Wimbledon is some way away, with just a few months having passed since Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his title.
Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the 2024 Wimbledon final, in what was a repeat of the 2023 final at the All England Club.
The Spanish star has gone on to shine on the court, recently beating Jannik Sinner in the China Open final in Beijing.
Djokovic meanwhile, who is currently chasing a record-extending fifth Shanghai Masters title, clinched Olympic gold after his Wimbledon loss.
The Serbian enacted revenge on Alcaraz in Paris, adding the top Olympic prize to his stunning tally of 24 Grand Slams.
Tennis fans angry after Wimbledon makes rule change for 2025
There is every chance of a rematch at SW19 next year, although the competition will not be the same after Wimbledon decided to abolish line judges.
The decision certainly hasn’t pleased everyone, with one tennis fan writing on X: “What’s next, AI umpire? AI players? Wimbledon, some traditions are worth standing apart for, especially when Hawkeye is in operation to cover the less than 10% error rate in line judging.”
A second commented on the decision: “Whatever happened to respecting tradition,” with another saying: “You cannot be serious.”
A fourth angry fan noted: “A truly awful decision – dehumanisation!” with a fifth fan simply asking: “Why!?”
Another fan commented: “What a joke, taken all traditions out of the sport now. This was probably the best part about tennis, having line judges… ruined it.”
Wimbledon risked falling behind Australian Open and US Open
It is a huge change from the Wimbledon organisers, with the 2025 event set to replace human officials for the first time in its 147-year history.
Artificial intelligence will now make the calls, which represents a major step away from tradition at the All England Club.
But while many fans are angry, the decision is certain to be warmly welcomed by many ATP and WTA stars.
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Several players have been left furious by line judge calls in recent times, and they will now have one less worry on their minds on the court.
The move comes amid the ATP’s decision to adopt electronic line calling live across the men’s tour from 2025, in a bid to achieve greater accuracy and consistency, with the WTA taking similar steps.
Wimbledon certainly risked falling well behind the Australian Open and US Open, which adopted electronic line calling in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
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