"Even after constant mistakes had Jannik Sinner & Carlos Alcaraz acting like VAR" - Fans slam French Open's 'stubborn' decision to retain line judges

The French Open recently announced that it would retain line judges at the 2026 edition of the tournament. Reacting to the news, fans were left disappointed by the decision and were quick to make their dissatisfaction known.

Electronic line judges have been a major fixture in tennis tournaments for several years now. In 2021, the Australian Open became the first major to eliminate human line judges and rely solely on ‘Hawk-Eye Live’. The US Open followed suit in 2022. Most recently, in 2025, the Wimbledon Championships also switched to electronic line judging.

While the French Open was expected to mirror the three other Grand Slams, organizers recently announced that the clay court Major would continue to use human line judges into 2026. Reacting to this, one fan on X recalled the error-ridden line judging during the 2025 men's singles finals, writing,

“Even after the constant mistakes they made in the final this year that had Jannik and Carlos acting like VAR.”

Cherry

@kobzford

“Even after the constant mistakes they made in the final this year that had Jannik and Carlos acting like VAR.”

Another X user slammed the Grand Slam organizers for being stubborn, writing,

“Technology in sports is introduced to limit human errors. RG doesn't want progress. All this stubbornness for what.”

Montecinas

@montecinas

“Technology in sports is introduced to limit human errors. RG doesn't want progress. All this stubbornness for what.”

Here is how other tennis enthusiasts reacted to the clay court Major favouring human line judges over Hawk-Eye:

“Honestly stupid. The marginal, infinitesimally small difference in error between clay vs. other surfaces is negligible when compared to the difference between HawkEye and famously unreliable human line judges. I can guarantee you that there will be more line judges overruled by Hawk Eye video review than line judge calls that were proven correct after retrospective video review,” one fan on Reddit wrote.

“Literally the surface that needs line judges the least,” one X user commented.

“Backwardness mentality if you ask me. Tennis is already time consuming, tennis on clay is a torture when it comes to duration. Now we gotta add the stupid line call arguments to it and the incessant journey the umpires have to make to check a call to all this faff,” one fan fumed.

“It's the French's stubbornness. Look at their govt and how many times it has collapsed,” yet another X user chimed in.

Carlos Alcaraz in favour of line judges at French Open

Alcaraz at the 2025 French Open (Image Source: Getty)

While fans are upset with the French Open’s decision to retain line judges, men's singles World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz disagrees. During Roland-Garros 2025, the Spaniard was asked to weigh in on the debate about human line judges vs electronic line calling.

The Spaniard emphasized that each method comes with its own pros and cons, but stated that he favoured human line judges, especially when it came to clay court events.

“Both things are fine. (But), especially on clay, I like it more with the line judges personally, but in the end, there’s the bounce of the ball, you can see it.”

Carlos Alcaraz is one of the strongest clay court players tennis has seen in recent years. The 22-year-old is the two-time defending French Open champion and his 2025 finals against Jannik Sinner was hailed by many as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time.