Nick Kyrgios has launched a scathing attack on the artificial intelligence line judge technology being used at Wimbledon 2025, branding it a "s**t show" and "disaster."
The AI line judge technology uses cameras to determine whether tennis balls are in or out, replacing the human officials who have traditionally made these calls at the All England Club.
Several high-profile players have joined Kyrgios in criticising the technology, with both Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu publicly questioning its accuracy and the disruption it has caused to matches.
The system's most notable failure occurred during Sonay Kartal's match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, when the electronic line-calling technology failed to register a ball that had been played out.
Nick Kyrgios has launched a scathing attack on the artificial intelligence line judge technology being used at Wimbledon 2025, branding it a "s**t show" and "disaster"
PA
Tournament organisers subsequently apologised for the incident but attributed it to human error, explaining that someone had inadvertently deactivated the system during the match.
Kyrgios, however, has now launched a scathing verdict on the technology in a new podcast for the Daily Mail.
"It has been an absolute s**t show," the former Wimbledon finalist told former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg.
"Wimbledon is the tennis world's Champions League - it's the best tournament we have and pretty much every match we've had a malfunction."
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Wimbledon line judges are a thing of the past with electronic trackers replacing them for this year's tournament
PA"Maybe Wimbledon should just be one of the tournaments where its traditions never change. You have line umpires, and you have challenges.
"I want the sport to evolve - but this is our biggest event and we're still having these malfunctions."
Clattenburg, drawing on his experience overseeing VAR's introduction to elite football, supported Kyrgios's criticism and expressed surprise that the technology hadn't been properly tested before the tournament.
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"When VAR was introduced, it wasn't just dropped into the Premier League. It was tested over a period of time," Clattenburg said.
"I think it was three or four years of it being used in mini tournaments and youth matches before its full rollout."
The former referee argued for a more measured approach, suggesting Wimbledon should have retained human line judges this year whilst running the AI technology as a backup to verify its accuracy.
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"Then, if the accuracy was 100 percent - the next year you could say, the technology was so good, let's move forward," he added.
Beyond the technical issues, Kyrgios argued that the AI technology threatens to eliminate some of tennis's most memorable moments, which have often emerged from disputes with human officials.
"What about guys like me and John McEnroe?" Kyrgios asked.
Nick Kyrgios made the final of Wimbledon back in 2022, where he lost to Novak Djokovic
PA"Our best content ever has come from run-ins with line umpires. The 'you cannot be serious moment' for example, we're still playing that 50 years later."
The Australian player suggested that these human interactions form an integral part of tennis's appeal and entertainment value.
"I agree with Mark that they should have eased into it, I feel like Wimbledon just dropped it in and it's been a disaster," Kyrgios concluded, echoing similar debates that have surrounded VAR's impact on football's spectacle.