DW: Hawkeye: Using the Right Technology the Wrong Way

By Dave Winship
OnTheLine.org

When Hawk-Eye technology made its debut at the Nasdaq-100 a few weeks back, there was plenty of scope for tournament directors, referees, umpires and players to use the right technology in the wrong way. Well, that's pretty much exactly what's happened.

Before the instant replay system was installed for the Miami tournament, line-call blunders threatened to undermine the integrity of the professional game. Injustices witnessed by television audiences often had a significant bearing on the outcome of matches. In 2004, USTA Chief Executive Arlen Kantarian was moved to apologise to Serena Williams after overrules and bad line-calls during her US Open quarter-final encounter with Jennifer Capriati cost her a place in the last four. So the stakes were too high to resist the implementation of a system that eliminates human error. Unfortunately, the movers and shakers of the tennis industry spied an opportunity to inject an uncalled-for element of drama and entertainment into the sport and the skewed system of limited player challenges was born. Kantarian, a former marketing executive for the National Football League, was clearly influential in the decision to approve a policy similar to the instant replay challenges adopted by the NFL in 1999.

Instead of ushering in a new era of fairness and accuracy, the fanfare in Miami has produced nothing but a half-cocked Hawk-Eye which isn't even under the control of the umpire. It's as if the window of opportunity has been opened only for officials to put up some eye-catching curtains. The powerlessness of the umpires has been compounded by the inhibition of players disposed to save their challenges for potentially critical moments late in each set. The arbitrariness of limited challenges produces intrigue and strategy, but players will soon feel short-changed when they realise that inconsistency and unfairness have merely been reconstructed when they could have been eradicated. Fans will also share the frustrations when the novelty starts to wear thin. There must be serious misgivings over a system that is restricted to a select few on the show courts at tournaments.

Hawk-Eye should be a discretionary tool in the hands of chair umpires empowered to view an instant replay to resolve doubtful calls whenever they see fit. On clay courts, umpires already respond to limitless appeals by players. The use of instant replay technology is quicker and less intrusive than the spectacle of an umpire jumping in and out of the chair to inspect marks. Implementation should not depend on the installation of big screens, but, where they are available, they can be used to satisfy those who insist that the entertainment factor is exploited.

Instant replay technology is too good an opportunity for tennis to waste. The various authorities should be constantly reminded that the goal is the elimination of erroneous calls and there should be nothing else on the agenda. Every effort must be made to deploy it on all courts at those tournaments that choose to sanction its use. Above all, the technology must be put in the hands of the umpires.

Copyright 2006, Dave Winship -- all rights reserved worldwide

Dave Winship is an L.T.A. coach at the Caversham Park Tennis Club in Berkshire, England, and the author of OnTheLine.org magazine at www.tennisontheline.org.