Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs takes opposing view to call for return of line judges at Wimbledon after Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova controversy

Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, recently expressed her feelings about Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's electronic line-calling controversy at the 2025 Wimbledon tournament. The Aussie vouched for the line-calling system while insisting that it would be handled better with more use.

Pavlyuchenkova reached her second Major quarterfinal of the year at SW19 on Sunday (July 6), downing local favorite Sonay Kartal 7-6(3), 6-4 in just over two hours in their Round-of-16 encounter. At 4-4 in the first set of their bout, the umpire failed to call one of the Brit's shots out. When the Russian asked for the electronic line-calling, the system wasn't functioning and the point had to be replayed.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was subsequently broken as she couldn't maintain her composure. While the World No. 50 eventually turned it around to secure a straight-sets victory, the situation has undermined Wimbledon's decision to replace line judges with electronic line-calling this year.

In that context, Serena Williams' ex-coach and doubles veteran Rennae Stubbs took to her X (formerly Twitter) account to give her two cents on the line-calling mishap during the 34-year-old's fourth-round outing at the All England Club earlier this week. The 54-year-old claimed that, not unlike actual line-calling, there are bound to be a few times when the handling of the electronic machine is not up to the mark.

However, she conceded in the same breath that the tennis pros would ultimately benefit more from electronic line-calling as it is more accurate than humans.

"The malfunction of the line call yesterday on center court was potentially terrible for Pavs, but she won the the set thank god & the match," Rennae Stubbs wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. "But for those saying we should have the linesman back because of it, are way short sighted. Much like a bad call this was human error."

"Someone didn't check the necessary protocols before the point started. It was a mistake that will be rectified going forward," she wrote it in a sepate X post. "This system is 100% better for the players. They will learn from this & make it even better. Machines call lines better than humans so let's just chill."

The former doubles World No. 1 also reacted to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's Instagram post this week, where the Russian seemingly poked fun at Wimbledon's goof-up while celebrating her campaign at the grasscourt Major thus far.

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Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to face in-form Ananda Anisimova in quarterfinals at Wimbledon 2025

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hits a backhand at Wimbledon | Image Source: Getty

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will have to bring her best tennis to Wimbledon when she takes on 13th-seeded Amanda Anisimova for a place in the semifinals on Tuesday. Although Anisimova leads her older counterpart by a margin of 3-0 in their head-to-head meetings on the WTA Tour, the two players have never faced off outside hardcourt.

The American, on her part, has enjoyed good results on the pro tour over the last few weeks, making it to the final at Queen's Club, the last eight at Berlin, and the Round of 16 at the French Open. The 23-year-old weathered two back-to-back three-setters at this year's Wimbledon to record her second career quarterfinal appearance at the London Major.