The ATP has announced Tour-wide adoption of Electronic Line Calling Live (ELC Live) from 2025. The advanced officiating technology covers all court lines for ‘out’ calls throughout matches, a role traditionally carried out by on-court line judges.

This significant officiating update follows several seasons during which a combination of ELC Live, ELC Review and on-court line judges has been used at ATP Tour events. The move is set to optimise accuracy and consistency across tournaments, match courts and surfaces, for players competing in both main draw and qualifying events. The decision was supported by extensive research conducted by ATP across tennis stakeholders, including fans, which identified accuracy and consistency as the most important factors in assessing different line-calling systems.

All-court ELC Live coverage will also deliver comprehensive player and ball tracking across the whole Tour, leading to an unprecedented level of data for player-performance analysis and the development of new statistics in the game in collaboration with Tennis Data Innovations (TDI), in addition to future commercialisation opportunities.

Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said: “This is a landmark moment for our sport, and not one we’ve reached without careful consideration. Tradition is core to tennis and line judges have played an important part in the game over the years. That said, we have a responsibility to embrace innovation and new technologies. Our sport deserves the most accurate form of officiating and we’re delighted to be able to deliver this across our whole Tour from 2025.”

ELC Live was first trialled at the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017 in Milan as part of a raft of ambitious technological innovations, several of which have gone on to be implemented on the main Tour. In recent years, the system has been available for tournaments on a voluntary basis, becoming widely adopted since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple suppliers are currently approved to provide ELC Live technology on hard court and on grass, while final testing is underway for clay. It is anticipated that multiple different suppliers will be approved across the various court surfaces from 2025.

It has been some six months for Matteo Arnaldi, and it all started in Milan.

The 22-year-old Italian, who stunned World No. 4 Casper Ruud in straight sets on Friday at the Mutua Madrid Open, enjoyed his first taste of the big time at last November’s Next Gen ATP Finals. Then ranked No. 134 with a 0-1 record at Tour level, Arnaldi credits his experience at the season-ending 21-and-under event as invaluable preparation for more regular appearances on the ATP Tour.

“For us Italians it was crazy, because from the first match it was unbelievable,” Arnaldi told ATPTour.com this week in Madrid. “Everyone was cheering for you. It kind of prepared me for the big stage.”

Arnaldi lost all three of his matches in Milan but he pushed Top 50 star and eventual champion Brandon Nakashima to five sets, a sign of his potential to go toe-to-toe with more established opponents. That was made even clearer against Ruud on Friday in Madrid, where the World No. 105 held his nerve to notch the biggest win of his career and reach the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time.

“I just tried to go on court and play my best tennis, and I think I did today,” said Arnaldi after the match. “Now I really don’t know what to say. I’m just trying to enjoy this moment and tomorrow it’s another day and I will try to prepare for the next match.

“For sure he [Ruud] didn’t play his best tennis, but when you come from [lower] down the rankings, they don’t know you. They maybe don’t know what you do well or what you don’t do well. I’m just happy.”

The period between Milan and Madrid saw Arnaldi lift his second and third ATP Challenger Tour titles, respectively, but it has also been a time of great discovery for the Italian at Tour level. As a qualifier, he made his debut at the Australian Open and five ATP Tour events, including the Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, prior to arriving in Madrid this week.

“I really liked my trip from Doha and Dubai to Indian Wells, Phoenix and Miami,” said Arnaldi. “It was my first very long trip, but the experience helped me a lot to play good matches at a high level and for so many weeks in a row.”

Despite falling short in five of his six qualification attempts, Arnaldi played Daniil Medvedev as a lucky loser in the first round in February in Dubai. Last week at the ATP 500 in Barcelona, he reached the second round as a qualifier after notching his maiden tour-level win against Jaume Munar.

“Everything is new. Every tournament I experience new things,” said Arnaldi. “I’m happy to play with [Ruud] and to have the opportunity to play on a big court like Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. I’ve played on the centre court in Dubai, the third court in Indian Wells.

“[Playing in] the biggest stadiums in every tournament is helping me to step on court more relaxed in the match. I think this year for me is the experience year, to be able to play my best tennis maybe next year.”

Arnaldi may not have to wait that long to make a further mark on the ATP Tour, however. His win against Ruud on Friday, which propelled him to No. 96 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, ensured he will break the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time on 8 May. Before then, he has a third-round clash against home favourite Munar to look forward to in Madrid.

“It’s crazy,” said Arnaldi, when asked about reaching the Top 100. “It was one of my goals for this year, so if in April we achieved that, it’s good. It means that we are working the right way and I will try to continue like this.”

Andrey Rublev continued his red-hot clay-court form on Friday at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he defeated former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4 to reach the third round.

The fifth seed clinched his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo earlier this month before he advanced to the final in Banja Luka. With his one-hour, 19-minute win against Wawrinka, Rublev improved to 9-1 on clay this season.

Competing inside Manolo Santana Stadium, Rublev struck the ball with relentless power off the forehand wing to dictate. He earned the decisive break of the first set in the 11th game, before he rallied from 0-2 in the second set, serving out the match at the second time of asking to improve to 2-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against 2014 finalist Wawrinka.

“I am happy I am into the next round,” Rublev said. “When I saw the draw I thought that it was amazing being the fifth seed and having Wawrinka in the opening round. When I was World No. 40, I sometimes had a [much] easier draw. I was thinking ‘OK, maybe I would go home early’. In the last meeting, he beat me, so I was thinking to focus and see what would happen but I was able to win today and I feel great.”

Rublev, currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, will next meet Yoshihito Nishioka after the 28th seed defeated Alex Molcan 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Rublev is chasing his 14th tour-level title this fortnight in Madrid. The 25-year-old has captured four of his crowns on clay, including this month’s triumph in Monte-Carlo.

Swiss Wawrinka moved past Maxime Cressy in the first round to reach the second round in Madrid for the 11th time. The 38-year-old, who was competing in the Spanish capital for the first time since 2019, has lifted seven tour-level trophies on clay, including Roland Garros in 2015.

In other action, German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann continued his dream run when he upset 15th-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-6(3). Daniel Altmaier will be Hanfmann’s next opponent after the German downed countryman Oscar Otte 6-4, 7-5.

Matteo Arnaldi earned his first Top 10 win on Friday when he stunned World No. 4 Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The Italian qualifier saved one match point to earn his first ATP Masters 1000 win against Benoit Paire in the first round and backed that up by producing a free-hitting performance against Ruud. He struck 35 winners and hit with great depth to consistently push Ruud back and inflict a ninth defeat of the season on the Norwegian.

“I don’t know what to say. In Barcelona I was playing very good,” said Arnaldi, who came through qualifying to reach the second round at the ATP 500 last week. “But coming here it is different. The ball bounces so high and I didn’t like it at first. I struggled a bit. But today, I don’t know, maybe the stadium, maybe the pressure on him, but I played the best match of my life.”

The 22-year-old, who competed at the Next Gen ATP Finals last season, is up eight spots to No. 97 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his third tour-level win of the year. Arnaldi reached a career-high No. 102 earlier this month after he won his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the year in Spain.

Arnaldi will look to continue his dream run against Jaume Munar. The Spaniard advanced after Tallon Griekspoor was forced to retire after Munar had clinched the first set 7-6(3).

Ruud captured his 10th tour-level title in Estoril earlier this month but has struggled to find his best form in 2023. The 24-year-old has failed to advance beyond the third round at the four ATP Masters 1000 events he has played and suffered a second-round exit at the Australian Open.

Standing tall at 6’7” and boasting a hefty serve, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s personality may not exactly reflect his heavy-hitting style of play.

“I’m shy. You see a big tall guy, but I’m very shy,” Mpetshi Perricard told ATPTour.com. “I’ve always been shy since I was born. I’m not shy with my friends but with other people I am.”

Though his personality may be somewhat reserved, the 19-year-old’s serve is quite the opposite. Earlier this month, the Frenchman lifted his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title after firing 21 aces in the Leon Challenger final. The Lyon native held his nerve to escape Argentine Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 7-6(3). The #NextGenATP star played five tie-breaks across his semi-final and final in Mexico.

“I was really happy after the match. It was my goal to win my first Challenger this year as early as possible,” Mpetshi Perricard said. “I did everything great that week. I was nervous all day before the final, because the final was at six. I was really nervous in the morning and after my first training. During the match, it was very stressful. So much emotion. I was not in a good position in the second tie-break, losing 0/3 and 2/4. I was really proud to win.”

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard triumphs at the Challenger 75 event in Leon, Mexico. Credit: Ricardo Sanchez

The teenager is among the next crop of promising French tennis players. Luca Van Assche, 18, is a three-time Challenger champion and the youngest player in the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 18-year-old Arthur Fils won the Oeiras-2 Challenger in January, a month prior to reaching back-to-back tour-level semi-finals in Montpellier and Marseille.

Mpetshi Perricard, Van Assche, and Fils are the first French teen trio to claim Challenger titles in a single season since 2005: Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. This isn’t the first time the #NextGenATP Frenchmen have been making progress together.

In 2021, ‘Gio’ made his first breakthrough as he partnered with Fils to win the Roland Garros boys’ doubles title. That same week, Fils got the better of him in the boys’ singles semi-final en route to a runner-up finish (l. Van Assche).

Mpetshi Perricard is drawing inspiration not only from his French tennis idols Tsonga and Monfils, but also his colleagues Van Assche and Fils, who have already made a splash on the ATP Tour.

“Luca trains at the Federation too. We talk about everything, he’s my friend,” Mpetshi Perricard said. “I was really happy to see him breaking the Top 100. I watched some of his matches in Banja Luka, like against Stan Wawrinka. [Luca] plays really good, I’m very happy for him. I would like to get into the Top 100 as soon as possible like him. Arthur as well, he did very good at Montpellier and Marseille. They’re proving everything is possible. I want to try my chance and do what I can.”

‘Gio’, who is No. 231 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will next be in qualifying action at the Prague-2 Challenger. If he has downtime away from training, you may catch the teen following basketball.

“I’m watching the NBA playoffs, especially the Los Angeles Lakers,” Mpetshi Perricard said. “I’m a big fan of Lebron James. I was a fan since I started watching the NBA. I’ve followed him during his whole career. I like his dedication to the work, to do all the work outside the basketball court. When he’s under pressure, he’s always there and tries to help the team as much as he can.”

Friday’s play at the Mutua Madrid Open sees the top singles seeds in action for the first time. Among those set to open their campaigns on Day 3 at the ATP Masters 1000 event are defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Monte-Carlo champ Andrey Rublev and last week’s Munich winner, Holger Rune.

Third seed Casper Ruud is also on the slate and joins those three in having claimed a clay-court title this month, the Norwegian’s coming at the ATP 250 in Estoril. Tenth seed Karen Khachanov, 12th seed Hubert Hurkacz and 13th seed Alexander Zverev will also begin their Madrid campaigns, while many singles stars are also set for doubles action.

ATPTour.com breaks down some of the biggest matchups on Friday’s schedule across the men’s singles draw and men’s doubles draw.

[1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN)

Fresh off a successful Barcelona title defence, Alcaraz could complete a second Spanish trophy double in as many years by retaining the Madrid crown. Last year at the ATP Masters 1000, Alcaraz beat Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev to triumph on home soil.

While he says he does not feel like a favourite in the Spanish capital, Alcaraz enters in good health and great form.

“Physically, I feel good. I feel 100 per cent,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “I can’t wait to get going in Madrid. With the level I produced in Barcelona, winning the title, I’m coming here with a lot of confidence.”

The Spaniard’s 15-match winning streak at Spanish ATP Tour events is partly explained by further comments he made in press. While some players might feel added pressure to perform in front of their home crowd, Alcaraz said he draws motivation from the support and relishes the opportunity to entertain the Spanish fans.

He will hope to ride their cheers to his first ATP Head2Head win against Emil Ruusuvuori on Friday, with the Finn beating Alcaraz in their lone previous meeting, a three-setter in the 2021 Miami opening round.

But the 24-year-old Ruusuvuori is well aware of the giant strides his opponent has made since that meeting.

“He can pretty much do anything from any court position he is in,” he said of Alcaraz, speaking to ATPTour.com ahead of the matchup. “He’s coming in [to the net] great, super-fast defence, and even the serve has improved. There’s not too much you can actually pick on. Overall, you just have to have the game solid, and at the best possible quality.”

Ruusuvuori made his Madrid debut on Wendesday with a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) win against Ugo Humbert, and will now seek his third Top 10 win — and his first Top 10 win on clay — against Alcaraz.

[5] Andrey Rublev vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

Rublev and Stan Wawrinka will meet for the third straight time at an ATP Masters 1000 in their first matchup overall since the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters. While Wawrinka holds a 2-1 ATP Head2Head lead in the series and already has a Madrid win under his belt this week — a 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4) result against Maxime Cressy on Wednesday — Rublev enters the match in red-hot form after his title in Monte-Carlo and a final run in Banja Luka.

“I think I can play well,” Wawrinka, a 2013 finalist in Madrid, said of the challenge ahead. “I’ve played him a few times already in my career. He’s in top form, it’s going to be a tough battle, but a great challenge for me. That’s the reason I keep playing, to play the top players and try to beat them.”

The Swiss will be seeking his first Top 10 win on clay since he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at Roland Garros in 2019. In order to avoid the unwelcome milestone of a 100th Top 10 defeat (he enters at 61-99 in his career vs. the Top 10, including a 21-31 mark on clay), Wawrinka will need to use his heavy ground game to keep the aggressive Rublev behind the baseline.

The fifth-seeded Rublev has enjoyed plenty of clay-court success throughout his career, showing that there is much more to his game beyond his trademark big hitting. But while his patience and defence helps on the margins, it’s still the attacking baseline game that fuels Rublev’s success on the dirt.

The 25-year-old’s Monte-Carlo title was his biggest ATP Tour triumph on any surface, with four of his 13 tour-level titles coming on clay. With two previous appearances in Madrid, his best result was a quarter-final run last year.

Match of the day 👀 📊@AndreyRublev97 vs @stanwawrinka

Looking forward to this one; they haven’t met since the Paris Masters in 2020 when Wawrinka took a 2-1 lead in their head 2 head

Who do you think is winning this one?#TennisInsights | @atptour | @MutuaMadridOpen pic.twitter.com/I36H12dYM8

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) April 27, 2023

[6] Holger Rune (DEN) vs. Alexander Bublik (KAZ)

Both Rune and Alexander Bublik enter this second-round match on the heels of a dramatic win.

Rune saved four championship points to ultimately defeat Botic van de Zandschulp in a third-set tie-break and retain his Munich title on Sunday. In Madrid, Bublik opened his campaign with a 7-6(15), 6-7(4), 6-4 win against Daniel Elahi Galan that featured a 25-minute opening-set tie-break, the longest of the 2023 ATP Tour season to date.

The result broke a five-match losing streak for Bublik, earning the Montpellier semi-finalist his sixth win of the 2023 season. 

“When you don’t win a lot, it’s tough to finish matches, and I never felt it before because [for the past few seasons I made] 35-plus wins on the season,” Bublik told ATPTour.com after the victory. “[So far this year] I only had five, so finishing matches is not easy. I hope to get the momentum back, play better, and win more matches.”

It won’t get any easier against Rune, who holds an 8-1 clay-court record this season, beginning with his run to the Monte-Carlo final. While Bublik has made no secret that clay is not his favourite surface, he had plenty of time to adapt to the Madrid conditions in his two-hour, 50-minute win against Galan.

He faces a very different opponent in the attack-minded Rune, but his success in the rallies against Galan gives him something to build on as he bids for the upset.

Also In Action…

In evening action in Manolo Santana Stadium, Zverev takes on Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who will enjoy the backing of the late-night crowd in Madrid. Expect a party atmosphere on centre court, with Carballes Baena bidding to back up his first Madrid main-draw win with an upset against the two-time champion in their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

Zverev claimed the Madrid title in 2018 and 2021 and has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his past five appearances at the ATP Masters 1000. He is bidding for his 350th tour-level win, which would also even his 2023 record at 11-11.

In Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, Ruud faces Italian qualifier Matteo Arnaldi. After winning the Estoril title in early April, Ruud is 2-2 in his past four matches across Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. The 22-year-old Arnaldi picked up his first ATP Masters 1000 win by beating fellow qualifier Benoit Paire in a third-set tie-break on Wednesday and will next attempt to hand Ruud his second straight opening-match defeat in Madrid.

Other notable matchups include 10th seed Khachanov’s meeting with Thiago Monteiro and 12th seed Hurkacz’s opening assignment against Richard Gasquet.

Five doubles matches are also on the Friday schedule. In a matchup of singles stars, Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe take on Cameron Norrie and Tommy Paul, while Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov meet Colombian doubles stalwarts Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also in action against fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, the highest seeds on the day’s doubles slate. That matchup is a rematch of their Monte-Carlo second-round meeting, won by Arevalo/Rojer in a Match Tie-break.

Doubles play began on Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, where four tightly contested matches featured at the ATP Masters 1000 event. While at least one tie-break was played in all four contests, all of them were decided in straight sets.

Sixth seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara edged Hubert Hurkacz and Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6(3), saving all seven break points against them and converting on one of their five break chances. The British-Finnish pair survived 10 aces from the singles stars and rose to the occasion in the second-set tie-break to advance to the last 16.

Seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden took a similar path into the second round with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win against Roberto Bautista Agut and Daniel Evans. Bopanna/Ebden won 95 per cent (37/39) of their first-serve points and saved seven of eight break points against them in the victory. They will next face Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6(5), 6-3.

Rounding out Thursday’s doubles action, Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow defeated Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov by the narrowest of margins, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

Andy Murray suffered a third straight ATP Masters 1000 opening round defeat on Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, his comeback bid against Andrea Vavassori falling short despite four match point saves in a 6-2, 7-6(7) loss.

Coupled with his first-round loss to Alex de Minaur two weeks ago in Monte-Carlo, Murray is still searching for his first clay win this season.

“Certainly the beginning of the clay season hasn’t been that easy for me, but normally after a few weeks, I start to feel better and play better,” Murray said in his post-match press conference. “Obviously last year, I’m not saying I came here and played unbelievable tennis straightaway, but I was playing well enough to win matches… against good players, top players.”

His next opportunity to find his footing on the clay could come next month in Rome, where he has not competed since 2017. Beyond that, Murray hinted that he could make his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2020.

“There are a few different opinions in my team about what I should be doing,” Murray said of a potential return to the Parisian clay, on which he has competed just once since his run to the 2017 semi-finals.

Asked to further clarify his thinking on Roland Garros, Murray said he was hoping to play in the year’s second Grand Slam.

“I would like to play, just purely because I don’t know if I’ll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go,” he explained. “But I also have ambitions of competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff, and I know that sitting here today that probably doesn’t sound realistic, but I do believe that that’s a possibility. I obviously want to do the right thing there.”

While Murray skipped Roland Garros in each of the past two years to make an early start to his Wimbledon preparations, he recalled his 2016 campaign during which he reached the final in Paris — his best result at the event — before winning his second Wimbledon crown. Conversely, he considered his 2013 Wimbledon title that came after he missed the clay major.

“I don’t know. It’s impossible to say what the right thing to do is, but obviously it’s a Grand Slam. I would like the opportunity to play,” he concluded.