All line calls in points in matches at the ATP Next Gen Finals to be held in Milan, in November will be monitored and determined by Hawk-Eye. Termed as “Hawk-Eye Live”, this decision was announced by the Association of Tennis Professionals on Monday in a continuation of its decision of testing several changes to the existing scoring system and format of the sport in the Next Gen Finals.
With Hawk-Eye monitoring the line calls, there will be no linespersons to make the calls and the chair umpire will be the only official manning proceedings during the match-ups. Likewise, the incorporation of Hawk-Eye will also eliminate the currently-used electronic review system that players use to challenge disputed calls.
Per the proposed initiation, all calls made by “Hawk-Eye Live” will be binding, with disputed calls to be displayed in the screens placed in the stadium in case of players contesting them. Foot faults will be ruled by officials who will be monitoring the cameras positioned on the central and base line on both sides of the court.
Hailing the move, Gayle David Bradshaw, executive vice-president for ATP’s Rules and Competition, stated, “This could be a landmark moment for officiating in our sport.” He also added, “The technology is now in a place where we feel comfortable trialling this new system in a real tournament environment. The Next Gen ATP Finals is the perfect place to do this, and we look forward to monitoring the results and assessing the merits of this new system.”
Earlier, in May 2017, the ATP had announced that the Next Gen finals would be played as best-of-five matches, with first-to-four games and the tie-break at three-all. The points played would be with no-advantage or no-let scoring and would feature the shot-clock to enforce the 25-second rule between points.
Finally, the players would be allowed to take medical time-outs for one minute in a match and would also be allowed interactions with their coaches.
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