Novak Djokovic does not need to worry about accidentally hitting a US Open line judge with a tennis ball between points this year because there are not to be any line judges — chair umpires are to be the only on-court officials at the Grand Slam tournament’s matches.
The US Tennis Association (USTA) and the sport’s two leading professional tours, the ATP and WTA, on Monday announced that Hawk-Eye Live electronic line-calling would be used for all competition courts at the US Open this year and at seven of the nine US Open Series events preceding it.
A year ago, the USTA relied on the automatic system and dispensed with line judges at the US Open, except for matches at Flushing Meadows’ two main courts: the Arthur Ashe and the Louis Armstrong stadiums.
Photo: AP
During a fourth-round match at Ashe against Pablo Carreno Busta in September last year, Djokovic was defaulted from the US Open for inadvertently hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball after dropping a game.
It was a shocking and abrupt stop to Djokovic’s 29-match winning streak and his bid to add to his Grand Slam title collection.
After losing a game to trail 6-5 in the first set, Djokovic angrily swatted a ball behind him with his racket — and it went directly at the line judge.
Tournament referee Soeren Friemel ruled that the match — and Djokovic’s participation in last year’s US Open — would end there.
The Australian Open, which Djokovic won in February for his 18th major championship, did not have any line judges on any courts.
Not surprisingly, Djokovic said that he approved.
“I actually am in favor of technology. I think it’s proven to be very accurate in this particular instance,” he said at Melbourne Park when asked about ending the use of line judges. “I don’t see a reason why we need the line umpires, to be honest, if we have technology like this.”
The US Open Series tournaments that are to rely entirely on electronic line-calling this year are the events in Atlanta, Georgia; Washington; Toronto; Montreal; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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