- There was drama when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was denied a crucial point
- Russian was left visibly furious and later claimed officials had ‘stolen’ the game
- Wimbledon issued an apology as electronic calling system was switched off
Wimbledon have been forced to apologise after admitting the controversial line-calling technology failed at a crucial moment during Sonay Kartal’s match with Russian star Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova because someone accidentally turned it OFF.
Pavlyuchenkova accused officials of pro-Brit bias and claimed a game was ‘stolen’ from her during their fourth-round match on Centre Court when Kartal hit a ball clearly long but the electronic calling system (ELC) didn’t call it out.
The Russian was serving with advantage at 4-4 in the opening set of her victory when no ‘out’ call was heard. Chair umpire Nico Helworth halted play before an automated call of ‘Stop! Stop!’ sounded over the speakers.
After a four-minute delay while Helwerth sat on his court-side phone, he declared: ‘The electronic line-calling system unfortunately was unable to track the last point so we will replay the point.’
Kartal went on to break serve, prompting a furious Pavlyuchenkova to accuse officials of favouring her British opponent.
‘I don’t know if it’s in or it’s out,’ she raged. ‘How do I know? You cannot prove it. Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. They stole it.’
Pavlyuchenkova later revealed that Helworth had told her after the match that he knew the ball was out and suggested he was ‘too scared’ to make a decision.
It was later revealed that the technology had been accidentally turned off by the operator leaving Wimbledon forced to apologise to Kartal and Pavlyuchenkova.
A spokesperson for the All England Club said: ‘Following the Pavlyuchenkova vs Kartal match, we have had the opportunity to undertake further investigation, including speaking to the players, chair umpire, Hawk-Eye operators and Review Official.
‘It is now clear that the live ELC system, which was working optimally, was deactivated in error on part of the server’s side of the court 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. 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.
‘We have apologised to the players involved. We continue to have full confidence in the accuracy of the ball tracking technology. The live ELC system relies on the Hawk-Eye operators, the review official and the technology to work in harmony. This did not happen. In this instance there was a human error and as a consequence we have fully reviewed our processes and made the appropriate changes.’
