New System Goes on Line

Tennis executive Etienne de Villiers may have put the sport’s entrance into the era of instant replay in proper perspective.

“To me, it was always crazy that with modern GPS technology we could tell where a person is to within a yard or a meter on planet Earth, and yet we can’t tell whether a tennis ball is in and out,” said De Villiers, the chairman and president of the men’s professional tennis tour.

“But technology is also the ultimate double-edged sword. It is the great enabler, but it does make consumers and anyone that is aware of technology that much wiser and, therefore, the bar is set that much higher in expectations.”

Expectation was fueled Monday with an official announcement regarding instant replay. Top executives from the U.S. Tennis Assn. and the men’s and women’s tours spoke on a conference call about the upcoming use of instant-replay technology, known as Hawk-Eye, for line calls. It will debut at the Nasdaq-100 Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., starting March 22, and will be used at the U.S. Open in the summer.

The U.S. Open will be the first of the four Grand Slams to use it, and, unlike the Nasdaq, the instant-replay system and video screen will be on more than one court. Arlen Kantarian, the USTA’s chief executive for professional tennis, said the Open has those features on the two main show courts, Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong.

Initial player reaction to the groundbreaking move was positive. Players are to receive two line-call challenges per set, and one more should the set reach a tiebreaker. If a player correctly challenges a call, it would not count against the two. Challenges will not carry over to another set.

“In my 20 years in professional tennis, this is one of the most exciting things to happen for players, fans and television viewers,” Andre Agassi said in a statement. “This new technology will add a whole new dimension to the game.”

Said James Blake: “The ball’s moving so fast these days that sometimes it’s impossible for anyone to see, even a trained official. With instant replay we can take advantage of technology and eliminate human error. Having just a few challenges will make it both fun and dramatic for fans at the same time.”

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The women’s draw for the Pacific Life Open was made Monday and 2004 champion and top-seeded Justine-Henin-Hardenne of Belgium is in the same half of the draw as No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia.

No. 2 Lindsay Davenport is in the same half as No. 3 Maria Sharapova of Russia. Wild-card entrant Martina Hingis of Switzerland could play Davenport in the fourth round.

First-round matches in the women’s main draw begin Wednesday.

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Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, are scheduled to play mixed doubles along with other pro players today in a charity exhibition, according to organizers. It will take place at 2:30 p.m. at La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta.

The charity event benefits the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation.

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PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

Schedule for the two-week event at Indian Wells Tennis Garden:

* Women’s qualifying: Concludes today.

* Women’s main draw: Wednesday through March 18.

* Men’s qualifying: Wednesday and Thursday.

* Men’s main draw: Friday through March 19.