Wimbledon blames ‘human error’ for embarrassing line-calling glitch

LONDON: Wimbledon chiefs on Monday blamed human error for an embarrassing failure of the tournament’s electronic line-calling system.
Officials apologized to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal after the malfunction during their fourth-round match on Center Court on Sunday, which Pavlyuchenkova won in straight sets.
After an investigation, organizers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court for a game, with the mistake only becoming apparent when a shot from Britain’s Kartal that clearly missed the baseline was not called out.
Had the call been correct, it would have given Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set, but instead umpire Nico Helwerth ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game.
The Russian accused the official of home bias, saying: “Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.”
Wimbledon issued a statement on Sunday saying the system had been “deactivated in error” for one game by those operating the system.
“In that time, there were three calls not picked up by live ELC on the affected part of the court.

Two of these were called by the chair umpire, who was not made aware that the system had been deactivated,” it said.
“Following the third, the chair umpire stopped the match and consulted with the review official. It was determined that the point should be replayed.
“The chair umpire followed the established process.