New move for US Open: Players can challenge more rulings

In football, VAR has been implemented in large parts of the world (but not in Sweden), and in the current World Cup, Sweden took the lead thanks to goal cameras showing that Lena Hurtig’s ball was in the goal.

One sport that relied early on video review was tennis, where the “Hawk Eye” system (which checks whether the ball is inside the line or not) was first used in a Grand Slam tournament in 2006, when the US Open used it . .

Three challenges for each group

Now the same tournament is choosing to expand the use of technical aids. This year, players will have the opportunity to challenge decisions three times per set, for example, a double bounce, a connection to the net, or if the ball touches the player’s body before the ball is hit.

If a player challenges a decision, the referee is given the opportunity to watch the result on video afterwards, and can change the decision if it turns out he was wrong.

-I’ve been asking for this for a while, and I’m glad the US Open will allow it. “It will be great, both for the players and the fans,” says world number three Jessica Pegula.

“It makes real sense”

Pegula himself would have liked to have the system already in place last year. At the 2022 French Open, she lost a match to Iga Swiatek, after the Pole won a point she shouldn’t have taken – as replays showed she made two saves that bounced back.

– That really makes sense. It can be very frustrating when you think you see a double bounce, but the referee doesn’t for some reason. It is always better to know something for sure than to scare someone. “You just want to know what it was really like,” says Caroline Garcia, who last year reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

news agency AP He writes that they have spoken to many players about this, and that the support for introducing more video assistance for referees is great.

-It’s a step in the right direction. If the technology exists, why not use it, says American Chris Eubanks.