'Magic Eye' technology at Wimbledon mocked

The Hawk-Eye automated refereeing system at Wimbledon suffered a serious failure, causing tennis player Pavlyuchenkova to lose a point in the deciding serve and causing great controversy.

The Hawk-Eye automated refereeing system malfunctioned during the match. Photo: Offside .

Wimbledon 2025 marks a major shift when it officially eliminates all linesmen, instead applying Hawk-Eye technology to determine whether the ball is in or out of the court. All 18 courts at this year’s tournament have been equipped with this system, using multiple high-speed cameras and computer vision algorithms, combined with speakers that sound “out” when the ball is detected out of bounds.

The first week of testing the system went smoothly. However, Hawk-Eye unexpectedly malfunctioned during the match on Centre Court between Britain’s Sonay Kartal and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on 6 July.

The incident occurred at the end of the first set. When Kartal hit a shot that clearly went about 30cm wide, Hawk-Eye did not signal. Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova thought she had won the decisive point and closed out the set, but the umpire unexpectedly called for a replay. After serving, she lost the point and eventually lost the game.

“They stole my game,” Pavlyuchenkova said in frustration as she changed courts.

According to the BBC , the All England Club, the organizers of Wimbledon, initially announced that the Hawk-Eye system had been disabled due to an operator error. However, in a later statement, the organizers confirmed that the error was on the court's server. The system had been disabled "by mistake" during the match.

“We have apologised to the players involved. We remain fully confident in the accuracy of our ball tracking technology. In this case, due to human error, we have reviewed our processes and made appropriate changes,” a Wimbledon spokesperson said.

Although the rules of the game allowed the referee to intervene when Hawk-Eye failed to make a decision, this was not done.

“The umpire saw it too. He told me after the match. I thought he would do it, but he didn’t. I don’t know if it’s because Kartal is the home player and he gets more favor. Maybe the umpire is afraid to make a big decision,” Pavlyuchenkova said in the post-match press conference.

Although Pavlyuchenkova won the match, the incident raised questions about the integrity of the technology and the role of judges in the age of automation. Hawk-Eye is considered a nearly foolproof system, but the incident showed that even technology can fail if humans do not operate it properly.

Source: https://znews.vn/cong-nghe-mat-than-tai-giai-wimbledon-bi-che-nhao-post1566758.html