Wimbledon Introduces Video Challenge System in 2025.
The tournament joins the US and Australian Opens in implementing replay technology.
Replay technology will be launched at The Championships in the upcoming tournament.
Players will gain the right to challenge particular calls from the official, echoing the protocol already in use at both the American Grand Slam and the Australian Open.
The new system will be operational on the main stadium and the number one court for the duration of the Championships and on the remaining show courts when they are hosting singles matches.
This step follows just a season following the All England Club introduced ELC, which brought an end to the centuries-old tradition of line officials.
What Can Be Reviewed?
Players will not be permitted to challenge the call of the electronic line calling, but they can request the umpire to review specific decisions, including:
- If a ball has bounced twice.
- Whether a shot made contact with an rival's racket or body during play.
- Possible interference end of a rally.
Notably, there is no cap on the number of reviews a player can initiate.
Practical Application
An illustrative example took place in a recent tournament recently, where a top player initiated the video challenge against his opponent.
Draper conceded it was a difficult call for the umpire, but believed his rival had "played the rules quite well."
Official Aurelie Tourte viewed a video and determined Draper was guilty of hindrance, granting the point to Medvedev.
Broader Adoption
Video reviews are not new for Grand Slams. The system has been in use at the US Open for two years and the Aussie Open this year.
Furthermore, it is becoming more common on the WTA circuit, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour plans to have the system in place at all of its tournaments.
Additional Innovations
A further change at The Championships this year will be the introduction of visual indicators on scoreboards to support the audio calls from the electronic line calling system.
This addresses instances where the crowd have occasionally been unsure whether a ball was in or out.
In other news, with precisely a century of days remaining until the beginning of the Championships, organizers have also revealed an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifiers in the qualifying venue.
