Wimbledon is the last major institution in tennis to do almost anything. Video review is no different.
The All England Club confirmed on Saturday that Video Review technology will be introduced at the 2026 Championships, running June 29 to July 12. Players will be able to challenge specific chair umpire calls — not-up, foul shot, touch, hindrance — on six show courts: Centre Court, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, Court 12, and Court 18. There is no limit on the number of reviews a player can request.
The US Open introduced video review in 2023. The Australian Open followed. All nine ATP Masters 1000 events have had it since February 2025. Wimbledon, as is its habit, arrives last.
Why It Matters Beyond the Technology
The immediate context is Jack Draper and Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells last week. Draper raised his hand mid-rally — a moment any viewer could see. Medvedev hit the ball into the net several shots later, then claimed hindrance. The umpire agreed. The point went to Medvedev, at a critical moment in the quarterfinal. Medvedev himself looked uncertain about whether the call was correct.
That incident crystallised a problem that has been building for years: tennis has powerful officiating technology available, and it is applying it inconsistently. Line calls are now automated at almost every major event. But judgment calls — the ones that actually determine match outcomes in controversial moments — have remained at the discretion of a single official with no review mechanism.
Video review does not eliminate umpire authority. It provides a check on it. That is a meaningful governance change, not just a technical upgrade.
The Wimbledon Pattern
Wimbledon’s approach to technology follows a consistent pattern: observe, resist, delay, then adopt once the competitive and reputational cost of resistance becomes too high.
Electronic Line Calling is the clearest precedent. Line judges had operated at Wimbledon for 147 years. The All England Club held out as the US Open, Australian Open, and most of the ATP Tour moved to automated systems. Then, in 2025, they made the switch — and immediately encountered a high-profile malfunction in Sonay Kartal’s fourth-round match that justified every sceptic’s concern.
Video review follows the same arc. The technology is not new. The case for it is not new. What changed is that the pressure — from players, from broadcasters, from the visibility of incidents like the Draper-Medvedev call — finally outweighed Wimbledon’s institutional preference for the status quo.
What Actually Changes at SW19
A few specifics worth noting for anyone tracking how the technology works in practice.
Video review at Wimbledon applies only to judgment calls — not-up, foul shot, touch, hindrance. It does not apply to line calls, which are now handled by Electronic Line Calling. The two systems operate in parallel rather than overlapping.
On Centre Court and No. 1 Court, the system will be available throughout the tournament. On the other four show courts, it operates until all singles matches on those courts are completed. Courts outside the six show courts will not have video review.
There is no challenge limit — unlike Hawk-Eye challenges in cricket or challenges in some other sports, players can request reviews without penalty. This is consistent with how video review operates across other ATP events.
The finals weekend schedule confirmed for 2025 will continue: men’s doubles and women’s singles on Saturday, women’s doubles and men’s singles on Sunday, with the singles finals at 4pm local time on each day.
The Broader Governance Question
Wimbledon adopting video review is good news for players and for the integrity of the sport. But it raises a question that nobody in tennis governance is eager to answer directly: why does it take this long?
The Grand Slams operate independently. There is no unified rules body that can mandate technology adoption across all four majors simultaneously. The ITF has nominal oversight, but each Slam negotiates its own conditions. The result is a patchwork — different technology, different rules, different challenge systems — that creates inconsistency at the sport’s highest level.
The Draper-Medvedev incident at Indian Wells would likely have been reviewed and resolved in seconds under a video review system. Instead, it became a talking point that followed both players through the rest of the tournament and into the week’s news cycle. That is the cost of delayed adoption, measured not in money but in competitive fairness and public confidence.
Wimbledon getting there eventually is progress. Getting there ten years after the technology became viable is not something the sport should congratulate itself for.
Tim Lee is the founder of Baseplay Tennis. Wimbledon 2026 begins June 29.
