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Several poor calls occurred at the 2004 US Open. In Serena Williams' quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati, many crucial calls were contested by Williams, and TV replays demonstrated that some were indeed erroneous. Though the calls themselves were not reversed, the chair umpire Mariana Alves was dismissed from the tournament. These errors prompted talks about line calling assistance especially as the Auto-Ref system was being tested by the U.S. Open at that time and was shown to be very accurate.[1]In the autumn of 2005 Hawk-Eye was tested by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in New York City and was passed for professional use. Hawk-Eye reported that the New York tests involved 80 shots being measured by the ITF's high speed camera, a device similar to MacCAM. These tests have lately been questioned as a single high speed camera would have up to an inch long 'blind spot' and thus cannot measure to mm-level accuracy. Video based systems are also sensitive to heat and other environmental conditions and a single-day test could not reveal such issues. The Hawk-Eye system has since proved to produce erroneous results at several tournaments, such as in Dubai or at the Australian Open.[citation needed] During an early test of the system during an exhibition tennis tournament in Australia (seen on local TV), there was an instance when the tennis ball was shown as "Out", but the accompanying word was "In". This was explained to be an error in the way the tennis ball was shown on the graphical display as a circle, rather than as an ellipse. This was immediately corrected.Hawk-Eye has been used in television coverage of several major tennis tournaments, including Wimbledon, the Stella Artois at Queens, the Australian Open, the Davis Cup and the Tennis Masters Cup. The US Open Tennis Championship announced they would make official use of the technology for the 2006 US where each player receives two challenges per set.[4] It is also used as part of a larger tennis simulation implemented by IBM called PointTracker. Along with Cyclops and Auto-Ref, it is one of several automated line-calling mechanisms used.The 2006 Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia, was the first elite-level tennis tournament where players were allowed to challenge point-ending line calls, which were then reviewed by the referees using Hawk-Eye technology. It used 10 cameras feeding information about ball position to the computers.In March 2006, at the Nasdaq-100 Open, Hawk-Eye was used officially for the first time at a tennis tour event. Later that year, the US Open became the first grand-slam event to use the system during play, allowing players to challenge line calls.The 2007 Australian Open was the first grand-slam tournament of 2007 to implement Hawk-Eye in challenges to line calls, where each tennis player on Rod Laver Arena was allowed 2 incorrect challenges per set and one additional challenge should a tiebreaker be played. In the event of an advantage final set, challenges are reset to 2 for each player every 12 games i.e. 6 all, 12 all. Controversies followed the event as at times Hawk-Eye produced erroneous output. In 2008, tennis players are allowed 3 incorrect challenges per set instead. Any leftover challenges don't carry over to the next set. Once, in one of Amélie Mauresmo's matches, she challenged a ball that was called in, Hawk-Eye showed the ball was out by less than a millimeter but the verdict was called in. As a result, the point was replayed and Mauresmo didn't lose an incorrect challenge.The Hawk-Eye technology was used in the 2007 Dubai Tennis Championships with some minor controversies. Defending champion Rafael Nadal accused the system of incorrectly declaring an out ball to be in following his exit. The umpire had called a ball out; when Mikhail Youzhny challenged the decision, Hawk-Eye said it was in.[5] Youzhny said afterwards that he himself thought the mark may have been wide but then offered that this kind of technology error could easily have been made by linesmen and umpires. Nadal could only shrug, saying that had this system been on clay, the mark would have clearly shown Hawk Eye to be wrong.[6]The 2007 Wimbledon Championships also implemented the Hawk-Eye system as an officiating aid on Centre Court and Court 1, and each tennis player was allowed 3 incorrect challenges per set. If the set produced a tie-breaker, each player was given an additional challenge. Additionally, in the event of a final set (third set in women's or mixed matches, fifth set in men's matches), where there is no tie-break, each player's number of challenges was reset to three if the game score reached 6-6, and again at 12-12. Teimuraz Gabashvili, in his 1st round match against Roger Federer, made the first ever Hawk-Eye challenge on Centre Court. Additionally, during the finals of Federer against Rafael Nadal, Nadal challenged a shot which was called out. Hawk-Eye "proved" it otherwise, with the ball just clipping the line. The reversal agitated Federer enough for him to request (unsuccessfully) that the umpire turn off the Hawk-Eye technology for the remainder of the match.The Hawk-Eye system was developed as a replay system, originally for TV Broadcast coverage. As such, it cannot call ins and outs live. Currently only the Auto-Ref system can produce live in/out calls as it was developed for instant line calling. Both systems can produce replays.The Hawk-Eye Innovations website states that the system has an average error of 3.6mm (it does not indicate what the maximum error is). The standard size of a tennis ball is reportedly 65 to 68 mm. This means that there is a 5% error relative to the diameter of the ball. This could throw into doubt the accuracy of such calls as the one mentioned in the Nadal-Federer 2007 Wimbledon final. For the sake of comparison, approximately 5% of the diameter is the fluff on the ball.[edit]Unification of rulesUntil March 2008, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), Grand Slam Committee, and several individual tournaments had conflicting rules on how Hawk-Eye was to be utilized. A key example of this was the number of challenges a player was permitted per set, which varied among events. Some tournaments allowed players a greater margin for error, with players allowed an unlimited numbers of challenges over the course of a match. In other tournaments players received two or three per set. On March 19, 2008, the aforementioned organizing bodies announced a uniform system of rules: three unsuccessful challenges per set, with an additional challenge if the set reaches a tie-break. The next scheduled event on the men and women's tour, the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open, was the first event to implement these new, standardized rules.[7][edit]SnookerAt the World Snooker Championship 2007 and 2008, the BBC used Hawk-Eye in its television coverage to show player views, particularly in the incidents of potential snookers.[8] It has also been used to demonstrate intended shots by players when the actual shot has gone awry.Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (May 2008) >> By WikiPedia
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