Hawk-Eye to replace linespersons at PowerShares
March 18, 2015
LOS ANGELES – InsideOut Sports and Entertainment, a leading live event, talent access, and content creation group and division of Horizon Media, today announced the 2015 PowerShares Series tennis circuit will be the first ever pro tennis event series to exclusively use electronic line-calling systems in place of linespeople throughout its 12-city tour starting March 24 in Salt Lake City.
The PowerShares Series, the North American tennis tour for champion tennis players over the age of 30, will now only employ a chair umpire for matches during its four-player nightly events and will have all line-calling responsibilities decided by the Hawk-Eye Officiating System. Players will be allowed unlimited challenges during the course of a match.
Players competing on the 2015 PowerShares Series are defending points champion John McEnroe, Hall of Famers Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang as well as Andy Roddick, James Blake and Mark Philippoussis.
“We are excited and quite a bit curious to see top level tennis officiated in this manner and believe this might be an interesting experiment for the future of the sport,” said Jon Venison, co-president at InsideOut Sports & Entertainment. “The Hawk-Eye tennis officiating system has been one of the great innovations in tennis in the last 100 years and we are look forward to using this technology to create a new dynamic for tennis.”
McEnroe, who is as well-known for his arguments of line-calls as he is for his championship results, supports the initiative.
“I never thought this day would come when I would play tournament tennis without linesmen,” said McEnroe. “I think this is a great move for the sport and I applaud InsideOut Sports & Entertainment and the PowerShares Series for making this bold decision. I think this can be a ground-breaking game-changer for the sport.”
Each PowerShares Series tournament is a one-night event that features two one-set semifinal matches, followed by a one-set championship match. Tickets and unique VIP fan experience packages are now on sale. Tickets start at $30 and all ticket and VIP information is available at www.PowerSharesSeries.com.
The full 2015 PowerShares Series schedule with event match-ups are as follows:
In 2014, McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte. McEnroe was followed in the points standings by Blake in second place and Roddick in third place.