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But with hawkeye/shotspot, you still don't know whether the ball was in or out, because it's not perfectly accurate. It's merely an estimate, based on the cameras. If even one camera isn't calibrated perfectly, you won't get a perfect result.meganfernandez wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:52 pmHawkeye has been around for 20 years now!mmmm8 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:56 pm But the challenge system is just a few years old itself, hardly a tradition. Yes, sometimes it's exciting but it can also be a distraction from the match. I've always found it to be more entertaining for casual fans. Sometimes I find the crowd ooohs and ahhhs annoying. I do think the challenges added an interesting psychological element to watch (how players use them), but it's not a core part of a match to me.
As long as tennis players and chair umpires are still humans, the players will throw tantrums at chair umpires, so there's your human element.
(I haven't made my mind up about no line umpires, I guess I just found the challenges presentation is a bit gimmicky.)Hard to believe. It's not a tradition like handshakes (errr...) or the coin flip, but it's definitely a staple of the modern professional game. I really like it - mostly for the increased fairness, but it also lets the players move on and not dwell on what they think are bad calls. As far as the entertainment value, I like knowing whether it was in or out and finding out if I was right (based on what I saw). The big complaint originally was that it would take too much time and slow down the game. I don't think it has.
As far as a fun part of the collective spectator experience in a stadium, I don't think it adds much. But it doesn't hurt.
One of your reasons for liking hawkeye/shotspot is one of the reasons I don't like it: because players tend to 'move on' and not dwell on what they believe are bad calls. I like seeing how players react to what they feel are bad calls. It's an element that must be overcome - like the sun or the wind. I like to see how different players handle that. Those that handle it best have an advantage - just like those who handle the sun and the wind best.
It also helps to reveal the individual characters and personalities of the players on court. This was my argument against it when I had a long conversation with Gayle Bradshaw (head of officiating for the ATP) about it when hawkeye/shotspot was first introduced.
And, yes, the challenge system is mostly a gimmick, as m8 says. It's the equivalent of a fancy light show at a music concert. At a concert, the music is supposed to be the substance. That's disturbed and altered by the fancy light shows. At a tennis match, the tennis is still the main substance - but the challenge system alters the flow of the match. It's an artificial addition. It was created as a show for the fans, not to make the tennis better.
. )