In the players’ lounge, in the locker rooms, in officials’ offices yesterday, televisions around the U S Open showed Jennifer Capriati’s quarterfinal victory over Serena Williams.With rain washing out live matches, people had a chance to see the officiating error that took a point from Williams and gave it to Capriati in the third set’s opening game Tuesday night.That replay was everywhere. And with no new results to talk about, the talk around the National Tennis Center yesterday afternoon was about whether instant replay or other tools should be used to help make better rulings. There were at least two other questionable calls in the final game of Capriati’s 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.“It was such a horrendous call. If I was closer to the court, I would have run onto the court,” said John McEnroe, who is a commentator on the USA cable channel broadcasting the event. “I’ve seen a lot of bad calls in my day, but I don’t think I’ve seen three bad calls in a set like that.”Not surprisingly, McEnroe favours adding some form of replay to tennis. He would put limits, though, as there are in other pro sports, such as perhaps some sort of penalty for a wrong challenge. “Do we put a TV on the umpire’s chair and leave it up to them? or do we go to a player-challenge system?” U S Tennis Association executive Arlen Kantarian said. “We don’t want to go out there with a system that’s 90 per cent accurate. We want a system that’s 100 per cent accurate.”The USTA, ATP, WTA Tour and International Tennis Federation ran some tests two weeks ago of a line-call system that uses six to eight cameras and global position satellites.Curiously, on Saturday, Capriati lobbied for instant replay after she argued some calls during her third-round victory.“Even from watching other matches, they haven’t been too good. This level of the game, when it’s so close, and one or two shots can make a difference, I don’t think it’s fair,” she said. “I’d like to know what we’re waiting for. I don’t see why they don’t start at least trying it. Money, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t see this tournament being short on money, you know.”But while Kantarian said some form of helping with calls is “theoretically possible next year,” ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti sounded far less optimistic. “We’re not ready, and then there are the costs,” Ricci Bitti said. “We need to go step-by-step. The chair umpire needs to have the final say - it’s not certain that video replay is always right.”At deuce in the third set’s first game, chair umpire Mariana Alves of Portugal awarded the point to Capriati after Williams hit a backhand that landed in - and was ruled good by the line judge. TV replays showed that the ball landed 2-3 centimeters inside the line.“It’s a well-contested match without all that stuff. What’s sad is instead you have questions about the calls,” said former U S Open champion Tracy Austin, also an analyst on USA. “It’s sad to see it end that way. It kind of took away from it.”
