The tournament joins the American and Australian Opens in utilizing video review technology.
Video review technology will be launched at The Championships for the 2025 edition.
Competitors are granted the option to question specific rulings from the chair umpire, mirroring the practice currently in place at each of the US Open and the Aussie major.
This technology will be accessible on the main stadium and the number one court throughout the Championships and on the remaining featured courts when they are staging singles matches.
This step follows just a season following the AELTC introduced ELC, which brought an end to the centuries-old tradition of line officials.
What Can Be Reviewed?
Players cannot to dispute the call of the ELC system, but they can request the umpire to review specific decisions, such as:
- Whether a ball has bounced twice.
- Whether a shot touched an rival's racket or body during play.
- Potential hindrance end of a rally.
Notably, there will be no cap on the amount of challenges a competitor can initiate.
A Recent Example
A recent example took place in a recent tournament recently, where a top player initiated the video challenge against his opponent.
Draper admitted it was a tough situation for the umpire, but thought his rival had "played the rules quite well."
The umpire viewed a video and ruled the player was guilty of interference, granting the rally to his opponent.
Wider Implementation
Video reviews are not exclusive to major tournaments. The system has been in use at the US Open for two years and the Australian Open this year.
Furthermore, it is increasingly prevalent on the WTA circuit, and by next season the men's ATP Tour plans to have video reviews in place at every one of its tournaments.
Further Updates
A further innovation at The Championships 2025 involves the addition of graphical cues on displays to support the audio calls from the ELC system.
This solves situations where fans have sometimes been unsure whether a ball was out or in.
Finally, with precisely a century of days to go until the start of the tournament, organizers have also revealed an expansion in daily capacity at the qualifiers in the qualifying venue.
