There's little doubt that electronic line calling in tennis has been well received by fans and, in the main, the players.
But how good are the competitors at using the challenge system that the Hawk-eye technology now provides?
Roger Federer was an early critic of Hawk-eye and soon became well known for his erroneous challenges. But is that reputation fair? And is Dinara Safina's position as world number one reflected in her ability to challenge calls?
Given the US Open is just around the corner and that controversy at the 2004 tournament was largely responsible for the system being introduced, I decided to find out, using the available statistics during the first half of the season (that's up to and including Wimbledon).
The WTA Tour were most helpful and provided stats for all their tournaments which used the system in 2009. The ATP Tour could not do the same but I was still able to gain a similar-sized sample by using the stats from the Grand Slams - Australian Open and Wimbledon - where the men play best-of-five sets to the women's three.
Starting with the men and it seems Federer's reputation isn't particularly valid these days.
Looking at the world's top 10, he's easily punching his weight with a success rate of 36 per cent - which compares favourably with the tour average of 31.
With Nikolay Davydenko ignored for statistical purposes (he made just two challenges, an unreliable sample), Federer's accuracy puts him fourth of the nine remaining top-10ers.
But it's Novak Djokovic who has his eye in most when it comes to challenging - 13 out of his 28 challenges were correct - a success rate of 46 per cent.
And for those of you wondering where Andy Murray's game can improve, his percentage of 25 gives you an answer.
Outside the top 10, of those players who had at least 10 challenges, Robin Soderling led the way with the Swede correctly calling exactly half of his 10.
And the worst? That dubious honour falls to Michael Llodra. Not once in seven challenges did the decision go his way.
The table below shows how well the world's top 10 performed on the Hawk-eye system:
|
Men's Top 10
|
| Player |
Success Rate % |
Challenges Won |
Challenges Made |
| Novak Djokovic |
46 |
13 |
28 |
| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga |
44 |
11 |
25 |
| Rafael Nadal |
39 |
7 |
18 |
| Roger Federer |
36 |
24 |
67 |
| Andy Roddick |
32 |
9 |
28 |
| Juan Martin Del Potro |
32 |
6 |
19 |
| Andy Murray |
25 |
11 |
44 |
| Gilles Simon |
23 |
5 |
22 |
| Fernando Gonzalez |
21 |
3 |
14 |
| Tour Average |
31 |
197 |
634 |
At least 10 challenges were needed to qualify so Nikolay Davydenko is not included.
Moving on to the women's top 10 and I can reveal Serena Williams rules the roost, pretty much as she does on the tour as a whole.
Serena successfully challenged 44 per cent of the time, winning eight of her 18 contests with the officials.
However, it doesn't appear to be a skill that runs in the family - sister Venus was down at a lowly 21 per cent and managed to reach the Wimbledon final without making a single correct challenge in SW19.
World number one Dinara Safina - easily the most prolific challenger of the tour, making a total of 73 in our study period - comes in with a 36 per cent success rate.
Away from the top 10, China's Shuai Peng just topped Serena's efforts, winning five of 11 challenges - 45 per cent.
The booby prize goes to Agnieszka Radwanska, all eight of her challenges being wrong.
The table below shows how well the world's top 10 performed on the Hawk-eye system:
|
Women's Top 10
|
| Player |
Success Rate |
Challenges Won |
Challenges Made |
| Serena Williams |
44 |
8 |
18 |
| Jelena Jankovic |
39 |
12 |
31 |
| Dinara Safina |
36 |
26 |
73 |
| Caroline Wozniacki |
24 |
5 |
21 |
| Elena Dementieva |
23 |
7 |
31 |
| Svetlana Kuznetsova |
22 |
4 |
18 |
| Venus Williams |
21 |
3 |
14 |
| Victoria Azarenka |
20 |
5 |
25 |
| Vera Zvonareva |
16 |
5 |
31 |
| Tour Average |
32 |
176 |
546 |
At least 10 challenges were needed to qualify so Nadia Petrova is not included.A check of the tour averages shows the women slightly better than their male counterparts when it comes to challenging, although the majority of the WTA's top 10 were well below the tour's average as a whole.
Finally a good note to end on, as far as British fans are concerned.
The Brits can justifiably - well, sort of - crown themselves champions of Hawk-eye.
Alex Bogdanovic is one of just three players on the ATP to win every call he contested (we'll conveniently forget it was just one), while Mel South was the best on the WTA Tour - no-one else could match her two-out-of-two record.
If you have any comments to make on Hawk-eye, you can email your feedback to: tennisfeedback@sportinglife.com.
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