ITF

science & technical The ITF continued its expansion of the use of Hawk-Eye Officiating in Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties, extending it to all World Group rounds in 2012 T he Science and Technical department continued to develop its court, ball and racket testing programmes in 2012. The increased use of HawkEye Officiating in Davis Cup and Fed Cup, together with the regulation of court pace, meant more testing at ties. The number of ITF-Approved introductory Stage 1, 2 and 3 balls tested increased, following rule changes to make their use mandatory for 10-and-under competitions, and optional for adult competitions, at the beginning of the year. ITF Recognition grew in its second year, with a total of 17 courts currently awarded One- or Two-Star status. ITF Recognition was introduced in 2011 to provide an independent assessment of the quality of a court, and – in the case of Two-Star Recognition – confirmation of the court pace. An Australian company, Acousto-Scan, became the first ITF Recognised Assessor to be approved, which allows them to carry out One-Star testing of the key installation properties of a court: visual inspection, evenness, slope and planarity. 26 SCIENCE & TECHNICAL The popularity of the ITF Court Pace Classification Programme continues to rise. At the end of the year, 229 court surface brands were classified. ITF recognised courts and classified surfaces are listed on the new Technical website, which also hosts the Suppliers' Directory, allowing users to search for tennis facility products and services by territory, and identify those suppliers with ITF Recognition. The ITF continued its expansion of the use of Hawk-Eye Officiating in Davis Cup and Fed Cup ties, extending it to all World Group rounds in 2012. Consequently, the Technical Centre carried out accuracy testing of Hawk-Eye in Russia, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria, Canada, Serbia and Japan, in addition to court pace testing to regulate the speed of the surface at ties. A total of 343 brands of ball were approved for the 2012 season, which included 95 Stage 1, 2 and 3 introductory balls. The Technical Centre continues to supplement

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