Line gadget to rule out tennis tantrums

LONDON, England -- Tennis tantrums of the type that made John McEnroe famous are likely to become a thing of the past if the latest court technology proves successful.

A Norwegian company has come up with a gadget designed to assure 100 percent accuracy on line calls.

Tennis fans will get the opportunity to find out if the gadget works at Sweden's Stockholm Open taking place at the end of this month.

That is when the inventors will demonstrate what may be the world's first hard-wired tennis court.

The court surfaces will contain sensors to determine where balls impregnated with magnetic powder have landed.

Once the ball hits the court in the sensitised area, electronic impulses are passed on to a computer, which generates a picture of the part of the court the ball has hit.

CNN's Chris Riker said that with the ball moving at speeds of more than 200 kilometres per hour (125 mph), experts believe it is high time a computer and not a human being decided if it lands in or out.

It is destined to make players' disputes over line calls obsolete, though so far it only works on hard courts, not clay or grass.

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