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Why There Are No Line Judges at Wimbledon for 2025 in the First Change for 148 Years

By Admin / June 25, 2025

Summary

  • Live Electronic Line Calling (Live ELC) will replace line judges at Wimbledon this year.
  • 80 line judges will serve as ‘match assistants’ at Wimbledon.
  • The French Open still uses line judges and ball marks for calls on clay.

The third Grand Slam of the tennis season is edging ever closer. Wimbledon will begin on Monday 30th June and end on Sunday 13th July, with the men’s final.

The tournament is steeped in tradition, but this year’s tournament will be slightly different. Line judges, who have been used at SW19 for the last 148 years, will not be used this year. In October 2024, the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced that they would be replaced by Live Electronic Line Calling (Live ELC). The technology will cover balls that go ‘out’ during rallies and also ‘fault’ serves. Here is everything you need to know about this notable change for the 2025 Championships.

Line Judges Replaced

Live ELC has been predominantly used across the men’s ATP Tour and the women’s WTA Tour this season. In October 2024, Wimbledon released an operational update ahead of next year’s tournament, which included the announcement that line judges will be removed in 2025. Sally Bolton, Chief Executive of the All England Club, said:

“The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation.

“Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust, and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating. For the players, it will offer them the same conditions they have played under at several other events on tour.

“We take our responsibility to balance tradition and innovation at Wimbledon very seriously. Line umpires have played a central role in our officiating set-up at The Championships for many decades, and we recognise their valuable contribution and thank them for their commitment and service.”

Typically, around 300 line judges are used at Wimbledon to make ‘out’ and ‘fault’ calls. This year, 80 line judges will operate as ‘match assistants’, who will monitor the technology.

Tennis Matches in Wimbledon

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Line Judges at the Other Grand Slams

carlos alcaraz

Unlike the other three Grand Slams, the French Open still uses line judges. They also use the ball marks left on the clay surface to determine whether shots are in or out. Players are also not allowed to challenge calls at the second Grand Slam of the year. Like Wimbledon, the French Open is a historic event, and the tournament organisers believe that line judges and humans are still necessary. Gilles Morreton, president of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), said:

“I think we are right to keep our referees and line judges at Roland Garros.

“The federation wants to keep our referees for as long as we can. I hope we’ll be able to maintain it in our tournaments in the future.”

Human line judges were removed from the Australian and US Opens in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Automated calls replaced the line judges at hard court events. It took a couple of years for Wimbledon to follow suit, but with the majority of tour events now using the electronic calling system, it was deemed a no-brainer to introduce it.

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Other Changes at Wimbledon

The other major change set to be introduced for this year’s tournament at Wimbledon is the provisional schedule for the final weekend. On days 13 and 14, both ladies’ and men’s singles finals will start after a doubles final on centre court.

On Saturday 12th July, the ladies’ singles final will follow the men’s doubles final, which starts at 1pm. A day later, the men’s singles final will follow the ladies’ doubles final, starting at the same time as Saturday. This means that both singles finals will start at approximately 4pm. Last year, both finals started at 2pm.

The draw for Wimbledon will take place on Friday 27th June. There will be 128 players in both draws, with 32 seeded players, 16 qualifiers and eight wildcards.

Statistics courtesy of Wimbledon and BBC Sport – correct as of 25/06/25.

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