Video reviews to help umpires with judgment calls highlight new tech at U.S. Open this year

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The U.S. Open is entering its third tournament since implementing electronic line-calling across play in 2021. But there are always new technologies to trial. The 2023 tournament will be ground for a couple. Here is an overview:

For the first time, the U.S. Open will use video review to assist chair umpires if a player challenges one of a specific set of judgment calls. The system will be available on five courts — Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium, Grandstand, Court 17 and Court 5.

Replay angles will be sourced from the broadcast feeds, and while the number of camera angles varies by court, each will cover the “key” vantage points, U.S. Open tournament referee Jake Garner told Sports Business Journal.

Players will be afforded three unsuccessful challenges per set (plus one in the event of a tiebreak) to initiate review of the following calls:

■ Double bounces

■ Foul shots: Player carrying the ball on the racket, contacting the ball with the racket before the ball crosses the net, or contacting the ball with the racket while the racket is not under the control of the player.

■ Touch: A player touching the net, the ball touching a player, or a player touching the opponent’s court while the ball is in play.

■ Through: Ball passing through the net instead of over the net.

■ System malfunction: If the electronic line-calling system is unable to determine.

■ Out: If a ball touches an external fixture before landing in the court.

■ Scoring error

Once a player challenges, the court’s chair umpire will communicate with a second official in the video control room using a headset and tablet. The second official is there to help the chair umpire, who makes the final decision, locate the best angle.

In partnership with the USTA, IBM is delivering generative audio narration and captions for highlight videos across the U.S. Open’s digital platforms via its AI platform, watsonx. IBM did the same for Wimbledon earlier this year, which expedited training the model in the language of tennis, Brian Ryerson, USTA senior director of digital strategy, told SBJ.

The USTA’s goals here are twofold. On the consumer-facing side, watsonx is expected to produce narrations that place each displayed highlight in the context of the match’s outcome, fostering what they hope is a storytelling experience for viewers. And internally, the use of generative AI is expected to streamline the USTA’s workflow for highlight packages: a team of editors once tasked with reviewing a package, writing a script, recording a voiceover, and titling and publishing a given video now will only need to vet the generated script and audio narration as a final line of quality assurance, then publish.

“[In the past], it could be an hour- to two-hour process to get a highlight package of the same length — 2 minutes to 3 minutes — up. We’re now doing that in a matter of minutes,” Ryerson said. “That’s where I see immense potential.”

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