TENNIS/New technology: John McEnroe lay in his sickbed yesterday, but if anything can rouse him for the Masters Tennis at London's Albert Hall it will be the introduction of technology designed to make bad line calls a thing of the past. The tournament plans to use Hawkeye, the ball-tracking system pioneered in cricket television coverage, in a move that could lead to its use at major events, including Wimbledon.
McEnroe, 46 and four times the Masters champion, was still recovering from flu in the United States yesterday but was hoping to arrive in London in time for his opening match against Sergi Bruguera this evening.
"I'm all for this - it's about time it was introduced," said the man whose anguished cries were first unleashed on linesmein the late 1970s. He has carefully maintained his mouthy reputation into middle age at recent Masters tournaments, though whether his cries are down to bad calls or arthritis has become increasingly difficult to tell.
Hawkeye, which uses cameras to track the ball's trajectory and sends information to a virtual reality machine, has been used at grand slam and ATP Masters events for three years but only as an aid for television commentary.
Now the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has approved its use in this week's masters, the final tournament in the ATP Delta Tour of Champions.
Jim Courier, four times a grand slam champion and the winner here a year ago, is a supporter of the development.
"I've been in the loop in the USA Tennis Association's efforts to implement it in the US Open," said Courier, who made an impressive start to his title defence last night, beating Mats Wilander 6-2, 6-4 in his first group match.
"It will bring peace of mind to the players and real value for the fan, whether he's in the stadium or watching TV at home. This will be a very important week. Hawkeye must impress here.
"Close calls can damage not only a match but a player's career. This technology will help the best player, as opposed to the luckiest player, come through. There is this great myth that bad calls balance out over time. But you might get a bad call in the second round or in the final. It can never really balance out."
Courier's last appearance at Wimbledon in 1999 ended on a sour note. He was beaten by Tim Henman in the last 16 after leaving a ball he was convinced had gone beyond the baseline.
"That really stung. I've had a million bad calls that have cost me matches - and even a few that have won them."
Courier wants to see the use of Hawkeye developed. "If a player feels he has had a bad call he should be able to make two challenges a set. But a player can only make two mistakes. After that, if he makes a challenge he must get it right or lose another point.
"That way a player has to make a judgment. He must be sure he's right. That would also stop players attempting to slow the game down."
Hawkeye was meant to be introduced yesterday, the opening day of the Masters, but officials changed their mind at the last minute.
"We want it to be absolutely perfect before using it in live matches and upon testing we found that one line had a couple of glitches," the tournament director John Beddington said yesterday. "The temporary playing surface made it difficult but with a further day of testing it should be OK." McEnroe, it is hoped, will provide Hawkeye with its ultimate test.
Guardian Service
