Andrew Castle snapped back at tennis legend John McEnroe as they debated Wimbledon’s decision to ditch line judges on BBC commentary.
This year’s Championships are the first in 148 years to be played without traditional line judges.
The All England Club announced last year that it would be implementing automated electronic line calling from 2025 onwards.
ELC and hawk-eye is already used at every ATP event and two other Grand Slams, with the French Open now the only major still using line judges.
Most players have welcomed the development in SW19 but several have complained about calls and accused hawk-eye of getting some wrong.
ELC even failed during a match on Centre Court on Sunday, with the All England Club blaming the glitch on an ‘operator error’.
Speaking earlier in the tournament, McEnroe revealed he was in favour of the change if it meant more correct calls while admitting the line judges would be ‘missed’ by spectators.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was asked for his thoughts on the new system at the halfway point of the Championships and said he was still ‘all for it’, providing it is definitely accurate.
McEnroe was known for his outbursts at line judges and umpires, delivering his iconic ‘you cannot be serious’ catchphrase at Wimbledon in 1981.
‘I’m the perfect guy to ask,’ McEnroe said on BBC One. ‘My hair is pretty white at this stage and I haven’t got much left, I might have a little more if it wasn’t for all of those line judges blowing those calls.
‘The thing is, it needs to be right. I think they [hawk-eye] have said it’s plus or minus 3mm but is that for sure? Who’s done the testing?’
Castle interjected and pointed out that there were few complaints about the accuracy of hawk-eye under the previous system which allowed players to challenge calls they believed to incorrect.
‘Did you like the previous system where players could challenge calls?’ Castle asked McEnroe. ‘Because this is the exact same system except there’s no line judges and it’s automatic.’
Removal of line judges from Wimbledon ‘inevitable
‘I think they — and I wouldn’t speak for them individually — probably recognise that with the evolution of the technology and the consistent change across many of the other tournaments that this is probably inevitable.
‘So I think for many of them they had expected this change to come along and for those that will be joining us for the Championships in the match assistant role obviously they’re delighted still to be part of delivering the Championships.
‘The time is right for us to move on.’
Sally Bolton, Chief Executive of the All England Lawn Tennis Club
‘If it’s accurate I’m all for it,’ McEnroe said before Castle snapped back: ‘It is accurate.
‘It’s only people that lose that say, “I didn’t think that was right.” You know, come on. Maybe on clay it’s different and maybe it’s still not perfect.’
McEnroe then said: ‘If you say so.’
British number one Emma Raducanu claimed some ‘very wrong’ decisions were made by hawk-eye following her third-round defeat to Aryna Sabalenka.
Asked about an incident in which she approached the chair umpire to complaint about a call, Raducanu said: ‘Yeah, I mean, that call was like, for sure out.
‘It’s kind of disappointing, the tournament here, that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been okay.
‘It’s just like, I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. So yeah, I don’t know. Hopefully they can kind of fix that.’
British men’s number one Jack Draper raised similar concerns following his second-round defeat to Marin Cilic.
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