The tournament joins the American and Aussie Opens in implementing replay technology.
Replay technology will be launched at Wimbledon this year.
Competitors are granted the option to challenge certain decisions from the chair umpire, mirroring the practice currently in place at each of the American Grand Slam and the Australian Open.
This innovation will be accessible on Centre Court and Court One throughout the Championships and on the remaining show courts when they are hosting singles matches.
This step comes just a season following the All England Club rolled out ELC, which terminated the 147-year tradition of line officials.
Scope of Challenges
Players will not be permitted to dispute the accuracy of the ELC system, but they can ask for the umpire to review specific situations, including:
- Whether a ball has double-bounced.
- Whether a shot touched an opponent's racquet or person on the way past.
- Possible interference at the conclusion of a point.
Notably, there will be no cap on the amount of reviews a competitor can initiate.
A Recent Example
A recent incident occurred in a recent tournament recently, where a top player initiated the video challenge against his opponent.
Draper admitted it was a difficult call for the official, but believed his rival had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire watched a replay and ruled the player was responsible for hindrance, awarding the point to his opponent.
Broader Adoption
This technology are not new for Grand Slams. It was adopted at the American major for two years and the Aussie Open this year.
Furthermore, it is increasingly prevalent on the women’s WTA Tour, and by the coming year the men's ATP Tour will have video reviews implemented at every one of its events.
Additional Innovations
A further change at The Championships this year will be the addition of visual indicators on scoreboards to support the verbal announcements from the electronic line calling system.
This addresses situations where spectators have occasionally been uncertain whether a ball was out or in.
In other news, with exactly 100 days to go until the beginning of the tournament, organizers have further announced an expansion in daily attendance at the qualifiers in the qualifying venue.
