Improving the challenge system- the umpire challenge.

When Hawkeye first came along and the players were allowed to challenge line calls, many players were skeptical of being made “responsible” for calling lines.  Now that players are accustomed to Hawkeye, however, their main concern is the opposite: they feel that they don’t have enough challenges per set (they are allowed three incorrect challenges, one extra in the event of a tiebreak).  The desire for more challenge opportunities is perfectly understandable given what’s at stake for players and the desire of fans to see matches won by the right player rather than by errant line calls.   With these issues in mind, the following change in the challenge system is proposed:

In situations where a close shot will either be a clean winner or an error – that is, when the opposing player has no chance to reach the ball, the umpire should have the option of calling an “umpire’s challenge” so that Hawkeye can be used to determine if the ball was in or out.  The umpire should be allowed an unlimited number of these challenges per set.  If the umpire is sure the line call was correct and doesn’t wish to challenge, the player then has the option of using one of his own three challenges. 

In these situations, it would never be necessary to replay the point in question, so the game would not be held up, and the controversy that sometimes arises when points need to be replayed would be avoided. 

One of the concerns over excessive challenging is that it might slow the game down.  However, a look at football challenges and basketball replay checks shows that everyone is willing to take a few seconds more to make sure the right call is made.  Hawkeye in tennis is much faster than the other examples mentioned here, and as technology improves, it should get faster still.   In reality fans actually enjoy their sense of anticipation as they await the posting of the Hawkeye image.

So let’s have more fun, and get it right more often too!