What is Hawk-Eye?

Hawk-eye is the name of a line-calling system which traces a ball’s trajectory and sends it to a virtual-reality machine. In addition to tennis, it is also used in other sports such as cricket, soccer, badminton and snooker.

Who owns Hawk-Eye?

Hawk-eye system is owned by Sony. It was originally developed in the UK by Pawl Hawkins. It was launched in 2001.  Miami Open was the first official tennis tournament to use Hawk-eye. Today, Hawk-eye is used in almost all the tournaments.  In addition to the show courts, outer courts also have Hawk-eye at many tournaments.

How does Hawk-Eye work?

Hawk-Eye uses six to ten cameras situated around the court. The cameras capture 60 high-resolution images per section.  At least five cameras cover every bounce of the ball. A centralized computer reads in the video in real time, and tracks the path of the tennis ball on each camera. These six separate views are then combined together to produce an accurate 3D representation of the path of the ball.

How accurate is Hawk-Eye?

The Hawk-Eye system has a 2.2mm margin of error. Some research studies have claimed that it can be off by as much as 10mm. That’s because the ball can move too quickly to be properly captured on camera as all cameras have a finite frame-speed.

Why is Hawk-Eye not used at the French Open?

First, there are marks on clay that an umpire could use to make a decision. It’s not always easy.  Umpires have used the wrong ball mark in big matches.

Hawk-Eye has a margin for error, and a mark, at least theoretically, doesn’t. Using Hawk-eye on clay may result in situations where the mark and Hawk-Eye results don’t align and it could undermine trust in the replay system on other surfaces.

Simona Halep Dominates Serena Williams

For Serena Williams, it was her most lopsided defeat in her 32 grand slam finals.  For Simona Halep, it was her best day on the tennis court.  The 27-year old Romanian masterfully absorbing Williams’s powerful ground strokes, breaking Williams’s powerful serve four times, easily beating Williams 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

It was Halep second grand slam title.  She also won the French Open in 2018, breaking through after ending up runner up in three grand slams.

Djokovic Wins, Federer Chokes Wimbledon Thriller

Djokovic won his 16th grand slam title in thrilling fashion beating Roger Federer in 5-tight sets.  The match was decided by a fifth set tie-break, a first for Wimbledon.

Djokovic edged Federer 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) and become the first man in 71 years to take home the trophy from the All England Club after needing to erase championship points.

“Unfortunately in these kinds of matches, one of the players has to lose,” Djokovic said. “It’s quite unreal.”

“I just feel like it’s such an incredible opportunity missed,” said Federer, who actually accumulated 14 more total points, 218-204. “I can’t believe it.”