ATP announce Tourwide adoption of ELC Live



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Electronic line calling adapted at all ATP tournaments Image: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Davidwboswell, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has announced Tourwide adoption of Electronic Line Calling Live (ELC Live) from 2025. The advanced officiating technology covers all court lines for ‘out’ calls throughout matches, a role traditionally carried out by on-court line judges.

‘ATP’ stated that this significant officiating update follows several seasons during which a combination of ELC Live, ELC Review and on-court line judges has been used at the ATP Tour events. The move is set to optimize accuracy and consistency across tournaments, match courts and surfaces, for players competing in both the main draw and qualifying events. The decision was supported by extensive research conducted by ATP across tennis stakeholders, including fans, which identified accuracy and consistency as the most important factors in assessing different line-calling systems.

London (UK)-based the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972.

The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women’s organization is the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.

The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men’s professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP Tour.

The ATP Champions Tour is a men’s tennis tour intended for former tennis professionals, who have since retired from mainstream professional tennis touring (The ATP). The Tour brings together many of the greatest tennis players in history for nostalgic, competitive and entertaining tournaments in Cities around the world.

The ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour (formerly ITF Men’s Circuit) is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. The tour represents the lowest rung of the men’s professional tennis ladder. The ITF tournaments are incorporated into the ATP rankings, enabling young professionals to progress on to the ATP Challenger Tour and ultimately the full ATP Tour. Nearly every professional player has spent some time on the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour.

St. Petersburg (US)-based the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women’s professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women’s tennis.

‘ATP’ further stated that the all-court ELC Live coverage will also deliver comprehensive player and ball tracking across the whole Tour, leading to an unprecedented level of data for player-performance analysis and the development of new statistics in the game in collaboration with the Tennis Data Innovations (TDI) (a specialist commercial vehicle to manage data and streaming assets across the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour), in addition to future commercialization opportunities.

Said Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, “This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration. Tradition is core to tennis and the line judges have played an important part in the game over the years. That said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies. Our sport deserves the most accurate form of officiating and we’re delighted to be able to deliver this across our whole Tour from 2025.”

The ELC Live was first trialed at the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017 in Milan (Italy) as part of a raft of ambitious technological innovations, several of which have gone on to be implemented on the main Tour. In recent years, the system has been available for tournaments on a voluntary basis, becoming widely adopted since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multiple suppliers are currently approved to provide ELC Live technology on hard court and on grass, while the final testing is underway for clay. It is anticipated that multiple different suppliers will be approved across the various court surfaces from 2025.

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