News Desk
\nPARIS
\nNovak Djokovic\u2019s relationship with line officials has been difficult of late and the Serbian risked their wrath again on Saturday when he suggested they were unnecessary.
\nThe 33-year-old world number one was dramatically defaulted in the U.S. Open fourth round after inadvertently hitting a female line judge in the throat with a loose ball.
\nNow he believes their job should be done by Hawkeye technology.
\n\u201cWith all my respect for the tradition and the culture we have in this sport, when it comes to people present on the court during a match, including line (judges), I really don\u2019t see a reason why every single tournament in this world, in this technological advanced era, would not have what we had during the Cincinnati\/New York tournaments,\u201d Djokovic said.
\nThe Covid-19 pandemic meant the majority of courts at the U.S. Open, part from the main show courts, dispensed with line judges as a health precaution.
\nThey are back at the French Open which, because it is on clay, does not use Hawkeye technology for close calls, relying instead on the umpire to examine a mark in the red dust.
\nWhile the issue of whether players should be able to challenge via a Hawkeye review at the French Open and other claycourt events, as they do on other surfaces, has been debated all week here, Djokovic appears to want to go further.
\n\u201cThe technology is so advanced right now, there is absolutely no reason why you should keep line umpires on the court. That\u2019s my opinion,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cOf course, I understand technology is expensive, so it\u2019s an economic issue and a question mark. But I feel like we are all moving towards that, and sooner or later there is no reason to keep line umpires.
\n\u201cYes, ball kids, of course, ball person, yes, but line umpires, I don\u2019t see why anymore, to be honest,\u201d he said before adding with a smile \u201cI would also probably then have less chances to do what I did in New York.\u201d
\nSpaniard Garbine Muguruza, the 2016 French Open champion, instead believes traditions should be respected.
\n\u201cThey can also have a HawkEye, you know, in clay court. That solves everything. But I feel it\u2019s pretty traditional (now), and I\u2019m a traditional person. I enjoy having, you know, line umpires and chair umpire.
\nAnd I just like things the old way,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cYou can put a HawkEye (in) and make it more modern, but I appreciate not being a machine on the court. (It would be) even more lonely out there just with us. A speaker that says in or out.\u201d
\nThe ATP\u2019s Next Gen tournament has experimented with Hawkeye technology calling the lines using an automated voice rather than having officials on court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk PARIS Novak Djokovic\u2019s relationship with line officials has been difficult of late and the Serbian risked their wrath again on Saturday when he suggested they were unnecessary. The 33-year-old world number one was dramatically defaulted in the U.S. Open fourth round after inadvertently hitting a female line judge in the throat with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n