2 July 2025, 10:03 | Updated: 2 July 2025, 12:04

By Rachel Johnson

Confession of a tennis addict: even when I had an office job I’d score a whole line through the diary for Wimbledon fortnight.

I find the green courts of SW19 – either in real life or on telly - an irresistible draw, and almost need counselling when it’s over.

You might assume, then, that I’d be up in arms over the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s decision to dispense with all the line judges this year for the first time since the tournament became “open” in 1968.

And indeed Wimbledon’s embrace of the chill era of AI, with a disembodied voice calling “OUT,” has not gone down well among the crustier adherents of the sport. The Telegraph is among the many who have decided this is a sign of our national decline.

It seems cross that invisible AI has replaced the usual sight of a Ralph-Lauren-clad burgher or matron, bent intently at the waist, watching the lines, and calling a ball out with an imperious point of a crisp, blue and white shirted arm. Like M&S, which has also erred and strayed by introducing a strawberries and........

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