‘It’s useless’: how Wimbledon reacted to electronic line calls … in 1980

Tennis players have been sceptical about AI line judges – like they were when Cyclops was introduced 45 years agoBy That 1980s Sports BlogThere was never a dull moment with Ilie Nastase. Walking across Centre Court before his first-round match at Wimbledon in 1980, the Romanian had his eyes firmly set on a box at the side of the court. He bent down to look at the device, the crowd tittering as he examined it. This was no ordinary box. It was a £2,000 machine installed to improve officiating and eliminate controversial decisions. But, just like the move away from line judges this year, not everyone was impressed.Now for the science bit. Invented by Bill Carlton and Margaret Parnis in the late 1970s, the machines – for ever known as Cyclops – were only used on service line calls. Two boxes were set up either side of the service box backline on both sides of the net, one sending infrared lines across to the other. If any beams on the “out” side of the line were broken, a red light would show and a bleep would sound to the line judge, who sat beside the box wearing headphones. The official would shout “fault” as usual and everyone would happily accept the decision and move on. Well, that was the plan. Continue reading...

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