Cardiff U. Researchers Take On Wimbledon

Things get dangerous when tech meets tennis.

A new study from two Cardiff University researchers attacks the accuracy of a “sports decision aid”—a technology used to supplement or replace referee and umpire calls—used at Wimbledon.

Hawk-Eye, which makes calls in tennis, was previously questioned in last year’s Wimbledon tennis championship. In the final match, Roger Federer believed that a ball hit by his opponent Rafael Nadal landed well behind the baseline. But the umpire, who had initially called the ball out, deferred to Hawk-Eye’s judgment that the ball was in.

This new study indicates Federer may have been right. The researchers argue that the average error of the machine is greater than the 3.6 millimeters reported by its manufacturers, and that people can overestimate the ability of machines to settle human disagreements accurately. The paper suggests adding a “health warning” to virtual reconstructions created by technologies like Hawk-Eye. —Catherine Rampell