The Wimbledon umpire who was at the centre of the controversy in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s victory over Sonay Kartal has been left out of the tournament’s match list for Monday.
Wimbledon was forced to issue an apology yesterday after their AI line-calling technology had failed during the match after someone had accidentally turned it off.
The incident caused Pavlyuchenkova to accuse the event of pro-British bias and argued the game was “stolen” from her. Kartal had hit a ball long, and the system did not call it out, leading to the controversy.
The All-England Club has claimed that the Chair umpire, Nico Helwerth, is not on the list due to standard procedure, as it is his day off, and it has nothing to do with the incident that occurred.
Nico Helwerth is not on the match list for Monday's fixtures
Getty
Helwerth had to sit on his courtside phone for four minutes before he finally gave an update:
“The electronic line-calling system unfortunately was unable to track the last point so we will replay the point.”
JUST IN: Lando Norris' celebration goes awry as F1 star gets injured moments after British Grand Prix victory
The All-England Club has confirmed that Helwerth, who has been in charge of nine games over the past seven days, will be back umpiring games later this week.
The point was forced to be replayed, and Kartal broke serve. This caused an outraged Pavlyuchenkova to continue her accusations:
“I don't know if it's in or it's out,” she exclaimed.
READ MORE: Emma Raducanu set to immediately lose half of her Wimbledon prize money
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was left furious after the technology failed
Reuters
“How do I know? You cannot prove it. Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. They stole it.”
Pavlyuchenkova later claimed that Helwerth had told her the ball was out and claimed he was “too scared” to make the call.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
After the match, it was found that the technology had been switched off by the operator, prompting Wimbledon to apologise to both Pavlyuchenkova and Kartal:
A spokesperson for the All England Club said: “Following the Pavlyuchenkova vs Kartal match, we have had the opportunity to undertake further investigation, including speaking to the players, chair umpire, Hawk-Eye operators and Review Official.
Sonay Kartal was left equally frustrated by the technology during the match
Reuters
“It is now clear that the live ELC system, which was working optimally, was deactivated in error on part of the server's side of the court for one game by those operating the system.”
Helwerth is expected to be added back to the match list later this week.
Most Read
