The tournament joins the American and Australian Opens in utilizing video review technology.
Video review technology will make its debut at The Championships for the 2025 edition.
Competitors are granted the ability to contest particular decisions from the chair umpire, echoing the protocol already in operation at each of the American Grand Slam and the Aussie major.
This innovation will be operational on the main stadium and Court One for the duration of the tournament and on the remaining show courts when they are hosting singles matches.
This step follows just a year after the All England Club introduced electronic line calling, which terminated the 147-year role of line judges.
Scope of Challenges
Players will not be permitted to challenge the call of the electronic line calling, but are allowed to request the umpire to re-examine other situations, including:
- If a ball has bounced twice.
- Whether a ball made contact with an opponent's racquet or body on the way past.
- Possible interference end of a rally.
Importantly, there will be no cap on the number of reviews a player can request.
Practical Application
An illustrative case took place in Indian Wells last week, where a top player initiated the video challenge against his opponent.
Draper admitted it was a tough situation for the official, but thought his opponent had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire watched a video and determined the player was responsible for interference, granting the rally to Medvedev.
Growing Trend
This technology are not exclusive to major tournaments. The system was adopted at the US Open for two years and the Aussie Open this year.
Additionally, it is increasingly prevalent on the women’s WTA Tour, and by the coming year the ATP circuit will have video reviews in place at all of its events.
Additional Innovations
Another change at Wimbledon this year will be the addition of visual indicators on scoreboards to support the verbal announcements from the electronic line calling system.
This addresses instances where spectators have occasionally been uncertain whether a ball was in or out.
In other news, with exactly a century of days to go until the start of the tournament, the AELTC have also announced an increase in daily capacity at the qualifiers in the qualifying venue.
