LINE Judges are here to stay at one of tennis’ most prestigious tournaments, Roland Garros, with the French Open tournament refusing to follow the likes of Wimbledon in using electronic systems.
The Paris-based competition, which will take place in May 2026, has confirmed the use of human line judges with the French Tennis Federation (FFT) confirming the news in a statement.
The FFT President, Gilles Moretton explained the decision saying: “With all humility, we are the best country for providing officials on the tour.”
“We take pride in this. We are a benchmark, and we want to stay that way. The federation will keep its line judges as long as possible.”
Moretton then went on to put the focus on the players blaming them for driving the change to automated systems. He continued saying if the players refuse to play without ‘the machine’ then a decision may have to be made.
Roland Garros is the only major tournament remaining to have not adopted the automated system, with Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open all having switched over to the new technology.
Fan reaction to the changes at Wimbledon were predominantly negative with some users on X posting:
@greeneyed1967 – “…and so the rush to make humanity obsolete with AI marches along.”
@webby6670 – “You cannot be serious!!!”
@MattEarth_Pro – “Whatever happened to respecting tradition.”
Last year at Roland Garros there was 404 match officials, selected from a pool of 30,000 French judges who work all year round and who will be pleased to hear that their role at one of the most prestigious competitions in tennis will continue for the foreseeable future.
