Elena Rybakina hits out at controversial system after having ‘point stolen’ at Madrid Open | Tennis | Sport

Elena Rybakina says she has “no trust” in the electronic line-calling system that has caused a divide at the Madrid Open. The automated calls were introduced at most big clay tournaments last year, but there have still been occasions where players believe a ball mark left on the clay shows something different to what the electronic system has flagged on the screen.

And that happened during the second set of Rybakina’s third-round match against Qinwen Zheng. The world No. 2 confronted the umpire when Zheng was awarded an ace while serving at 3-4 30-0, although the mark on the court showed the ball was out.

However, since electronic line calls were introduced on clay, umpires have not been able to come down and overrule a call by checking marks on the clay. What the technology says, goes. “I can’t go down,” umpire Julie Kjendlie immediately told Rybakina.

“It’s like that,” the Kazakh replied, gesturing with her figures to show how far out the ball was. “This is not a joke. The system is wrong. This is not a joke. There is no touching. The mark which is shown on the TV… it is absolutely wrong.”

But the chair official reminded her: “Now that we have live ELC, that’s what I have to go with.” Rybakina was able to regroup and came from a set down to claim a 4-6 6-4 6-3 victory, but she later hit out at the automated system.

“Well, with this ​thing, I won’t trust it at all,” she said after the match. “Because there was no mark even ​close to what the TV showed.”

It’s not the first time the electronic calls have become a topic of contention in Madrid. Last year, Alexandra Eala had the same issue during her second-round match against Iga Swiatek, when one of the Polish star’s serves was called in by the system, but appeared to be out.

And ATP No. 3 Alexander Zverev got out his phone and took a photo of a mark he didn’t agree with during a third-round clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 2025, when the Spaniard hit a forehand that was called in.

Zverev received a code violation for taking the photo, but went on to win in three sets and later posted the picture. He also shared his intentions to speak with the tour about the calls. “It’s not the umpire’s fault, because if he by rule cannot go down, he cannot go down. So it’s not Mohamed [Lahyani]’s fault,” he explained.

“But I will talk to the supervisors, I will talk to the ATP, because as I said, this is not normal. For a mistake to happen like this, yes, one or two millimetres I understand, but four, five centimetres is not normal.”

And Rybakina believes she experienced something similar against Zheng. She added: “It was, I ​think, similar ​to what ⁠Zverev had last year because it was in front of her nose. You ​can’t not see it. It was pretty ​frustrating. It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving ⁠really ​well, but it’s really frustrating.”

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page