Novak Djokovic is gearing up to make his 21st appearance at the French Open this year.
Djokovic won the Geneva Open last week, enabling him to lift a historic 100th ATP title.
This was the Serbian’s first victory of any kind on clay this year, coming after Djokovic parted ways with coach Andy Murray.
Djokovic has already been on Court Philippe-Chatrier before his first round match, as part of Rafael Nadal’s farewell ceremony.
Novak Djokovic wants the French Open to have electronic line calling
Despite the French Open already underway, Djokovic has only just been able to conduct his pre-tournament press conference after his victory in Geneva.
In this press conference, Djokovic was asked by the media about a topic that has split opinion at the French Open this year.
Djokovic and other ATP players have become used to electronic line calling at clay court tournaments, but the French Open has decided not to implement the technology and stick with human line judges.
This is something that has left players including world number one Aryna Sabalenka confused, and now the tournament has clarified its position.
After the president of the French Tennis Federation explained their reasoning, 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic has explained why he has the opposing view.
“Well first I will say that I understand the people who are more traditionalist, and who like to have the line umpires on the court,” said Djokovic. “I think it’s part of our culture and tradition that has been there for decades, and I do understand that aspect of it. It’s hard to make certain changes or want to give everything away to technology.
“But, if I have to choose between the two I’m the more proponent of technology. I would say it’s just more accurate, it saves time, maybe less people on the court which at times is actually good if you’re playing on the smaller courts.
“There’s been numerous times where players would collide with a line judge and so forth so, maybe that’s not the most important reason but I just think for accuracy and efficiency it’s better to have technology.”
Do the other Grand Slams use electronic line calling?
The hard court Grand Slams at the Australian Open and the US Open have used electronic line calling since 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Since then, the ATP has ensured that all tournaments will have the technology from the start of this year.
While the French Open has not followed suit and instead have stuck with the more traditional line judges, Wimbledon have joined the two hard court majors.
For this year’s tournament, Wimbledon will implement electronic line calling for the first time in its history.
This decision from Wimbledon has split opinion, as the French Open now stands alone as the only Grand Slam still using human line judges.
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