Pavlyuchenkova to Umpire on Wrong Electronic Line Call: “They Stole the Game From Me!”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova recovered from a clearly wrong electronic line call to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, July 6, 2025
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hit the proverbial reset button in her match on Centre Court to return to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Yet the Electronic Line Call system (ELC) may need a reset of its own after a clearly wrong error.
The 34-year-old Pavlyuchenkova ended the run of British fan favorite Sonny Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4 to reach the last eight at the All England Club for the first time since 2016.
Yet a mistake by ELC late in the first set by the ELC system, being used for the first time ever at the historic event, could have derailed that outcome.
With Pavlyuchenkova serving at 4-all, Kartal hit a backhand that landed clearly several inches beyond the baseline. But the ELC did not call “Out!” Umpire Nico Helwerth then stopped play.
Addressing the stadium, Helwerth said, "We're just going to check if the system was up and running, because there was no audio call." After the umpire placed a phone call to determine next steps, he announced ELC “was unfortunately unable to track the last point.”
The point was then replayed. Pavlyuchenkova ended later losing the game with Kartal moving ahead 5-4.
On the next changeover, Pavlyuchenkova expressed her frustration with the umpire saying,"I don't know if it's in or out. How do I know? How can you prove it? Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. "They stole the game from me. They stole it."
Pavlyuchenkova put the controversy behind her and went on to win the set and the match.
In her post-match press conference, former French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova still felt that specific point was stolen from her, but hoped that a backup plan could be put in place for future matches.
“I think it's good to erase this subject for the future because if anything like that happens in the very important moment of the match, I think we should have a wire system like in football they have or something," Pavlyuchenkova said. "So then it's clear for everybody and we can move on right away instead of just guessing.
"It could sit with me for the rest of the match and then kind of unknown, was it in or out and kind of feeling that it was my game. But luckily, I moved on fast from that moment and continue playing.”
Pavlyuchenkova added that she did speak with Wimbledon officials and accepted their explanation of the event.
“Yes, they did explain it to me now. But again, they said the system was down. It's, like, a human error," Pavlyuchenkova said. "I understand that, that that can happen at any given moment to everybody. But again, as I said, yeah, I think we have to…
"It's such a big match, big event. I think since we have already automatic line calling and so much invested into this, we should probably look into something else to have better, yeah, decisions on it.”
Kartal later said about the error, “I don't think it's really ever happened, if it has. But no, it's tough luck. What can you do? The umpire is trying his best in that situation. I think he handled it fine. I think the system just malfunctioned a little bit. I think the fairest way was what he did, to replay the point. But no, was just a bit unlucky that happened.”
Pavlyuchenkova faces the winner of Linda Noskova against Amanda Anisimova.
By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, July 6, 2025
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hit the proverbial reset button in her match on Centre Court to return to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Yet the Electronic Line Call system (ELC) may need a reset of its own after a clearly wrong error.
The 34-year-old Pavlyuchenkova ended the run of British fan favorite Sonny Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4 to reach the last eight at the All England Club for the first time since 2016.
Yet a mistake by ELC late in the first set by the ELC system, being used for the first time ever at the historic event, could have derailed that outcome.
With Pavlyuchenkova serving at 4-all, Kartal hit a backhand that landed clearly several inches beyond the baseline. But the ELC did not call “Out!” Umpire Nico Helwerth then stopped play.
Addressing the stadium, Helwerth said, "We're just going to check if the system was up and running, because there was no audio call." After the umpire placed a phone call to determine next steps, he announced ELC “was unfortunately unable to track the last point.”
The point was then replayed. Pavlyuchenkova ended later losing the game with Kartal moving ahead 5-4.
Kartal hit this shot long on Pavlyuchenkova's game point at 4-4.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) July 6, 2025
ELC stopped working, point was replayed despite everybody around the world watching this replay. Insane.
Pavs ended up broken.
Kartal served for the set, got broken after having a set point.
5-5... pic.twitter.com/si8JENrbdl
On the next changeover, Pavlyuchenkova expressed her frustration with the umpire saying,"I don't know if it's in or out. How do I know? How can you prove it? Because she is local, they can say whatever. You took the game away from me. "They stole the game from me. They stole it."
Pavlyuchenkova put the controversy behind her and went on to win the set and the match.
Per the BBC, a spokesperson for the All England Club said, "Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question.The chair umpire followed the established process." Umpires can choose to make their own call if the system malfunctions and can decide to replay a point.Anastasia advances 👉
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2025
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reaches the quarter-finals at #Wimbledon for the second time after beating Sonay Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4 on Centre Court ✨ pic.twitter.com/25IgoG4HSG
In her post-match press conference, former French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova still felt that specific point was stolen from her, but hoped that a backup plan could be put in place for future matches.
“I think it's good to erase this subject for the future because if anything like that happens in the very important moment of the match, I think we should have a wire system like in football they have or something," Pavlyuchenkova said. "So then it's clear for everybody and we can move on right away instead of just guessing.
"It could sit with me for the rest of the match and then kind of unknown, was it in or out and kind of feeling that it was my game. But luckily, I moved on fast from that moment and continue playing.”
Pavlyuchenkova added that she did speak with Wimbledon officials and accepted their explanation of the event.
“Yes, they did explain it to me now. But again, they said the system was down. It's, like, a human error," Pavlyuchenkova said. "I understand that, that that can happen at any given moment to everybody. But again, as I said, yeah, I think we have to…
"It's such a big match, big event. I think since we have already automatic line calling and so much invested into this, we should probably look into something else to have better, yeah, decisions on it.”
Kartal later said about the error, “I don't think it's really ever happened, if it has. But no, it's tough luck. What can you do? The umpire is trying his best in that situation. I think he handled it fine. I think the system just malfunctioned a little bit. I think the fairest way was what he did, to replay the point. But no, was just a bit unlucky that happened.”
Pavlyuchenkova faces the winner of Linda Noskova against Amanda Anisimova.