The End of Professional Line Umpires?

[Beacon Hill]

US Open and Seven US Open Series Tournaments to Utilize Electronic Line-Calling on All Competition Courts in 2021​

May 24, 2021 – The USTA, ATP and WTA today announced that the US Open and seven of the nine ATP and WTA tournaments on the US Open Series will utilize Hawk-Eye Live electronic line-calling on all competition courts in 2021.
In addition to the US Open, the Truist Atlanta Open ATP 250, Citi Open ATP 500 (Washington, D.C.), National Bank Open ATP Masters 1000 (Toronto) and WTA 1000 (Montreal), Western & Southern Open ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 (Cincinnati), Winston-Salem Open ATP 250 (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Tennis in the Land WTA 250 (Cleveland, Ohio) will utilize Hawk-Eye Live this summer.
The USTA implemented electronic line-calling for the 2020 Western & Southern Open and US Open on all courts except Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums. In total, Hawk-Eye Live made upwards of 314,000 calls during the two tournaments

 

[Deleted member 748597]

 

[Rattler]

Been coming for a while. There are gonna be a lot of disappointed lines people not going to NYC this year

 

[sureshs]

Line judges are a waste of real estate.

 

[Jonesy]

Djokovic saved tennis.

 

[catskillthunder]

Brooooooo Im dead!!! hahahahahahaha

 

[Deleted member 748597]

Djokovic saved tennis.

People can now sleep at night feeling safe thanks to our protector. The Earth's mightiest warrior.

 

[Nuclear Warhead Sinner]

People can now sleep at night feeling safe thanks to our protector. The Earth's mightiest warrior.

Bro, Batman is pretty much the weak link of the Justice League. Fixed that for you.

 

[Robert F]

Probably the start of the end on any 250 event and above.
My guess is they'll still be needed in Challengers/Futures and I even wonder about qualies for the next 5-10 years.

Probably the next battle will be Hawk Eye vs. that slow motion camera thing.

 

[Bartelby]

Retraining is or is not being offered?

Line judges are a waste of real estate.

 

[JackSockIsTheBest]

Now Thiem & Rafa can stand 50 feet behind the baseline

 

[socallefty]

Wow, kudos to the tennis organizers for being far-sighted enough to adopt technology that has been available for fifteen years.

 

[Beacon Hill]

Probably the start of the end on any 250 event and above.
My guess is they'll still be needed in Challengers/Futures and I even wonder about qualies for the next 5-10 years.

Probably the next battle will be Hawk Eye vs. that slow motion camera thing.

It's going to be tough to find competent ones for lower tier events. I can't imagine a lot of the good line umpires are going to stick around doing these third tier events for peanuts, now that the carrot of getting to go to the big events is gone.

 

[junior74]

A Serbian Robot providing jobs for his brothers around the world.

 

[octobrina10]

The ATP Mallorca Open will also use live electronic line calling:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1397285817366757380

 

[accidental]

People are still needed to operate those systems

They aren’t some kind of A.I all seeing automatic linesman

 

[aldeayeah]

The ATP Mallorca Open will also use live electronic line calling:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1397285817366757380

Octo, do you know if Rafa has Mallorca in his schedule?

Barring an unexpected debacle, I can't see him entering Halle or Queens given that they start right after RG.

But, being a week later Mallorca could be fair game, and it is also super close to home...

Due to the delayed RG scheduling, Mallorca and Eastbourne may end up with stronger fields than usual, I think.

 

[aldeayeah]

Octo, do you know if Rafa has Mallorca in his schedule?

Barring an unexpected debacle, I can't see him entering Halle or Queens given that they start right after RG.

But, being a week later Mallorca could be fair game, and it is also super close to home...

Due to the delayed RG scheduling, Mallorca and Eastbourne may end up with stronger fields than usual, I think.

Primeros jugadores confirmados para el ATP Mallorca

Luego de la suspensión del torneo en 2020, el Mallorca Championships se prepara para hacer su debut en el calendario ATP. El certamen tendrá lugar del 19

canaltenis.com

Seems Kyrgios (!), Lopez and Verdasco are the only confirmed players so far. However, Toni being the tournament director, it would feel weird for Rafa not to be there (although maybe not actually playing the thing). Depending on the public attendance restrictions, they might schedule an exho alongside the main event or something like that.

 

[tennis_pro]

no linesmen no drama no fun

 

[blablavla]

no linesmen no drama no fun

why not? you can hit your opponent in the throat

 

[tennis_pro]

why not? you can hit your opponent in the throat

but thats harder to do

 

[I Am Finnish]

Djokovic has paid the linemen and women a lot of money

 

[blablavla]

but thats harder to do

everything is possible with pure intentions

 

[Hitman]

People can now sleep at night feeling safe thanks to our protector. The Earth's mightiest warrior.

Peace, justice and freedom brought to the tennis courts and to all citizens. Sleep well everyone.

 

[TheNachoMan]

Bro, Batman is pretty much the weak link of the Justice League. Fixed that for you.

Batman is just there because he’s rich

 

[mr tonyz]

This has always been quite a popular Djoker being his true Djoker self in g.i.f format around these parts for quite a number of years now, but where & under what circumstances did this iconic moment take place?

 

[Deleted member 748597]

This has always been quite a popular Djoker being his true Djoker self in g.i.f format around these parts for quite a number of years now, but where & under what circumstances did this iconic moment take place?

I don't remember.

 

[octobrina10]

Octo, do you know if Rafa has Mallorca in his schedule?

Barring an unexpected debacle, I can't see him entering Halle or Queens given that they start right after RG.

But, being a week later Mallorca could be fair game, and it is also super close to home...

Due to the delayed RG scheduling, Mallorca and Eastbourne may end up with stronger fields than usual, I think.

Rafa hasn't announced his post-RG schedule. I don't think he's going to participate in the Mallorca Open. He hasn't played pre-Wimbledon warm-up tournaments since 2017. He practiced on the grass courts of the Santa Ponsa tennis club (that will host the ATP Mallorca Open) in 2017, 2018 & 2019 and after that played a couple of exhibition matches in London. I assume, he's going to do the same this year (but I don't know if exhibition events will take place).

There were no grass courts in Mallorca before 2016. The Santa Ponsa tennis club (80 km/50 miles away from Manacor, Rafa's hometown) opened their new grass courts in spring 2016 and hosted Spain’s first grass court tournament, the WTA Mallorca Open, in June of the same year. (Toni Nadal has been the tournament director since the club started to host grass court tournaments. The WTA tournament was replaced with the ATP Mallorca Open last year, but the latter wasn't held.) Rafa was supposed to practice on the new grass courts in 2016, but due to his wrist injury he only visited the venue.

PHOTOS: Rafael Nadal pays the Mallorca Open a visit

Rafa Nadal visited today the venue of the Mallorca Open, the Santa Ponsa Tennis Club, to watch some tennis here at his land. Toni Nadal explained that all in all, Rafa’s wrist injury is improving d…

rafaelnadalfans.com

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

US Open and Seven US Open Series Tournaments to Utilize Electronic Line-Calling on All Competition Courts in 2021​

May 24, 2021 – The USTA, ATP and WTA today announced that the US Open and seven of the nine ATP and WTA tournaments on the US Open Series will utilize Hawk-Eye Live electronic line-calling on all competition courts in 2021.
In addition to the US Open, the Truist Atlanta Open ATP 250, Citi Open ATP 500 (Washington, D.C.), National Bank Open ATP Masters 1000 (Toronto) and WTA 1000 (Montreal), Western & Southern Open ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 (Cincinnati), Winston-Salem Open ATP 250 (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Tennis in the Land WTA 250 (Cleveland, Ohio) will utilize Hawk-Eye Live this summer.
The USTA implemented electronic line-calling for the 2020 Western & Southern Open and US Open on all courts except Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong Stadiums. In total, Hawk-Eye Live made upwards of 314,000 calls during the two tournaments

Should've have cut even more jobs in this pandemic

 

[18x20 ftw]

I prefer the lines folks. Guess I’m old-fashioned.

 

[Bartelby]

Get rid of the players. Flesh and blood is so twentieth century.

 

[GhostOfNKDM]

Honestly I don't know how to feel.

On one hand automation is scary and will sideline human beings; in tennis, as others have asked rhetorically, are robots going to play next or even watch?

On the other, we've come a long way and technology has helped improve outcomes. Gone are the days when a single line calling mistake could ruin someone's match, tournament and career.

We used to have people manning the net too for let cords and we don't have that anymore without affecting the game.

Feel torn, but it's inevitable now.

 

[The Blond Blur]

So, Joker’s the reason for the rise of the machines and Skynet taking over. Now that I think about it, it all makes sense

Spoiler

 

[18x20 ftw]

Why don’t we just eliminate the crowds too? That was great for ease of scheduling, game flow. That was a lot of fun.

And we don’t even need a chair umpire. Easily programmable.

 

[blablavla]

Why don’t we just eliminate the crowds too? That was great for ease of scheduling, game flow. That was a lot of fun.

And we don’t even need a chair umpire. Easily programmable.

let's go a step further, we don't need the players, and if tournaments / ATP is not paying millions to them, then they can invest millions more in developing tennis worldwide

 

[octobrina10]

Primeros jugadores confirmados para el ATP Mallorca

Luego de la suspensión del torneo en 2020, el Mallorca Championships se prepara para hacer su debut en el calendario ATP. El certamen tendrá lugar del 19

canaltenis.com

Seems Kyrgios (!), Lopez and Verdasco are the only confirmed players so far. However, Toni being the tournament director, it would feel weird for Rafa not to be there (although maybe not actually playing the thing). Depending on the public attendance restrictions, they might schedule an exho alongside the main event or something like that.

The entry list:

https://www.dartsrankings.com/tennis/mallorca

 

[mattennis]

let's go a step further, we don't need the players, and if tournaments / ATP is not paying millions to them, then they can invest millions more in developing tennis worldwide

Speaking seriously here... in which decade do you all think that a humanoid robot will be able to defeat any human at a tennis match?

 

[blablavla]

Speaking seriously here... in which decade do you all think that a humanoid robot will be able to defeat any human at a tennis match?

Artem Bahmet? probably a robot can be built in a few months

 

[mattennis]

Artem Bahmet? probably a robot can be built in a few months

No, I can assure you that there will not be a humanoid robot, with two legs and two arms, that's able to defeat a good human tennis player at a tennis match before 2030.

I'm less sure about 2040-2050...

 

[ChaelAZ]

Next will be blall kids removed somehow, and then who is Djo going to abuse? Racquets just are NOT enough!

 

[GhostOfNKDM]

It's going to be tough to find competent ones for lower tier events. I can't imagine a lot of the good line umpires are going to stick around doing these third tier events for peanuts, now that the carrot of getting to go to the big events is gone.

This will add to the slow disappearance of small events.

Tennis is going to give way to other competing sports at the minor league level - like pickleball, volleyball etc

Donno if it's good or bad but tennis may return to being a niche and elite sport that's accessible tona few.

 

[sureshs]

This will add to the slow disappearance of small events.

Tennis is going to give way to other competing sports at the minor league level - like pickleball, volleyball etc

Donno if it's good or bad but tennis may return to being a niche and elite sport that's accessible tona few.

How does not having line judges make the sport accessible only to a few? Are players and spectators currently watching the sport to see the line judges?

 

[sureshs]

Why don’t we just eliminate the crowds too? That was great for ease of scheduling, game flow. That was a lot of fun.

Crowds pay money. Line judges consume money.

 

[18x20 ftw]

@sureshs What you’re obviously missing by my point is there is an atmosphere, a nostalgia that is absent without the human element of line judges present. It creates theatre. Have you been to a professional match? It is your idol Nadal that favors line judges. He is old-fashioned like myself and some others I suppose. I prefer to talk to a human at a store or restaurant as opposed to a screened kiosk.

 

[Backspin1183]

Bro, Batman is pretty much the weak link of the Justice League. Fixed that for you.

What does Nadal have to do with this thread?!

 

[Deleted member 771911]

Nole's rage cost many people their livelihoods! Meanwhile, he remains unscathed.

 

[blablavla]

Nole's rage cost many people their livelihoods! Meanwhile, he remains unscathed.

with pure heart and good intentions

 

[Deleted member 771911]

with pure heart and good intentions

It's heartwarming he's like that.

 

[GhostOfNKDM]

How does not having line judges make the sport accessible only to a few? Are players and spectators currently watching the sport to see the line judges?

See the quote I was responding to -

Beacon Hill said:
It's going to be tough to find competent ones for lower tier events. I can't imagine a lot of the good line umpires are going to stick around doing these third tier events for peanuts, now that the carrot of getting to go to the big events is gone.

If lower tier tournaments can't find good line umps and they don't have the money to invest in automated systems, then they will be at a disadvantage to tournaments that can...

Over time competitive disadvantage leads to the inevitable.

Also, I did not say this is the only reason but it definitely adds to an existing problem.

 

[Swingmaster]

Line judges are a waste of real estate.

Who are you to judge?