The French Open will retain human line judges for 2026, making it an exception among tennis’ Grand Slams as others will use electronic line calling.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) confirmed the decision in a statement, in which it said it “will continue to show off the excellence of French umpiring, which is recognised across the world”, according to vice president Lionel Ollinger.
Roland Garros remains the only Grand Slam to not implement electronic line calling.
“We are a federation where umpires and line judges work every day and, I say this with all humility, we are the best country for providing officials on the tour,” said FFT president Gilles Moretton.
“We take pride in this, we have a strong training system. We are a benchmark and we want to stay that way.
“The federation’s will is to keep line judges as long as possible; right now, the players are driving the train. If one day they unanimously say: ‘We won’t play without the machine,’ we’ll see… But I believe we have a bright future ahead to preserve this officiating pyramid.”
At the 2025 edition of the tournament, 404 match officials were present, including 284 French representatives from all French leagues.
Wimbledon adopted electronic line calling (ELC) in 2025, leaving the French Open as the last of the four tennis majors to use humans to adjudicate whether a ball has landed in or out.
Instead, officials rely on marks left by players’ shots on the Roland Garros clay.
The line judges make an initial decision, before the chair umpire verifies any contentious ball marks at the players’ request.
Aryna Sabalenka was unhappy with a umpire’s call during her match with Elise Mertens, so she took a picture of the ball mark with a mobile phone!
Aryna Sabalenka and Alexander Zverev have used their phones to take photos of marks during the European clay-court swing earlier this year.
The Australian Open adopted ELC in 2021, while the US Open adopted it in 2022 after using it on some courts in 2020.
ELC at Wimbledon
Sky Sports News’ Dan Khan gives insight into why Wimbledon have decided to replace line judges with electric line calling
Wimbledon removed line judges earlier this year with All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) chief executive Sally Bolton describing the move as “inevitable”.
But Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper were among the players to question the use of electronic line-calling in the tournament this summer.
Raducanu said: “It’s kind of disappointing that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been OK. I’ve had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. Hopefully they can fix that.”
The former US Open champion went on to admit 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 ones but what can you do?”
Draper also queried the performance of the technology in its debut year at Wimbledon, suggesting calls were missed during his second-round defeat to Marin Cilic.
“I don’t think it’s 100 per cent accurate in all honesty,” he said. “A couple of the ones today, it showed a mark on the court.
“There’s no way the chalk would have showed that. I guess it cannot be 100 per cent accurate – it’s millimetres.”
The automated electronic line-calling technology at the National Bank Open final in Toronto malfunctioned during the second set leaving the players confused and questioning the umpire
Swiss player Belinda Bencic echoed the uncertainty over the system and pointed towards a common outlook among players in the locker room.
“I also don’t trust it,” she said earlier in the week. “Of course, you feel a little bit stupid questioning an electronic line call, but of course it always depends how it’s installed and how accurate it is.
“It’s not only me, you know. I feel like I’m watching other matches too, and I see players like saying the exact same thing, complaining. Or even on TV, you can see clearly some balls are out or long or something.
“We players talk about it and I think most of us have the same opinion.”
System malfunction during Pavlyuchenkova win
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was denied a game after the electronic line-calling system failed to work during her win over Sonay Kartal at Wimbledon
The most controversial moment of the Grand Slam was when a system malfunction resulted in the technology being switched off for a game during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s victory over Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
Only did it become apparent that the system had not been working when a shot from Kartal clearly landed beyond the baseline without being ruled out, denying a bemused Pavlyuchenkova a 5-4 lead in the first set.
Umpire Nico Helwerth instead brought the game to a halt and insisted the point should be replayed, paving the way to Kartal breaking her opponent’s serve for a 5-4 advantage.
“You took the game away from me… they stole the game from me. They stole it,” said Pavlyuchenkova upon returning to her chair.
Fortunately for Pavlyuchenkova the incident did not prove costly as she went on to beat Kartal 7-6 6-4.
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