The French Open will retain the human line judges for 2026, making it an exception among Tennis’ Grand Slams as others will use electronic line calls.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) confirmed the decision in a statement saying it will “continue to show prominent French umpiring recognized worldwide”, according to Vice President Lionel Ollinger.
Roland Garros remains the only Grand Slam that does not implement electronic line call.
“We are a federation where judge and line judge work every day, and I say this with all humility, we are the best country to deliver officials on the trip,” said FFT president Gilles Moretton.
“We are proud of this, we have a strong training system. We are a benchmark and we want to stay that way.
“The will of the federation is to keep the line judges as long as possible; right now the players are driving the train. If one day they unanimously say, ‘We are not playing without the machine,’ we will see … but I think we have a bright future to preserve this official pyramid.”
In the 2025 edition of the tournament, 404 match services were present, including 284 French representatives from all French leagues.
Wimbledon adopted electronic line call (ELC) in 2025, whereby the French was open as the last of the four tennis majors to use people to judge whether a ball has landed in or out.
Instead, officials are dependent on brands left behind by the players’ shots at Roland Garros Clay.
The line judges make an initial decision before the chairman’s judge verifies any disputed ball marks at the player’s request.
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ARYNA Sabalenka was unhappy with a referee’s call during her match with Elise Mertens, so she took a picture of the ball -branded with a cell phone!
Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev have used their phones to take pictures of brands during the turn of the European clay court earlier this year.
The Australian Open adopted ELC in 2021, while the US Open adopted it in 2022 after using it in some courts in 2020.
ELC in Wimbledon
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Sky Sports News’ Dan Khan provides insight into why Wimbledon has decided to replace line judges with electric line calls
Wimbledon removed the line judges earlier this year with All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) CEO Sally Bolton, who described the move as “inevitable.”
But Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper were among the players to question the use of electronic line calls in the tournament this summer.
Raducanu said, “It’s a little disappointing that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been in order. I’ve also had a few in my other matches that have been very wrong. Hopefully they can fix it.”
The former American Open Champion continued to admit that she did not trust the technology.
“No, I don’t,” she added. “I think the other players would say the same thing there were some pretty dodgy but what can you do?”
Draper also asked the performance of the technology in his debut year in Wimbledon, suggesting that calls were missed during his second defeat to Marin Cilic.
“I don’t think it’s 100 percent exactly in all honesty,” he said. “A few of them today showed a brand on the field.
“There’s no way that chalk would have shown it. I guess it can’t be 100 percent accurate – it’s millimeters.”
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The automated electronic line-like technology in the National Bank Open Final in Toronto worked during the second set, leaving the players confused and questioning the referee
Swiss player Belinda Bencic repeated the uncertainty about the system and pointed to a common sight among players in the dressing room.
“I don’t trust it either,” she said earlier this week. “Of course you feel a little stupid to question an electronic line call, but of course it always depends on how it is installed and how accurate it is.
“It’s not just me, you know. I want to watch other matches too, and I see players like saying exactly the same, complaining. Or even on TV, you can see that some balls are out or long or something.
“We players talk about it and I think most of us have the same meaning.”
System error under Pavlyuchenkova -Sejr
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was denied a game after the electronic line -like system could not work during her victory over Sonay Kartal in Wimbledon
The most controversial moment for Grand Slam was when a system error resulted in the technology being turned off a game under Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s victory over Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
It was only clear that the system had not worked when a shot from Kartal clearly landed beyond baseline without being excluded, denying a confused pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set.
Umpire Nico Helwerth instead brought the game to an end and insisted that the point should be played and paved the way to Kartal, breaking his opponent’s serving into a 5-4 benefit.
“You took the game away from me … they stole the game from me. They stole it,” Pavlyuchenkova said as they returned to his chair.
Fortunately for Pavlyuchenkova, the incident did not show expensive as she continued to beat Kartal 7-6 6-4.
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