Joe Salisbury in 'strike threat' over Hawkeye at Wimbledon - judge for yourself if he was right
Briton Joe Salisbury and his No 1 seed doubles partner Rajeev Ram threatened to go on strike at Wimbledon in a furious tirade at the umpire over a controversial Hawkeye review.
The pair were apoplectic after being told to replay what had previously been given as a winning break point for them at 5-5 in the second set against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. As they prepared to serve for a two set lead, their opponents challenged the previous point and Hawkeye subsequently ruled the previous shot was in.
It had been the second time in the match that Salisbury had taken issue with a review and he and his American partner questioned whether the technology had been configured wrongly.
"No way man," screamed Ram after the Hawkeye call went against him. The American had been running to return the ball and was just a couple of feet away when it eventually bounced near the line. "That is absolutely ridiculous... there's two calls now."
"The whole point in the machine is to get the calls right and it was this far out," Salisbury said. "The machine's obviously wrong. There's no chance that was in."
The umpire replied: "And I saw that as well. The review official checked it. The system is fine... I know you disagree with it, but that's the way we do it. I can tell you what I say but we have to go with the system."
The pair initially said they would not return to the match until the technology was turned off. Eventually the supervisor said "I am going to investigate it", prompting Salisbury and Ram to reluctantly return to their match. During the replayed point, Salisbury then hit his shot two feet long. He prompted laughs among the crowd by calling for a review, which confirmed it was well out. The pair eventually then lost the game, but eventually won the match in five sets.
Hawkeye was implemented on Centre Court and Court 1 in 2007 and is now used on one, two, three, 12 and 18. Players on courts without Hawkeye must solely rely on line umpires to make the right calls. Ten cameras are built around Hawkeye-using courts, capturing 60 high-resolution images per second. At least five of those cameras cover every ball bounce.
Salisbury and Ram have never won Wimbledon but are two-time Grand Slam champions.
