John McEnroe reacts to big Wimbledon rule change he wishes he got to play with

The most famous tennis rebel in history has admitted he will miss the "interaction" with line judges at Wimbledon this year. But John McEnroe reckons he would have fewer white hairs if there had been Electronic Line Calling (ELC) back in his day.

For the first time, The Championships will deploy technology instead of humans to make line calls like on the ATP and WTA Tours. Back in 1981, Super Brat unleashed his famous rant when his serve was called out on Centre Court. "You cannot be serious," screamed the American. "That ball was on the line. Chalk flew up."

Fast forward to 2025 and the three-time Wimbledon winner sees progress as inevitable if a little regrettable. He said: "I had an obviously long history with linesmen, but if they have electronic equipment that works, that's preferable. As fast as the balls are now being hit, to expect human beings to be able to get everyone right is a big ask, even for someone who complained a lot about it.

"Do I wish I'd had Electronic Line Calling at Wimbledon? Yes, I do. Actually. I'd have less white hair, and I might have a little more hair and I would have wasted less energy on that. "Maybe I would have been more boring and I wouldn't have been here, speaking to you now, and I wouldn't have been commentating. So I got to look at the bright side.

"But there's something in the interaction that you miss, I believe, and there's something about that that I think people will miss. But it's also nice to know if, in fact, it's accurate, and hopefully it's 100 per cent accurate, or 99.9 per cent. You hate to have that find out later that a call that was made on match point was not accurate, that would be truly infuriating."

Follow Wimbledon across BBC TV, iPlayer, Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website/app and social channels from Monday 30 June.