The tournament joins the US and Australian Opens in employing replay technology.
Video review systems will be launched at Wimbledon in the upcoming tournament.
Players are granted the right to challenge particular calls from the chair umpire, following the protocol already in place at each of the American Grand Slam and the Australian Open.
This innovation will be operational on Centre Court and Court One throughout the tournament and on the remaining featured courts when they are hosting singles matches.
This step comes just a season following the All England Club introduced ELC, which brought an end to the longstanding role of line officials.
Scope of Challenges
Players will not be permitted to challenge the accuracy of the ELC system, but are allowed to request the umpire to review specific decisions, such as:
- Whether a ball has bounced twice.
- If a shot touched an opponent's racquet or body on the way past.
- Possible hindrance at the conclusion of a point.
Notably, there will be an unlimited number on the number of challenges a competitor can initiate.
Practical Application
An illustrative example occurred in Indian Wells last week, where a top player initiated the review system against his opponent.
The British player admitted it was a difficult situation for the umpire, but thought his rival had "played the rules effectively."
The umpire viewed a video and ruled Draper was responsible for hindrance, granting the point to his opponent.
Wider Implementation
Video reviews are not exclusive to major tournaments. It was adopted at the US Open for two years and the Australian Open since 2025.
Furthermore, it is becoming more common on the women’s WTA Tour, and by next season the men's ATP Tour plans to have the system in place at every one of its events.
Further Updates
A further change at Wimbledon this year involves the addition of visual indicators on displays to support the audio calls from the ELC system.
This solves situations where the crowd have sometimes been unsure if a shot was in or out.
In other news, with exactly 100 days to go until the beginning of the tournament, the AELTC have also revealed an increase in daily attendance at the qualifying competition in Roehampton.
