The staunchest critic of human line-judges in tennis history has given his approval to the Hawk-Eye technology that will be used for the first time in an ATP event in Miami this week.
John McEnroe was fittingly one of the first players to try out the technology when it debuted at the Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall last December – the culmination to the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions - and he liked what he saw.
"Hawk-Eye's great,” he said.
“I’m all for it, It’s about time it was introduced. I think it will add to the excitement. It’s one less thing for the players to worry about. It’s a pretty big thing for us – there won’t be any judgment calls any more.”
After having a free rein to contest line-calls in its trial in London, McEnroe was also happy to see that players will only receive two challenges per set in Miami, and if they are proven to be incorrect, they lose one of those challenges.
“I’m glad they are allowing players to use it a couple of times a set to argue their case, and then penalizing them if they are wrong. That will add an element of drama to the matches,” he said.
The system will be introduced at a Grand Slam event for the first time at the US Open later this year.
Another man pleased to see the new technology being used is former World No.1 Jim Courier.
Courier made a number of ‘challenges’ to the umpire during The Champions Masters at the Royal Albert Hall to see if the technology worked.
“It certainly offers peace of mind, also for the television viewers and the audience in-house,” said Courier.
"This will definitely turn matches but now the matches will be turned by the shots and not the calls."
The 2006 Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions kicks off in Doha, Qatar on March 29 and visits Hong Kong, Barcelona, Rome, Split, Algarve, Graz, Paris, Eindhoven, Dublin, Frankfurt and London.
To be eligible to compete on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active on the ATP tour. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
Players compete for points throughout the year to qualify for The Masters Tennis which takes place December 5-10, 2006 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The top ten players in the rankings after all events are complete will qualify automatically. The field in London will increase to 12 with the addition of two wild card invitations. There is a $100,000 prize on offer for the winner in London.
The Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions 2006:
DOHA, Qatar March 29 – April 1
HONG KONG, China April 6-9
BARCELONA, Spain April 20-23
ROME, Italy May 13-17
SPLIT, Croatia August 3-6
ALGARVE, Portugal August 8-11
GRAZ, Austria August 15-19
PARIS, France September 14-17
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands October 12-15
DUBLIN, Ireland October 19-22
FRANKFURT, Germany November 16-19
The Masters, LONDON, UK December 5-10
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