U.S. Open officials consider replay

Broadcaster John McEnroe favors adding some sort of replay to tennis.
NEW YORK (AP) -- In the players' lounge, in the locker rooms, in officials' offices Wednesday, TVs around the U.S. Open showed Jennifer Capriati's quarterfinal victory over Serena Williams.
With rain washing out live matches until about 7:30 p.m., people had a chance to see the officiating error that took a point from Williams and gave it to Capriati in the third set's opening game Tuesday night.
That replay was everywhere. Well, everywhere, that is, but the chair umpire's stand during the match itself.
And with no new results to talk about, the buzz around the National Tennis Center Wednesday was about whether instant replay or other tools should be used to help make better rulings. There were at least two other questionable calls in the final game of Capriati's 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
"It was such a horrendous call. If I was closer to the court, I would have run onto the court," said John McEnroe, who called the match for television. "I've seen a lot of bad calls in my day, but I don't think I've seen three bad calls in a set like that."
Williams got a phone call of apology Wednesday from Arlen Kantarian, the U.S. Tennis Association chief executive for pro tennis.
"I did personally talk with her a couple hours ago by telephone," Kantarian said. "She was very appreciative of the call. We apologized and told her how much she meant to the tournament, how much she meant to tennis, and we told her how much we appreciated the classy way in which she handled the situation."
Possibilities
McEnroe favors adding some form of replay to tennis. He would put limits, though, as there are in other pro sports, such as perhaps some sort of penalty for a wrong challenge.
"Do we put a TV on the umpire's chair and leave it up to them? Or do we go to a player-challenge system?" Kantarian said. "We don't want to go out there with a system that's 90 percent accurate. We want a system that's 100 percent accurate."
The USTA, ATP, WTA and International Tennis Federation ran some tests two weeks ago of a line-call system that uses six to eight cameras and GPS.
At deuce in the third set's first game, chair umpire Mariana Alves of Portugal awarded the point to Capriati after Williams hit a backhand that landed in -- and was ruled good by the line judge. TV replays showed that the ball was at least an inch in.
Alves was a candidate to officiate a women's match Wednesday, but tournament director Jim Curley said she won't work the rest of the Open.