Andy Roddick has again joined forces with Coco Gauff in expressing his frustration over Electronic Line Calls. Notably, the absence of an electric line calling in tennis has stirred debates among tennis players and experts for many years. The French Open is not an exception to this either. The drama that unfolded during Coco Gauff’s match against Iga Swiatek fueled the fire even more. Roddick, known for his bold statements, expressed his frustration on this subject in his podcast.
On June 11, Andy Roddick invited Kim Clijsters and Jon Wertheim to his podcast, “Served” to discuss the Roland Garros matches. During the last half of the segment, Roddick and Wertheim debated the absence of new technologies in the tennis world. In his own words, Roddick explained, “It’s because we want someone to trot down, look around, and also like the part where umpires come in and explain to players ball flight and how it lands. As if we haven’t seen it every day for six hours from the time we’re seven years old.”
The former U.S. Open champion continued, “We’re gonna not use exact line calling. We’re not going to get it right. Because we choose not to. And then we’re going to have them explain to a player how a ball travels. It is just like mind-blowing.” According to the former 41-year-old player, innovative measures have been taken to capture live reactions from players, such as using a small camera called Hawkeye. Therefore, Roddick explained how this is unfair and added, “We’re gonna bait them into pinching about what we’re doing. And then we’re gonna videotape them.”
A recent incident at the semifinals of Swiatek and Coco Gauff has further added to the controversy regarding the absence of line calls. Swiatek hit a serve, that was called out, but ultimately the chair umpire overruled it. Therefore, Gauff approached the umpire and had a heated conversation with him. Later, she said, “I definitely think that at this point it’s almost ridiculous that we don’t have it, not also just speaking because that happened to me.”
Although the previous year the ATP announced ELC would soon arrive in 2025, in the tennis world, frustrations regarding the issue have made several tennis players lose their temper on-court many times. Not only Coco Gauff, but her coach, Brad Gilbert, has also once spoken on this matter earlier this year.
Coco Gauff’s coach urges the use of ELC in tennis matches
During the Monte Carlo semifinal match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jannik Sinner, a misjudgment from the umpire created a huge controversy. During Tsitsipas’ second serve, the umpire dismissed the Greek player’s double fault. Dissatisfied at this, Gauff’s coach, Brad Gilbert posted on X, “I will say again there is time for @atptour to make it happen, why wait till 2025 for electronic line calling, that missed double fault a 3-1 BP just shouldn’t happen, Sin City 🌆 probably kicking 🦵 himself he didn’t 🛑 and how did umpire miss it to #disheveled.”
Although ELC is in use on grass and hard courts, introducing that technology to clay courts is yet to be done. ELC can provide better coverage of the court. And as players demand accuracy and consistency, the tennis world is eagerly waiting for this technology to come and be a game changer.