Does Hawk-eye work in tennis

The Hawk-eye system in tennis is very similar in its technology to the 3rd umpire in cricket. In cricket it will determine whether or not a player is run out or not. It is used for more purposes in tennis however.

What is Hawk-eye?

Hawk-Eye uses six or more television cameras situated around the ground, linked to a computer system. The computer reads in the video in real time, and tracks the path of the ball on each camera. These six separate views are then combined together to produce an accurate 3D representation of the path of the ball, which can be viewed in a virtual reality simulation.

This technology was first used in Australia for a lead up event to the Australian Open at the Hopman Cup 2006. The first grand slam to use it was the US Open.

It is being used with player challenges at the Australian Open, 2007. Players are allowed to challenge a line call as often as they like as long as the hawk-eye system verfiies their challenge. Players cannot challenge in a set beyond 2 incorrect challenges. They get one more incorrect challenge in a tie-break, meaning they can still challenge as often as they like in the tie-break as long as they are correct. In a third set for women and the fifth set for men when no tie-breaks are being played, players get 2 more incorrect challenges after 6 all games.

There was one strange glitch to the system when Mauresmo challenged. The graphic, which everyone can see on a large screen, showed the ball out when it was recognised by everyone as being in. The explanation was that the graphic had been enlarged too much which had shown a minute gap between the line and the outside of the court. Now, the technicians do not enlarge the graphic that much anymore.

Another thing to note is that this technology only applies to players on centre court.

Pros for the system

* Most players like it
* The audience seems to enjoy it.
* It may take pressure off umpires and linescallers.
* Players can not blame line calls for losing a match.
* Players can challenge a line call or an overrule or a correction.
* It does prove that many line calls are incorrect, but we always knew that.


Cons for the system

* Federer doesn't like it.
* It is only used on centre court so benefits (or disadvantages) the players who get to play on centre court.
* If it was meant to diminish clashes between umpires and players: it has failed.
* It is very expensive to set up and the courts have to have roofs to install it.
* Players can abuse the system and use it to get back at an umpire or to upset the other player.
* There is a 7 second wait, but this is much faster than the cricket 3rd umpire decisions.
* In time we might learn that the players perceptions of what is an incorrect line call will be quite low.
* Incorrect line calls are part of the game. We are all human.

My conclusion:
If hawk-eye is used at all, all players should be able to take advantage of it.
I like it as a visual aid. It does show how many and sometimes how few calls are wrong.
For the big important points when an correct line call is crucial to the outcome, I think hawk-eye is essential.