Erin Routliffe has wild ‘robots’ meltdown at Australian Open

· New York Post

There are robots to serve meals in restaurants, mix cocktails behind the bar, even tuck you under the covers after a long day of hard work — and yet, we’re still stuck with mortal officials and their faulty senses.

A tennis player from New Zealand has had enough and, on Sunday, launched into an exasperated tirade at the Australian Open.

“Oh my god, we have robots everywhere and we don’t have them for the net?!” Erin Routliffe exclaimed after she thought her opponent’s serve skimmed the net but the official failed to rule a let. 

The Australian Open, like most major tennis tournaments these days, employs a slew of technology to take the guesswork out of officiating. There are cameras trained on the baseline, sidelines and service line — making an umpire’s faux pas and ensuing McEnroe-esque meltdowns largely a relic of the past.

The calendar’s first grand slam, though, has no cameras aimed at the net, which leaves calls in the hands of the chair official.

Much to Routliffe’s surprise.

The No. 2-seeded duo of Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski were competing in the women’s doubles event and in the midst of a heated third-round match when the New Zealander found out.

Erin Routliffe, a competitor at the Australian Open, was mortified that a chair umpire was responsible for calling lets in 2025. X / 1gamesetmatch
Anna Siskova of the Czech Republic serves in the Women’s Doubles Second Round match against Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand during day six of the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 17, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. Getty Images

Serving at 1-1 in the tiebreak, the opponent smashed a serve past Routliffe. She looked toward the chair umpire, Julie Kjendlie, in silent disbelief at the no-call.

“I didn’t hear it [hit the net],” Kjendlie said after awarding the point to the opposing duo. “I don’t have a machine. I’m calling it myself and I didn’t hear it.”

Given the abundance of technology elsewhere at the tournament, including the artificial intelligence that creates live streams for YouTube that look like a Wii tennis match — not to mention the ubiquity of net cameras at other major tournaments — Routliffe couldn’t believe her ears. Much less the umpire’s lack thereof. 

Julie Kjendlie, the chair umpire in Routliffe’s match, explained that she is responsible for calling lets. X / 1gamesetmatch
The Australian Open has been using AI to recreate tournament play in virtual reality streams broadcast via YouTube. X / Morning Brew

Despite the let-not-called, Routliffe and her partner championed in the match, then won again in the following round.

All that winning left last year’s Wimbledon finalist in good spirits. On Monday, she quote-tweeted a video of her outburst with the caption, “I feel like I have a point but also why [was I] so dramatic?”

On Thursday, she and her partner will face the No. 3-seeded duo of Jelena Ostapenko and Su-Wei Hsieh in the semifinals.