Kozminski Techblog

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History

If you have watched a tennis match in the last few years, you may have noticed the absence of one thing that was characteristic of this sport – line umpires. They largely decided the fate of the match by assessing whether a given ball was in or out of the court. Every person makes mistakes, so they were not exceptions either. That is why for several years we have been able to observe the voices calling “out” through loudspeakers that are called by a computer. This is possible thanks to the Hawk-eye Live system.

The basic Hawk-eye system, however, has been present for a long time and is used for challenges – verifying whether the linesman judged the ball correctly or whether he was wrong. The new version of this system was implemented in 2020 during the Grand Slam tournament – US Open. Hawk-eye Live, as this system is called, replaced line judges and detected in real time whether the ball was in or out of the court.

Still some tournament denied using Hawk-eye system during their events. During French Open also called Roland Garros we wont encounter the use of such a system. The officials of the event claimed that there is no point on using Hawk-eye when on a clay court a ball leaves a visible mark where it landed. It makes sense considering that the cost of installing the Hawk-eye system on one court is around $100,000.

How it works?

The Hawk-eye Live system is based on 10 to 18 cameras placed around the entire court, depending on the tournament. These cameras track the ball from several angles. Thanks to this, this system has an error range of up to 5 mm. This is such a small amount that no referee can judge better the accuracy of the ball than the system. The image from the cameras is converted into a 3D animation showing the place where the ball hit during the point. 

Interestingly, these cameras are able to capture foot fault, which is when a player cross or step on the end line during the serve. It’s impressive because each player wears different shoes, of a different size, color or event type. So it is more difficult to track whether the athlete’s foot stepped on the line or not.

Did it improve tennis?

In my opinion, yes. This system means that during matches we can observe fewer situations where a player argues with a referee, which is spoiling the beauty of the game. Every sport evolves and changes to some extent. I think that is a step forward improving the game. Most of the top tennis players thinks mostly the same way. Here are some examples:
– Novak Djokovic said: “The technology is so advanced right now, there is absolutely no reason why you should keep line umpires on the court. That’s my opinion”,
– John McEnroe said: “I think that tennis is one of the few sports where you don’t need umpires or linesmen. If you have this equipment, and it’s accurate, isn’t it nice to know that the correct call’s being made?”

There are some legend players that have a bit different opinion on that topic:
– Rafael Nadal said: “I don’t want to create controversy, but I think the traditional court with line judges looks much nicer”

Is Hawk-eye only present in tennis?

Of course not. Hawk-eye is present in many other sports such as volleyball, football and even basketball. The system is an increasingly common solution used at large tournaments, replacing old and outdated systems. We could see this solution, among others, during many NBA games and Premier League matches.

As a volleyball fan, I hope that in Plusliga we will replace verification from ordinary recordings with much more advanced systems that will automatically verify things that do not require a human to verify.

Sources:

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk-Eye

http://www.tennisviewmag.com/tennis-view-magazine/article/hawkeye-facts-behind-controversy

https://sarinachewyr10pass.weebly.com/hawk-eye.html

https://www.topendsports.com/sport/tennis/hawkeye.htm

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sport/tennis/wimbledon-hawk-eye/