In round 4 of Wimbledon 2025, the match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal was affected by technology.
The situation happened when it was 4-4 in the first set. After Kartal's clear shot wide, Pavlyuchenkova let the racket go without returning the ball. However, the technology system did not send an "out" signal.
Pavlyuchenkova's attempt to explain that the ball was no longer on the pitch confused the referee Nico Helwerth.
"We have not heard any notice. We will check the system again," Helwerth said. However, after making a call, the main referee continued to inform the system that the situation could not be checked.
The ball had to be re-scored and it was Kartal who took advantage of it to win an important break.
Although Pavlyuchenkova later won 7-6, 6-4, she could not hide her frustration.
"He took away a game from me," Pavlyuchenkova told the referee after the match ended.
According to the Wimbledon organizers, this was not a technical error of the system but a human error: "An operational error caused the electronic refereeing technology to go off in that situation. We apologize to the players and will review the working process."
This is the first time Wimbledon has used completely electronic referee technology instead of line refereeing. Although it is expected to improve the accuracy of the elevation, this system has been questioned after the above incident.
