Game, set, botch: AI umpiring at Wimbledon goes long
- Reference: 1751895073
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/07/ai_wimbledon_fail/
- Source link:
For the first time in 146 years, line judges have been scrapped in favor of Hawk-Eye Live technology for the 2025 competition, but the system's shortcomings were laid bare at a critical juncture of the singles match.
Hold my Pimms! Wimbledon turns to tech for line-ball calls [1]READ MORE
At 4-4, game point for Pavlyuchenkova, Kartal went long. At least Pavlyuchenkova seemed to think so, but in the absence of any call from Hawk-Eye, confusion rippled through the court.
Umpire Nico Helwerth stopped play after a few seconds, followed by an awkward, automated "STOP STOP."
Tennis rules state that if a line-calling system fails, "the call shall be made by the chair umpire. If the chair umpire is unable to determine if the ball was in or out, then the point shall be replayed. This protocol applies only to point-ending shots or in the case when a player stops play."
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After a phone call to check if Hawk-Eye was running, Helwerth told the audience: "The electronic line-calling system unfortunately was unable to track the last point so we will replay the point."
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Cue groans from commentators and jeers from the crowd – because it was obvious to any sentient being with eyes just how far out Kartal was. You can see for yourself in [5]the BBC's footage .
[6]AI scores a huge own goal if you play up and play the game
[7]AI models just don't understand what they're talking about
[8]People have empathy with AI… as long as they think it's human
[9]AIs have a favorite number, and it's not 42
Kartal eventually won that game to take a 5-4 lead, a fact that clearly frustrated Pavlyuchenkova, who told the umpire: "I don't know if it's in or out. How do I know? How can you prove it? You took the game away from me ... They stole the game from me. They stole it."
The Russian ultimately prevailed against the Brit, winning 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, but she still brought her disappointment into the post-match press conference. "I expected a different decision," she said. "I just thought also the chair umpire could take initiative, and that's why he's there for sitting on the chair, and he also saw it out."
Referring to the growing prevalence of automated systems in the sport, she said: "I think we're losing a little a bit of the charm of actually having human being ball boys. During COVID, we didn't have ball boys and then it just becomes a little bit weird and robot-oriented."
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The error itself was chalked up to the meatbag operator rather than the AI itself.
A spokesperson for the All England Club said: "Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question. The chair umpire followed the established process."
Despite being among AI tech's most powerful proponents, Microsoft research [11]discovered that "confidence in AI is associated with reduced critical thinking effort, while self-confidence is associated with increased critical thinking."
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Which is sort of what happened here. Although Hawk-Eye is more about computer vision than the generative AI Microsoft is interested in, built from a network of ten cameras around the court that capture 60 high-resolution images per second, bureaucratic attachment to an automated system that is not infallible led to a baffling outcome that could have been avoided if people had just used their eyes. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/10/wimbledon_drops_human_line_judges/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aGvvFErjnRwg106sHRnFeAAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aGvvFErjnRwg106sHRnFeAAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aGvvFErjnRwg106sHRnFeAAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://youtu.be/t36mtNH29QM?si=FEN_cWi9xgtNpIcD&t=225
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/07/ai_scores_a_huge_own/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/03/ai_models_potemkin_understanding/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/01/people_have_empathy_with_ai/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/30/ai_models_favorite_number_27/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aGvvFErjnRwg106sHRnFeAAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/11/microsoft_study_ai_critical_thinking/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aGvvFErjnRwg106sHRnFeAAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Surely Cliff Richard could've stepped in to save the day?
In the absence of a line call, to which player should he have addressed his Congratulations ?
Fortunately a dilemma we were all spared...
Not switched on
So paid millions with repuatations at stake but no light to show it's on or off. Perhaps a line judge is needed to keep an eye on this
Reminds me of Edinburgh's "driverless busses"
They were introduced to reduce costs - but needed a driver to cope with the roads the AI couldn't manage, and a "customer relations bod" to reassure the passengers that it was ok that the driver didn't have his hands on the wheel.
They finally decided to pull them from service and switch back to a normal bus with only a driver...
I dispair....
Can't even watch Wimbledon here in Sweden this year
The streaming company HBO Max bought the rights to show the games here in Sweden and they expect me to pay nearly 400 SEK (40 GPB) per month for a streaming subscription that I'd use for a week.
Now that the Swedish public broadcaster is financed directly from taxes, I'd expect them to use my money wisely and make sure that they get the rights for events like this so that everyone can watch.
Maybe I can VPN myself to the UK and watch the games from the BBC?
Re: Can't even watch Wimbledon here in Sweden this year
The BBC is pretty good at spotting VPN use. (maybe keeps a datbase of commonly used commercial VPN IP address ranges?) I ocasionally forget to leave a UK VPN if I've been using one (I am based in UK) and get banned from BBC if I then attempt to access iPlayer for example. They 'permanently' brand you as a VPN user and even if you revert to your 'normal' IP you have to wipe the BBC cookies from your browser. Irritated single sylable profanity generally emitted while doing so.
But Shirley!
Surely the fact that the automatic line judging had been turned off could or should have been notified to the umpire on his* tablet?
And one former Aussie Wimbledon champion pointed out that the umpire is in charge and if there is an obvious wrong line call has the authority and duty to overrule it. At the very least the tournament referee should have been called to make a decision.
Very disappointing, and not up to the standard to be expected.
* (female umpires do exist but the one in question is male)
Re: But Shirley!
"the umpire is in charge and if there is an obvious wrong line call has the authority and duty to overrule it."
True, but the umpire has to see it and be sure that it was a wrong call. Some people have been saying things like "the umpire has one job to do, they should have seen it" but that's not true, the umpire isn't there to just watch the ball, they are also watching the player for foul strokes for instance (both players that is, so the umpire has to watch Kartal play her shot, track the fast moving ball checking it clears the net then focus eagle like on where the ball lands). I can quite easily believe that the umpire didn't clearly see it at that moment (and why should they be watching the ball for in/out calls anyway? there is a system to do that for them).
Also, from the umpires chair, I wouldn't be sure it could be easily seen anyway. It's probably the worst geometry for them to do so, with the ball whizzing sideways across their view and hitting the ground at a fairly shallow angle. The TV replay was from a very good angle and of course slowed down and played back and forth.
Maybe the real question here is why don't they routinely have video replay for times like this, but this isn't a tech issue, it was a human error problem. In any sport, you play to the whistle (or whatever the analogy is in your sport). Elite sport is tough, so is life. Sometimes things don't go right but in those situations it's the most resilient player who can put it behind them and get on with it. Unlike Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in this case who lost the immediate next point with a wild miss hit, but she did come back and win the set and the game, so full credit to her for that.
Re: But Shirley!
Update from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/c3vd1w9kr3lo
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Wimbledon has made changes to its electronic line calling system to remove the possibility of "human error" after it was accidentally deactivated in a controversial episode on Sunday.
...
Umpire Nico Helwerth opted to replay the point - which Kartal won - but was criticised by Pavlyuchenkova and some pundits for not using his authority to overrule and call the ball out.
The AELTC said he had "followed the established process".
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I understand that the umpire did see the ball clearly bounce out, which is why the point was replayed.
Sadly the refresh rate for normal video is inadequate to catch the bounce of a ball travelling at up to 100mph.
The All England Tennis club may love Hawkeye...
... but of course to tennis players love means nothing.
If only there had been cameras
A simple TV replay would have been sufficient for all but the closest calls, and this wasn't that close a call...