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LONDON: Wimbledon chiefs on Monday blamed human error for an embarrassing failure of the tournament’s electronic line-calling system.

Officials apologized to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal after the malfunction during their fourth-round match on Center Court on Sunday, which Pavlyuchenkova won in straight sets.

After an investigation, organizers admitted the technology was turned off in error on a section of the court for a game, with the mistake only becoming apparent when a shot from Britain’s Kartal that clearly missed the baseline was not called out.

Had the call been correct, it would have given Russia’s Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set, but instead umpire Nico Helwerth ruled the point should be replayed, with Kartal going on to win the game.

The Russian accused the official of home bias, saying: “Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me.”

Wimbledon issued a statement on Sunday saying the system had been “deactivated in error” for one game by those operating the system.

“In that time, there were three calls not picked up by live ELC on the affected part of the court. Two of these were called by the chair umpire, who was not made aware that the system had been deactivated,” it said.

“Following the third, the chair umpire stopped the match and consulted with the review official. It was determined that the point should be replayed.

“The chair umpire followed the established process. We have apologized to the players involved.”

Sally Bolton, chief executive of the All England Club, told reporters on Monday that the system was “working optimally.”

“The issue we had was human error in terms of the tracking system having been inadvertently deactivated, and then the chair (umpire) not being made aware of the fact that it had been deactivated,” she said.

She added: “We’ve spoken to the players, we’ve apologized to them, we’ve very quickly moved into reviewing everything that had happened yesterday afternoon and putting in place the appropriate changes to the processes.”

A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon in 2025, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open.

But the glitch in Sunday’s fourth-round match follows concerns raised by other players about the technology, including British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper.

Around 80 former line judges are employed as match assistants, with two on each court offering support to the umpire.

But Bolton said there was no need to put them back on the courts.

“The system was functional,” she said. “It had been deactivated. We didn’t need to put line judges back on the court again, we needed the system to be active.”

Automated line-calling technology has become standard across tennis, with all events on the men’s ATP Tour and many WTA tournaments using it.

ABU DHABI: The 2025-26 season fixtures for the ADNOC Pro League, ADIB Cup and eUAE Pro League Championship were announced at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s headquarters on Sunday night.

The draw ceremony took place in the presence of club, sponsor and media representatives and was hosted by ADNOC, official sponsors of the UAE Pro League.

It was attended by Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the UAE minister of industry and advanced technology and managing director and CEO of ADNOC and its group of companies. Also present were Abdullah Nasser Al-Jneibi, chairman of the UAE Pro League and first vice president of the UAE Football Association, Saif Al-Falahi, ADNOC’s group business support and special tasks director, ADNOC Distribution CEO Bader Saeed Al-Lamki, and Ahmed Al-Mubarak, ADIB’s head of commercial real estate and corporate finance.

The draw was presented by media personalities Yousef Saleh and Khaled Bayoumi and also featured the schedule for the sixth eUAE Pro League Championship, reflecting the growing importance of esports.

It was carried out using a smart electronic draw system first implemented in the 2021-22 season, highlighting the UAE government’s vision of the use of artificial intelligence technology via the OpenAI program, in line with the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031.

This season, the UAE Pro League implemented a round-by-round draw system, in line with international best practices adopted by top leagues such as the English Premier League, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

The smart draw mechanism used a set of key criteria, including upholding sporting integrity, distributing matches based on 2024–25 season standings, balancing major and high-attendance fixtures, clubs’ external commitments, coordinating match schedules within the same emirate, and ensuring no more than two matches are played in the same city on the same day.

The ADIB Cup draw resulted in strong clashes in the first round. In Path 1, Al Nasr face Al-Bataeh, with the winner playing Shabab Al-Ahli. Meanwhile, the winner of Sharjah vs. Dibba will face the winner of Al-Ain vs. Khorfakkan.

In Path 2, reigning champions Al-Jazira will meet the winner of Al-Wasl vs Al-Dhafra. The winner of Al-Wahda vs Ajman will face the winner of Bani Yas vs Khorfakkan.

The ADNOC Pro League draw introduced a new system with separate draws for each round.

The opening legs will not feature high-profile clashes. Shabab Al-Ahli will play Al-Dhafra, Ajman face Al-Wahda, Dibba take on Sharjah, Al-Ain meet Al Bataeh, Kalba clash against Al-Nasr, Khorfakkan play Al-Jazira, and Al Wasl face off against Bani Yas.

Major battles begin in week two, with Shabab Al-Ahli facing Al-Wahda and Sharjah playing Al-Jazira.

In week three, Al-Wasl will play Al-Ain and Al-Jazira will face Al-Nasr, while week four features Al-Nasr vs Shabab Al-Ahli. Week five hosts three major matches — Shabab Al-Ahli vs Al-Ain, Al-Jazira vs. Al-Wahda, and Al-Wasl vs. Sharjah.

The “Dubai Derby” between Al-Wasl and Al-Nasr will be played in week six.

The first week of the second half of the season will see Al-Wahda play Dibba, Al-Dhafra vs Sharjah, Ajman vs Shabab Al-Ahli, Al-Nasr vs Bani Yas, Al-Bataeh vs Al-Jazira, Kalba vs Al-Ain and Al-Wasl vs Khorfakkan.

In the eUAE Pro League Championship, Group A includes Bani Yas, Al-Bataeh, Sharjah, Kalba, Ajman, Dibba and Al-Jazira.

Group B will see matches between Khorfakkan, Al-Wasl, Al-Ain, Al-Wahda, Shabab Al-Ahli, Al-Nasr, and Al-Dhafra.