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The outcome of tennis matches, especially at the very top level, can be decided by the smallest of margins. Matches can last for in excess of four hours and the player who wins the most points won't necessarily always win the match. A point here or there can be the difference between winning or losing a match and a few centimetres here or there can be the difference between winning or losing a vital point. This places a huge responsibility upon the chair umpire and his or her team of linesmen and women. The job of these officials is made particularly hard when you factor in the speed at which modern players hit the ball and the fact that some matches get played into the late hours of the evening when visibility is failing.

Given the difficulties that they face, it is actually very admirable that the officials get the vast majority of decisions right. However, it is inevitable that there are some times when they don't. Concentration levels waver, their view of the ball may be obstructed, and they may be faced with a very marginal decision on an Andy Roddick 140 mile an hour serve! The decisions made by the umpire and linesmen have always been controversial and many of us can remember the ranting raving of players, such as John McEnroe and Ilie Nastase, when decisions went against them. At times (such as when being called the pits!) they must have wondered if it was worth continuing in the game.

On the other side of the coin, it's also easy to sympathise with a player who has put their heart and soul into a five set match, only to see a cruel and clearly wrong decision end their hopes. Spectators, too, can feel cheated at seeing a match determined by a wrong call rather than a genuine moment of brilliance.

It was against this backdrop, therefore, that the tennis authorities started to review whether they could make use of modern technology to reduce controversy and improve the integrity of the sport. As far back as 1980, at the Wimbledon Championships, a system called Cyclops had been introduced to determine whether players' serves were in or out. It uses infra-red beams of light to determine whether the serve is in or out. Romanian maverick player, Ilie Nastase famously wasn't too sure about this new invention and got down on his hands and knees to inspect and talk to the Cyclops machine. These days, however, Cyclops is very much an accepted part of the tennis landscape. It was fairly logical, therefore, to look at whether modern technology could be

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