RG to retain the human touch in linecalling

Roland Garros will continue to buck the trend of electronic linecalling, with Grand Slam tournament boss Amelie Mauresmo laying down the law on Thursday in Paris.

Unlike the other three majors which have sent teams of line judges into early retirement, the clay major will stick with the tried and true for another edition beginning on May 24.

In addition to tradition, the skid marks left on the dirt by ball makes determining in or out subjective enough to often require a keen eye.

“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said of the electronic systems currently in use.“Our decision was to stick to our way.”

But the former WTA No. 1 suddenly flipped the script when it comes to the controversial suggestion that women should play best-of-five-sets at the four majors just like the men.

The idea has drawn scorn from top women, but that does not dissuade Mauresmo.

“You can’t change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?” the former Wimbledon champion said.

“This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”

The Wimbledon winner admitted that she had often yearned during her playing days for longer contests.

“When I did the Masters (season-ending) final ( 2005) I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”

The former player would not be drawns out on the dreaded night matches at Roland Garros, formerly a fully daytinem event.

“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said.“Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”

Also on the table are likely to be the distribution of night matches, with women barely registering in the night-tiem hours during the 2025 edition.

On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men’s doubles final will be played before the women’s singles final and not afterward.

“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” the TD said. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”

In the continuing prize money arms race among the four Grand Slams, Roland Garros announced a rise to a global USD 72 million in player payouts, a rise of USD 6.25 million.