Wimbledon organisers have apologised after the electronic line-calling system was turned off in error at a crucial moment in Sonay Kartal’s match on Centre Court.
According to The Guardian, the British No 3’s opponent, the 34-year-old Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, accused the All England Club of home bias and said a game had been stolen from her when the AI-enhanced technology missed a call.
Pavlyuchenkova, on game point, became convinced that a Kartal shot had landed long but there was no “out” call by the system which controversially replaced line judges this year.
The umpire, Nico Helwerth, who did not know the system had been turned off, said the technology was “unable to track the last point”, which had to be replayed.
“I don’t know if it’s in or it’s out. How do I know? You cannot prove it, because she’s local they can say whatever. You took the game away from me,” Pavlyuchenkova said after Kartal won the point and went on to break for a 5-4 lead. “They have stolen the game from me, they stole it.”
A Wimbledon spokesperson said the club had apologised to the players after finding that the technology was “deactivated in error on part of the server’s side of the court for one game”.
Pavlyuchenkova went on to overpower Kartal, who later said she was “devastated” that her fairytale run had ended with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat on her Centre Court debut.
