ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Artificial intelligence is coming to Wimbledon. Is nothing sacred? Today, the All England Club, which runs the famous British tennis tournament, announced the change, as NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.
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UNIDENTIFIED REFEREE: Out.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: It's the line judges crouching at the back of the court, often impeccably dressed in pinstripes, who call the ball in or out, and they've done so on Wimbledon's grass courts for 147 years. Occasionally, they become targets. Novak Djokovic once hit a ball into a line judge's throat at the U.S. Open. Before that, there was John McEnroe's infamous Wimbledon tirade in 1981.
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JOHN MCENROE: You can't be serious, man. You cannot be serious. That ball was on the line.
FRAYER: Occasionally, these eagle-eyed arbiters do get it wrong. Last year, a questionable call at Wimbledon cost Andy Murray a match. And reporters asked him afterwards, would you prefer this to just be automated?
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ANDY MURRAY: It's a hard one because I probably prefer having the lines judges, you know, on the court. Feels nicer to me - when mistakes are getting made in important moments.
FRAYER: So starting next summer, the All England Club says about 300 line judges will lose their jobs to an AI-powered robot, the Hawk-Eye Live Electronic Line Calling, or ELC. It has 18 cameras, makes a call within a tenth of a second and broadcasts an automated voice. It's already in use at the U.S. and Australian Opens. John McEnroe, now a tennis commentator, says he thinks it makes tennis a little boring, though there's still someone for him to fight with. Wimbledon's chair umpire, who sits near the net, will keep their job for now.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOLA YOUNG SONG, "CONCEITED") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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