Hawk-Eye Increases Peace of Mind and Saves Time
The Hawk-Eye electronic line-calling technology has had a rather significant impact on the game of professional tennis over the past couple years. If there is a question about a call during a tennis match at a pro tournament, then a player “challenges.” Players and fans accept the Hawk-Eye rulings even if there are occasionally a few eyebrows raised regarding
exactly where the ball landed. As a result, there are now rarely arguments between players and linesmen or chair umpires regarding line calls. Therefore, the players no longer waste time or energy debating line calls. The players also achieve a certain “peace of mind” with respect to line calls because of the generally-accepted belief that Hawk-Eye is always “right.” Players can therefore focus even more on simply playing better tennis. At the same time, tennis fans in the stands or watching on TV have the “answer” regarding close calls rather than wondering “was it really in or out?” Matches are now entirely decided based on the performance of the players rather than having a bad line call possibly affect the outcome of a match. Electronic line-calling has rather seamlessly become completely integrated into professional tennis. Similar to ball people during a match, if you don’t notice them, then they’ve done a very good job!
|| Comments (1)
Comments
Hawk Eye seems to make line calls based on the shadow of the ball. The shadow is almost as wide as the line. That means the shadow is just as big as the ball. But the rule says that a ball must "touch" some part of the line in order to be called good. If Hawk Eye uses the full size of the ball shadow to call lines, it is not acurate. Normally, something much smaller than the shadow of the ball "touches" the ground.
Posted by: Gordon Wong | October 10, 2009 07:52 PM