Can anyone explain the player/point challenging system in plain language?

Question

Hi tennis fans, ... have a few more questions too.

1) Is challenging available in all rounds?

2.)Is it just available by location, for example center court?

3.)Does it vary from one championship to another?

Thanks!

Answer 1

the rule applies to ALL matches. regardless of place, round, or tournament.

a player is allowed to "unsuccessfully" challenge an umpire's decision twice in one match. this rule is made in order to limit some player's penchant of complaining too much.

Answer 2

A player challenges a call if the umpire calls a shot out but the player wants a TV replay to confirm.

1 - The challenge is available in all rounds.

2 - The challenge is available on all locations.

3 - It does not vary from another Championship. It's the same in any tournament.

Answer 3

1) it is available in all rounds

2) Yes, some outside courts don't have it.

3) no, same evrywhere

Hawk-Eye is a multi-camera system which electronically tracks the flight of a moving ball and has become part of the umpiring process on Centre Court and No.1 Court at Wimbledon. The 2007 tournament was the first time this technology was used at Wimbledon by players to challenge an umpire's decision. from http://aeltc.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/g...

for more info click http://jtsang.blogspot.com/2006/07/techn...

also check http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/2...

"It is a vision processing system that uses the images from five or six cameras placed around and high above the court to triangulate the ball's flight and build up a 3D (picture) of its position through the rally," he said.

The cameras record the action at 60 frames a second, about double the speed of standard commercial TV.

It is "four-dimensional" technology, adding time to the triangulation that places the ball in space, much as a satellite-based global positioning system locates a car on the road, but with a precision in millimetres rather than metres. In Hawkeye a computer captured the image from each camera and worked out where the ball was in 3D space.

It then combined all that information and traced the trajectory of the ball in each rally, Dr Hawkins said.

"Once you have got the trajectory . . . you can interrogate it for the position of the ball at any specific time" - on, inside or outside the line, he said.

Data calculated at the rate of 1billion equations per rally is turned into a graphic by virtual reality software similar to that used in computer games and it is these images that viewers see on their TV screens.

Answer 4

Gladly!  Going by your numbers.

1. Challenging is available in all rounds of the tournament.  Each player gets 3 incorrect challenges per set and may keep a challenge if they are correct.  If it goes to a tiebreak I believe they actually get 1 more.  Also they give them additional challenges if the decisive set extends past the usual 6 games(because there are no tiebreaks for those sets in 3 out of 4 grand slams)

2.  Unfortunately they don't have challenge systems off of the show courts usually probably because its too expensive to install it on every court.  You'll only see it on the main court of tournaments and possibly the second show court if they have 2 of them. Sorry to the other answerers but unfortunately only matches on show courts have the benefits of this system.  They specifically said that on the radio broadcast of wimbledon this week.  Also the Pilot Pen which I've attended did not put the challenge system on other courts besides the stadium.

3.  The rules are the same at all tournaments now.  I believe most tournaments have installed the challenge system on their stadium courts.  

Now to explain how it works.  A player may challenge any call that did not go in their favor.  At this point the player indicates they want to challenge and then the replay system shows the correct call.  Players are supposed to challenge if not immediately within seconds of the call.  This stops them from checking with their box in the stands or thinking too hard about it.  That means that if they challenge a call during a rally it must be done immediately and they must stop play.  If they are wrong in this case they lose the point as well.  

Any time the player is correct they keep their challenge and the umpire makes a decision on how to proceed if a decision is needed.

Answer 5

On March 19, 2008, the aforementioned organizing bodies announced a uniform system of rules: three unsuccessful challenges per set, with an additional challenge if the set reaches a tie-break. The next scheduled event on the men and women's tour, the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open, was the first event to implement these new, standardized rules