Wendy smith

The All England Lawn Tennis: The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced on Wednesday that Wimbledon will replace line judges with electronic line calling technology from 2025. Following the announcement, Wendy Smith, a line judge, who has been officiating at the tournament since 1982, is devastated and claims she did not get a chance to say goodbye to the mecca of tennis.

"It’s sad to think that I won’t have a moment like that again. I won’t get to stand on Centre Court. And I wish they could have told us before this year’s tournament so that we’d have a chance to say goodbye. I’ll always love tennis, but I don’t think I could bear to go to Wimbledon now as a spectator. It just wouldn’t have the same atmosphere," Wendy told The Guardian.

The officiating technology known as 'Live Electronic Line Calling' (Live ELC) will be in place for all Championships and qualifying match courts and cover the ‘out’ and ‘fault’ calls that were previously made by line judges.