Should Hawk-Eye be used at Roland Garros?

Share This...
PinExt Should Hawk Eye be used at Roland Garros?

Arguments about bad line calls are an inevitable part of professional tennis.  Fortunately, with Hawk-Eye, the technology exists to minimize the impact of these calls on the outcome of a match.

The Australian Open,Wimbledon, the US Open and even the Olympics all take advantage of Hawk-Eye on their premier courts.  Roland Garros does not.

“There are ball marks on clay” according to Tournament Director Gilbert Ysern. “Our chair umpires are used to checking the marks when needed so why would we need Hawk-Eye?”

But what about those times when the mark is not clearly in or out?  Three Words:  Margin of Error.   Hawk-Eye is not a perfect system.  According to Hawk-Eye Innovations the system performs with an average error of 3.6mm.

Is +/- 3.6mm worse than the human eye looking at a ball mark next to the dusty lines of a hard fought set?   What about those times when it’s difficult to even find the correct mark?

You Love Tennis Right...


  • Tennis news updates once a week.
  • Special offers on tennis gear.
  • Unsubscribe at any time.
  • We will never share your email.


They should at least try it in qualifying until the actual mark proves that Hawk-Eye isn't doing the job.