until the beginning of the tournament, organizers have also revealed an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifiers in Roehampton.
