Hawk-Eye Wants Your Job

Line judges and umpires, beware.

Hawk-Eye, the electronic replay system at Wimbledon, may put you out of a job.

The system was in effect for the first time in this year's Wimbledon Championships, and its affect on the game was felt in compelling fashion. Roger Federer, who went on to win the tournament and solidify his case for the greatest player of all time, nearly lost because of it.

Federer had apparently won the first set tiebreak when a call was reversed in Nadal's favor. The replay showed the ball nicked the line and the point was played over. Federer won the set anyway, and all was well.

But then came a crucial point in the fourth set, when Federer trailed 0-2. The game was 30-all and Federer breathed a sigh of relief when Nadal hit a ball that everyone in the stadium believed to be out.

Except for Hawk-Eye, that is.

The point was given to Nadal, who went on to take the break and glide through the rest of the set. After the game, Federer was heard to say that Hawk-Eye "is killing me."

Had Federer not rallied to win the fifth and deciding set, the story of the day would be Hawk-Eye. It is, of course, merely a footnote, but not one that should go unnoticed.

Proponents of Hawk-Eye say that it makes the game as fair as it can be. I beg to differ, and so does Roger Federer.

For one thing, machines like that need to be calibrated to the nth degree. As John McEnroe pointed out on the telecast, even a 90% accuracy rating isn't perfect. If that machine is off even by a millimeter, it can make the difference in the match.

Not only that, but the machine slows down the pace of the game considerably. Several times Nadal seemed to challenge simply to disrupt Federer's momentum; if the call was overturned, that was a bonus.

Human umpires and referees make mistakes; it's a proven fact. But the element of subjectivity and human error has always been a component of tennis, and the sport has survived just fine for over a century without adding machines into the mix.

I'd just as soon leave it that way.