If Hawk-Eye had been around in the ’80s, the tennis Tour may not have witnessed the tantrums of John McEnroe. The technology would have saved the chair umpires from being abused as the maverick American hit the headlines more often for his disputes with officials over line calls than his seven grand slam victories.
Hawk-Eye, a tracking system that sees whether a ball lands inside, outside or partly on the line, has not only come as a relief for the players and the umpires, it has also been engaging the crowd ever since its debut at the Nasdaq-100 Open in March 2006. All Grand Slam and Masters tournaments (except on clay) are using this arrangement.
On Monday, city’s tennis lovers had a firsthand experience of the state-of-the-art technology during the match between Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori at the Chennai Open. It made its India debut at the Commonwealth Games last year.
“As many as 10 video cameras feed 24 gigabytes of data to video-processing software that tracks the real-time position of every serve and shot. All the action has been virtually reconstructed in a matter of seconds and stored in the computer. Whenever a player challenges the call, the computer-generated replay will be showed on the giant screen. Each player is allowed three challenges per set,” explained Hawk-Eye Innovations’ Luke Aggas, sitting in a small booth overlooking the centre court of the SDAT Stadium.
The system was invented by Paul Hawkins, an England-based engineer with a doctorate in artificial intelligence. Hawkins first developed the system for cricket. When it was introduced in tennis, it had a mixed response. Roger Federer was the first one to criticize.
Luke says Hawk-Eye has been constantly improving the system to satisfy the players. “The general criticism before we were about to introduce was it could affect the momentum. But at the first tournament, majority of the players said it was too fast! It’s much faster than the system used in American football, where you have to go through 10 to 15 seconds before you get a decision. We are regularly testing it and also upgrading the hardware and software,” he added.
Over the years, Hawk-Eye has given many a verdict at crucial junctures, turning the match on its head. Luke pointed out the 2009 Dubai Open final between David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic as one of the matches where the electronic line-call played a big role.
“Djokovic was leading the second set 4-1 before Ferrer earned a crucial break for 4-2 on a Hawk-Eye challenge. At 5-3 on a match point, Djokovic challenged a call to wrap up the final,” he recalled.
At present, the system has been installed only at the centre court as it’s expensive to use on all courts. Luke says it costs approximately `30 lakh. “Generally, Hawk-Eye attracts big sponsors as they can put their logo in the review video. It’s really a value addition to the tournament,” he informed.