Electronic line calling has been adopted by tournaments worldwide to track the trajectories and landing spots of balls. Yet the French Open continues to use human line judges, with no electronic replays available for players to challenge calls.
Why Does The French Open Not Use Electronic Line Calling?
Tennis has been at the forefront of sports in adopting technology. Electronic line calling was first adopted in the 1970s and has now become the standard in tennis, with three of the four Grand Slams and most ATP and WTA tournaments above the 250 level using the technology as part of the sport’s revolution.
However, the French Open remains the largest tournament that does not use electronic line-calling. Organizers at Stade Roland Garros believe this allows them to preserve tennis’s traditions while avoiding having human eyes replaced by technology. It also prevents technology from taking away more human jobs in an era where it has quickly become the norm.
In 2025, President of the Fédération Française de Tennis, Gilles Moretton, said the federation would like to keep referees and line officials at the French Open for as long as possible.
“We are a federation where umpires and line judges work every day and, I say this with all humility, we are the best country for providing officials on the tour. We take pride in this, we have a strong training system. We are a benchmark and we want to stay that way,” he said.
With no electronic line calling at the French Open, officials rely on ball marks to make their calls. The line judges make the calls which are then ratified by the chair umpire.
While the decision to resist using electronic line calling at the French Open remains controversial, players over the years have also shared their concerns over the reliability of the technology.
There have been several cases of system malfunction, and the accuracy of the technology used has also drawn criticism from players, including Emma Raducanu.
“I don’t [trust the electronic line calling technology]. I think the other players would say the same thing, there were some pretty dodgy ones but what can you do?” Raducanu said after losing to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon, where electronic line calling was introduced last year.
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Not all players are against the technology, and some have even advocated for the French Open to adopt electronic line calling. However, the French Open continues to resist those calls as it looks to maintain the traditions of storied its 125-year history.
