Should a competitor suspect their adversary of hindrance, they will have the option to request a review once a point concludes.
In a match at Indian Wells last week, Daniil Medvedev activated the challenge mechanism when facing Jack Draper, who momentarily extended his arms during play to indicate his opinion that a forehand from Medvedev had landed beyond the baseline.
After viewing a replay on her device, official Aurelie Tourte determined that Draper had committed hindrance, defined as an action or sound intended to disrupt an opponent, consequently awarding the point to the Russian player.
Draper acknowledged the challenging circumstances for the arbiter, yet he felt Medvedev had “navigated the regulations quite effectively” and personally did not consider his own motion sufficient to cause a distraction.
The practice of employing video challenges commenced at the US Open in 2023, with the Australian Open adopting it starting in 2025.
This system is gaining prevalence within the women’s WTA Tour, and by the upcoming season, the men’s ATP Tour plans to implement video review capabilities across all its tournaments.
For this year’s Wimbledon, an additional modification involves introducing visual cues on the score displays, intended to supplement the audible announcements generated by ELC.
Attendees have occasionally experienced uncertainty regarding whether a ball landed in or out; at the Australian Open earlier this year, the net supports illuminated red to provide the audience with a visual signal whenever a ball was deemed out of bounds.
Precisely a hundred days before The Championships commence, the AELTC further disclosed an expansion of daily spectator capacity for the qualifying rounds in Roehampton, moving from 3,500 to 4,000.
