Heatwave stops play stopped at sweltering Wimbledon qualifying! Electronic line calling system fails in the London heat – just a year after they sacked all their human line judges

Play in the Wimbledon qualifiers was suspended after the tournament’s electronic line calling system malfunctioned due to extreme temperatures in Roehampton.

The pre-tournament qualifiers are being held at LTA’s National Tennis Centre, where the thermometer has risen to 33 degrees Celsius with 51 per cent humidity.

Players, including Great Britain’s Oliver Tarvet, were removed from the pitch just after 12.15pm and matches resumed at 1.30pm after the line call system was made operational again.

Annabel Croft confirmed in her BBC commentary: “We’ve had a very tough day, as you know it’s oppressively hot here, temperatures will be around 37 degrees so there have been a few power issues affecting the electronic line calling system on site.” ‘But the good news is that they have fixed the problem and the game will continue.’

A statement from Wimbledon organizers All England Club (AELTC) confirmed: ‘There was a temporary loss of power to part of our qualifying field which meant the electronic line calling system was inoperable. Power has now been restored and play is expected to resume shortly.’

Daily Mail Sport understands that Wimbledon will continue to investigate the issue that caused the outage, with extreme heat being a possible factor.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka poses for the cameras on a hot day at Wimbledon

Electronic line calling has been in place since the championship’s repeat last year, and Roland-Garros was the only Grand Slam to continue using humans as line judges.

But the system showed increasing woes in its initial launch, with a series of high-profile blunders seeing matches disrupted due to issues with the use of the technology.

Temperatures in the capital and the south of England are only expected to rise on Wednesday; Wimbledon opted not to employ ball boys today for safety reasons in the qualifiers and instead use the adult fielding staff.

Tennis heat rules using the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, which measures heat stress conditions, may come into effect as the mercury rises, causing cool-down disruptions and play being postponed if the WBGT exceeds 32.2 degrees.

The ATP tour introduced new heat rules in December last year, while the women’s tour had followed heat regulations since 1992.

Although next week’s main event is expected to begin in relatively cooler climates, soaring temperatures at last month’s French Open fueled the conflict as top stars floundered due to adverse conditions.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner was particularly impressed, scoring a victory in just one match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

The Italian took a medical timeout and received treatment off the field, but due to dizziness and a severe drop in energy level, Sinner was sensationally eliminated from Paris in the second round.

Sinner will return to the court for the first time on Wednesday after stumbling out in 32-degree heat, with the Wimbledon champion taking part in the Giorgi Armani Tennis Classic exhibition event at the Hurlingham Club, just 3.5 miles from Roehampton.

Elsewhere in London, Wimbledon’s biggest stars continue to train at the All England Club’s Aorangi Park, including Serena Williams and Aryna Sabalenka.