Rafael Nadal in favour of ‘human element’ as he disagrees with Novak Djokovic over line judges
Rafael Nadal prefers tradition over technology with the 20-time Grand Slam winner insisting he prefers line judges over Hawkeye as “the human side” adds plenty of value to tennis.
Hawkeye line-calling technology is being used at the ATP Finals due to the coronavirus pandemic.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic is a supporter of the technology and said during the French Open that it is time for the sport to move forward.
The 17-time major winner’s comments came not long after he was disqualified from the US Open after he accidentally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball.
Novak Djokovic feels tennis should move with the times and replace line umpires with technology
“The technology is so advanced right now, there is absolutely no reason why you should keep line umpires on the court. That’s my opinion,” Djokovic said.
“Of course, I understand technology is expensive, so it’s an economic issue and a question mark. But I feel like we are all moving towards that, and sooner or later there is no reason to keep line umpires.”
However, Nadal disagrees with the Serbian as he still prefers line judges over computers.
“I don’t want to create controversy, but I think the traditional court with line judges looks much nicer,” he said at the ATP Finals.
“Novak said line judges were not needed. All opinions are respected. There are different visions of the sport, but for me I like it less without line judges.
“It’s welcome here so we can adapt to the circumstances but if you ask me towards the future I prefer line judges. It’s true the sport has not changed many things in the last 50 years, compared with the majority of sports, but I don’t think this is a way to improve the spectacle of our sport.”
The Spaniard added: “The technology is there, it could be just the two of us in the court if we want. But I think the human side gives some more value somehow to the sport.”
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