Technology was supposed to take human error out of tennis. Instead, it created one of its own at the US Open. Electronic line calling completely botched a crucial point in Anna Kalinskaya’s match against Anna Blinkova, proving that even the system trusted to get every call right can get it badly wrong.
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“At 40-15 in the fifth game of the second set, a malfunction with the ELC Live system caused a shot hit by Kalinskaya to be inaccurately called out… In this case, video review should have been applicable,” said the USTA spokesperson after the wrong decision.
Anna Kalinskaya was in control against Anna Blinkova until electronic line calling got it wrong. The No. 21 seed led 6-4 and was tied 2-2 in the second when, at 40-15, her cross-court forehand landed inside the sideline but was called out.
Kalinskaya immediately confronted the chair umpire as TV replays showed she was right. The ball had landed comfortably inside the line, but nobody on court could see the footage.
Kalinskaya pointed to the court and insisted, “It was like this in.” The umpire said the ball was too close to overrule, prompting Kalinskaya to fire back, “You are here to watch!” before asking for a supervisor.
But the chair umpire did not allow the supervisor request.
That frustration was justified because Kalinskaya eventually lost the game after leading 40-15. She had been in control of the game before the incorrect call changed the situation.
Kalinskaya kept protesting and asked, “Why would I listen to this crazy call?” But she did not let the mistake derail her. She regained control, shut Blinkova out of the match, and finished the job.
Kalinskaya eventually won 6-4, 6-3 and moved into the second round of the US Open.
The USTA later confirmed Kalinskaya had every reason to be furious. The ELC Live system had malfunctioned and wrongly called her shot out, while officials also failed to follow protocol and use video review when they should have.
But this was not tennis technology’s first major failure. At Wimbledon in 2025, electronic line calling was accidentally switched off during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s match, leaving an out ball uncalled and forcing officials to replay the point.
The missed call forced officials to replay the point once the mistake was discovered, and Wimbledon later changed its procedures to prevent the same failure from happening again.
This time, the technology got the call wrong and the review process failed to fix it. That puts some of the blame on the officials too, because machines will make mistakes. The problem starts when tennis treats them like they never will.