Paris (AP) – For Novak Djokovic, it is a relatively easy call: there, like many players, thinks that the Open of France…
Paris (AP) – For Novak DjokovicIt is a relatively easy call: there, like many players, thinks the Open of France Make an error by avoiding line electronic calls used in most major tennis tournaments and staying instead of the old school, letting line judges decide whether the services or other shots land in or out of sound.
Lots of sports, football and baseball at the NFL, replace, or at least help managers with a form of high -tech replay or other technologies. Tennis also follows this trend, except in Roland-Garroswhere the competition continues until June 8.
Even the oldest and most linked to the tradition of majors, WimbledonIt is – Ameaze! – Abandon line judges and move to an automatic system this year. The WTA and ATP have added decisions generated by the machine this season for touring events on Red Clay, the surface of the French Open. But Grand Chelem hosts can do what they want, and the French Tennis Federation keeps the human element.
The French Open repels modern technology
Djokovic, The major champion 24 times Scheduled to play your first round match in Paris on Tuesday, understands why people could prefer to keep things as they have been for more than a century in their sport. He understands why there could be a tendency to avoid too much change in a world that is now drowning in mobile phones and streaming and social media.
“You don’t want to give everything to the technology, right? But if I have to choose between the two, I am no longer a supporter of technology. It’s just more precise, saves time and … (means) fewer people on the ground,” said Djokovic, 38
This edition of the tournament in New York has only placed line judges on its two largest courts, while others used an electronic configuration, a nod to the Pandemic COVID-19. The Australian Open got rid of all line judges in 2021, a first in a major tennis; The United States Open did the same later that year.
The Open of France remains a holdout, and that will probably not change anytime soon.
Do not expect the electronic call to Roland Garros in the near future
“Unless the players are unanimous and come to say to us:” We will not play if there is no machine “… So I think we have a big future ahead of us to maintain this style of arbitration,” said the president of the French federation Gilles Moretton, while boasting of the quality of the officials of his country.
Players do not seem categorical, although they tend to echo the opinion of 2023 US Open Champion Coco GauffWho is 21: “I mean, I don’t know if it’s like” Gen Z “in me, but I think that if we have technology, we have to use it.”
However, there is A charm to find in the choreography Players who insist on a call were wrong and the chair referees falling for a more in -depth examination of a ball brand on the clay. Look at a day of TV cover from Paris and the chances are good that the dance will take place – probably more than once.
This is what makes Clay special, in a way – that you can always review the plans. … Obviously, you cannot deny that the electronic call is the future, and everything is heading towards AI and artificial intelligence, “said Stefanos Tsisipas, the Djokovic finalist at Roland-Garros four years ago.” But I, personally, I would not bother to play on clay with perhaps the judgment of a human instead.
Some tennis players resort to take pictures of brands
Regardless of the form of officer, there are invariably moments when athletes – perhaps the sight or faith tense by the heat of the tension of the moment and an eagerness to be correct – simply will not agree with a call.
This, in turn, can lead to prolonged arguments and sometimes a scene seen recently: a player catches a mobile phone from the key line to take a brand photo in order to prove and win, one point.
Aryna Sabalenka, triple champion of the slam and female player n ° 1, and Alexander Zverev, a major triple finalist, did exactly that, although they were not the first. Back at the French Open 2013, Sergiy Stakhovsky posed her racket and took a photo from where a bullet had landed during a defeat against Richard Gasquet; Stakhovsky said that he had already done so.
“Line lines sometimes spoil,” said Tommy Paul, Australian Australian semi-finalist. “The automatic call will probably spoil less.”
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The sports writer AP Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More tennis AP: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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