AUSTRALIAN OPEN NOTEBOOK

updated 9:28 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2005

MELBOURNE, Australia - Count Lindsay Davenport among those who would prefer if tennis stayed away from instant replay or other electronic help for officials.

The U.S. Open is looking into using some form of electronic line-calling aid for officials at this year’s tournament, spokesman Chris Widmaier said. The American major already was testing a system before the 2004 quarterfinal between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati was marred by missed calls.

Australian Open organizers and the International Tennis Federation had held discussions with manufacturers of the technology about the applications for the Grand Slam event, Tennis Australia spokesman John Lindsay said.

Geoff Pollard, president of Tennis Australia and chairman of the ITF’s rules committee, said technology used by TV broadcasters could be used in the future at Melbourne Park to assist umpires on contentious calls.

He said some technology already submitted to the ITF would be tested in laboratories and in match conditions.

“From what we’ve seen, we are pretty confident they will meet the standards of accuracy we would require,” Pollard was quoted as telling The Age newspaper. “The problem is deciding how to use it.

“The way technology is developing so fast, there is a chance we will see it here very soon.”

Video replay options include those used on TV, such as “Hawkeye.” Many tournaments use the “Cyclops” system on the service lines.

“I’ve always been against electronic line calling,” Davenport said Wednesday after her quarterfinal win over Alicia Molik at the Australian Open.

That match, and the men’s quarterfinal between Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian, featured several contentious calls and overrules.

“I’m very much a traditionalist and I think it would be obviously very expensive to implement and it would be hard to do it for all the courts,” Davenport said.

“But obviously technology is evolving. If we can figure out a way where it worked for everybody ... but for now, I kind of stick to the linesmen.”

Molik said she was not against using replays but was concerned about play being held up.

“It means you’ve got to go back, you’ve got to see the replay, you’ve got to have a few judges look at it,” Molik said. “Tennis is a very flowing game, so I think to a certain extent it would disrupt players’ routines and I think affect the timing of the way matches run.

“But I think maybe there is a little bit of room for it. ... It’s definitely something worth thinking about.”

Rival coaching
Marat Safin might have some inside information when he faces top-ranked Roger Federer in the Australian Open semifinals:

Safin’s coach, Peter Lundgren, used to work with Federer.

“It’s an even more interesting match just because of who’s coaching him,” said Federer, who split from Lundgren in December 2003 and played all of last season without a coach.

Lundgren started coaching Safin in May 2004. In the only match between Federer and Safin since, they played a record-tying 20-18 tiebreaker at the season-ending Masters Cup, and Federer won.

Safin wasn’t so sure he’d have an edge in Melbourne thanks to Lundgren.

“The coach cannot go on the court and play,” the 2000 U.S. Open champion said. “He can just give you advice, advice that everybody knows.”

More news

Benoit Tessier / Reuters

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