Electronic line calling on clay still confuses tennis players and fans. But is it the issue?

At the Madrid Open, electronic line calling (ELC) continued to create controversy on clay courts, with players including Alexander Zverev, Mirra Andreeva, and Elena Rybakina disputing calls by pointing to physical ball marks that contradicted the system's rulings. Rybakina argued with chair umpire Julie Kjendlie during her second-round match against Zheng Qinwen, insisting the ELC result did not match the visible mark on the clay. The incidents highlight an ongoing tension between traditional clay-court ball-mark evidence and the now widely adopted electronic line calling system in top-tier tennis.