The French Open continues to come under scrutiny at this year’s tournament.
One of the main controversies at the French Open this year has been night session matches, with no women being placed in that slot since 2023.
This is something that many players including Aryna Sabalenka have criticised the French Open for.
However, it is actually another issue that a former world number one doubles player has called for the French Open to change.
Rennae Stubbs ‘can’t wait’ for the French Open to introduce electronic line calling
The French Open are now the only Grand Slam tournament still using line judges, with Wimbledon introducing electronic line calling for the first time this year.
This decision has been explained by French tennis president Gilles Moreton, who has explained the French Open’s reasoning behind the decision.
Clay courts are individual in terms of line calls, with chair umpires frequently asked to come down and check the marks.
Many different people including Carlos Alcaraz have commented on electronic line calling and its absence from the French Open.
Someone who is particularly in favour of introducing the technology to the French Open in the future is six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs.
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Stubbs called for electronic line calling to bring more consistency to the matches.
“Can’t wait for the FFT to finally implement ELC (Electronic Line Calling),” said Stubbs. “This umpires getting out of the chair calling ball marks is just useless now when we have the elc.
“I know it’s not perfect but I just believe for the sake of the players. It’s always better to have the call the same for both!”
Stubbs was not the only person who wants electronic line calling to be introduced to the Parisian major, with Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert echoing her sentiments.
In a separate post on social media, Gilbert wrote, “I’m not a fan of umpires getting out of chair. Obviously a must though, never understand why they don’t have linesperson come over to show exact mark they called, why they need asap electronic calks like every tournament this year.”
Stubbs and Gilbert may be on the same page, but not everyone agrees with them on this issue.
Paul McNamee disagrees with Rennae Stubbs on electronic line calling
This topic has divided people, with another former world number one doubles player in Paul McNamee actually disagreeing with Stubbs.
When wading into the debate about electronic line calling, McNamee claimed that the mark on a clay court is much more realistic than electronic line calling.
McNamee also claimed that removing lines people was actually an argument for preventing defaults, highlighted by Lorenzo Musetti narrowly avoiding disqualification after hitting a line judge in his French Open quarter-final.
The five-time major winner wrote on social media, “Much discussion about whether there should be electronic line calling on clay. I’m against it, as a ball mark on clay is real, not a simulation. Argument in favour is to stop lines people being an issue for defaults!”
Electronic line calling is now used at all ATP clay court events, including the Monte Carlo Masters, Madrid Open and the Italian Open.
Meanwhile, the French Open is sticking to tradition and is one of the only remaining tournaments yet to make that switch.
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