by Y Tian

Created on: April 30, 2009

The game of tennis has changed dramatically in recent years. While the general rules of the game and scoring system has remained intact, recent technological advances have reshaped the way the game is played. With instant replay (also referred to as Hawk-Eye) first tested in 2006 at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, both the players and the audience sense something has changed in tennis. Calls will no longer be dependent on the umpires. Players will (theoretically) no longer argue about such calls with the chair umpire. Most importantly, there will no longer be any doubt or suspicion about favouritism in the match. So over the past three years, how has the use of instant replay in tennis affected the game?

Before the introduction of instant replay in tennis in 2006, many dubious calls were heatedly argued and never quite settled. Players would argue about the ball at length with the umpire and in almost all cases, stomp off in anger. Such emotions undoubtedly affected their play from that point onwards. If the call was indeed incorrect and involved big players, the media would almost certainly go into a frenzy with conspiracy theories and suspicions of favouritism. For instance, the 2004 US Open quarter final between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati has often been dubbed as one of the poorest officiated matches in tennis history. The Chair Umpire, Mariana Alves, made several ridiculously obvious bad calls against Serena Williams, which ended up costing Williams the match. In the end, US Open officially dismissed the umpire and formally apologised to Williams. But what good is an apology if it'll never bring back the match. Had she won, she may have gone on to win the tournament. Can an apology erase time and change the course of history? This match was among one of many that prompted the call for an instant replay system.

Prior to tennis, Hawk-Eye had already been used successfully in other sports such as cricket. In 2006, a test-run in the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia produced favourable results with instant replay making its official Grand Slam debut at the US Open that year. No longer will players get frustrated at a dubious call. Should they wish, they could challenge the umpire's call and an instant replay will determine accurately whether the ball was indeed in or out. If the umpire's call was good, then the points would stay as it is. However, should the player be right, the circumstances then determine whether they receive the point or if there

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