“Each functional area of the tournament was asked to limit the number of people who physically need to be on site,” said Stacey Allaster, US Open tournament director.
This includes officials, and by using Hawk-Eye Live on 15 of the 17 playing fields, the US Open can drastically reduce the number of line judges on site: from about 350 to well under 100. Arthur Ashe Stadium alone and the Louis Armstrong Stadium will. they still have full crews and officers of nine line judges working hour-long shifts. The other courts will only have a chair judge, who will call the score after Hawk-Eye Live makes the call and will focus more on monitoring player behavior and pace of play. Referees will not be allowed to cancel line calls from machines, taking over only if the system breaks during a point and fails to make a call. Should the sound system fail, a light attached to the referee’s chair would still indicate when Hawk-Eye has determined that a shot is out.
The system is not entirely error-free. During this World TeamTennis season, Orlando Storm’s Jessica Pegula and Washington Kastles’ Bernarda Pera were playing a tiebreaker in a women’s singles match. With Pera leading 2-1, he hit a ball that wasn’t called out but which Pegula and his teammates were convinced had landed on the side.
They asked to see a replay and was suspicious that the ball had landed well inside the court.
“We were like, this obviously isn’t fair,” Pegula said. “Hawk-Eye clearly messed up. If you saw the ball land, it wasn’t where the mark was at all. We switched sides and were arguing with them and the referee got a call from whoever works with Hawk-Eye and said, ‘You’re actually right, Hawk-Eye was wrong. The ball was out. ‘ “
He continued: “If we hadn’t had a fight, it probably wouldn’t have happened because the referee is limited to what Hawk-Eye says. So there were some discrepancies here.”
Japhet said Hawk-Eye officials monitoring the system also have access to a broadcast feed as an additional tool for such rare occasions. But he said the automated system has been tested and proven to be accurate to within two millimeters.
Donald Young, an American veteran who first played in World TeamTennis in 2016, remains a convert.
“Of course with the Covid situation, it’s particularly useful, but other than that, it’s just great,” he said. “The ball is coming fast, so you can see it sometimes faster with Hawk-Eye than with many eyes. It can be a little strange at times. A couple of calls were inside the box, and the guys had to fix it, but it sure got a lot better over the years. I think it’s more accurate now than ever. “
