To issue fines and code violations, chair umpires don't miss a thing," Pavlyuchenkova reflects on video umpiring error at Wimbledon

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova secured her place in the second Wimbledon quarterfinal of her career this Sunday, nine years after her first.

However, her match against Sonay Kartal was far from smooth, as the Russian player had to contend with a major video umpiring error. At 4-4 and with an advantage on her serve, Kartal’s backhand landed well out of bounds, but Hawk-Eye failed to call it out.

The chair umpire then made the decision to replay the point, much to Pavlyuchenkova’s frustration. She subsequently lost her service game, though the incident did not directly affect the final outcome of the match.

In the press conference, she addressed the situation and shared her thoughts on the chair umpire’s decision:

"I think he felt a little bad. He probably thought he should have taken the initiative and called it out because he saw it was out. He told me so. It’s tough for him too. He was probably afraid to make such a call. But they should. That’s why they sit in the chair. That’s why we have a chair umpire.

Otherwise, I think we might as well soon play without them and have everything automated. I feel like we’re losing the charm of having humans, like ball kids. During Covid, we didn’t have ball kids. Everything starts to feel a bit strange and overly robotic.

It’s tough, but chair umpires are really good at handing out fines and code violations. Those kinds of things—they don’t miss them. The smallest thing, they’re all over it. I’d rather they pay more attention to the lines and call errors better.