‘We’re Not Going to Have That Anymore’ – Eugenie Bouchard Gives Serena Williams’ Example to Criticize the Elimination of Line Judges

Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players the sport has ever seen. However, alongside achieving incredible success, she has had her share of controversies throughout her storied career. It was the US Open in 2009. Serena was up against the wildcard entrant from Belgium, Kim Clijsters. The American was the second seed that year and was one of the favorites to reach the final. However, the Belgian woman had other plans. She defeated Serena in straight sets to move to the summit clash. Eventually, Clijsters defeated Caroline Wozniacki to win the title.

During the match, Serena was involved in a controversial moment. During the closing stages of the match, Serena committed a foot fault which the line judge spotted. Subsequently, Serena proceeded toward the judge and abused her.

Recently, the former Wimbledon champion, Eugenie Bouchard has opened up on the elimination of line judges from tournaments.

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Eugenie Bouchard refers to Serena Williams to not agree with the decision to remove line judges

At a recent talk show, the Canadian star talked about the increase in the use of technology in tennis. She said, “I’m sure some of the traditionalists and purists don’t think it’s good for the game but you know, now they’ve gone a step further. They’ve eliminated all the lines people at tournaments so before you had the linesperson who would call it but then you can challenge if you didn’t agree with the call.”

Further, she added, “Nowadays, it’s basically just the computer calling it so I think that takes a bit of the fun out of it because there’s no like anticipation of whether it’s in or out and there’s no like ability to challenge because you’re not going to challenge the computer. So now there’s no more challenges because it’s just the computer that calls it.”

Asked whether players got help from coaches to take challenges, she said, “Well technically, you’re not supposed to get help from your team whether to challenge or not but every player secretly looks over and then the coach does like a little signal like yes challenge or not to challenge.”

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Bouchard feels that removing human judgment from the sport will make it less entertaining. She further went on to say, “Serena, who went up to the linesperson and was like screaming at her, we’re not going to have that anymore.”

Serena is on the brink of a comeback after being more than nine months away from tennis. She has remained hopeful of making a return at the Championships, Wimbledon.