Roger Federer’s unfavourable opinion of the Hawkeye replay in tennis matches is well documented.

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The interview that aired on this week’s episode of CBS’ 60 Minutes, featured James Cameron, the director of Avatar, and provided a reason for this contrary view from one of the most accommodating of sportsmen when Mr. Cameron explained how Hawkeye worked.

Tennis has gone from being a game of inches to one of millimetres.

The cartoon that has thrilled tennis fans all over the world after a line call has been challenged is actually a composite of images relayed from cameras set above the court.

A computer analyses all this data, then produces the approximation that shows the arc and landing of the ball as well as the mark it would theoretically make.

That little show is accurate to within three millimetres. It’s an electronic marvel that every major tennis tournament has spent thousands of dollars to embrace.

Admittedly, three millimetres does not seem like very much. It’s the equivalent of 0.11811 inches.

However, when the camera has to zoom in for a close-up of the dark oval with a hairsbreadth of space between it and the thick white line, then that much inaccuracy is a lot, if not too much - especially if you’re Roger Federer.

When the outcome of a game or a set is being contended, it should be totally unacceptable.

Is there any linesman or umpire willing to admit that he or she is that consistently inaccurate? Hardly likely. Yet this gadget has 'proven' not only them, but also the players incorrect.

The machine is believed over the human being, even though the machine’s inaccuracy is admitted and the human’s is not. Is that because the machine admits its shortcomings and everyone thinks them so small that they forget about them? 

Whatever the reason, by the parameters set by the device’s manufacturers, those teeny tiny determinations are the result of approximation and not hard fact.

Meanwhile, linespeople are either sure or they are not.

For someone who is as precise in his execution as Federer, it’s easy to see why accepting such a leeway would seem especially foolhardy, and being forced to rely upon it during a close match frustrating.

Being a member of the human race, despite his remarkable tennis achievements, Federer staunchly chooses to rely on his fellows, and finds himself in the minority.

Yet, he has a case. If the ball does land within three millimetres of a line, then it’s outside the margin of error Hawkeye has set for itself.

Isn’t it more logical (something any machine, robot or android would appreciate) to rely on the human who was watching only the ball and the line and admitted no such constant error?

That seems apparent sitting alone in quiet contemplation. When a match, points, ranking, title and huge amounts of money are at stake, it seems absolutely necessary.

Maybe a marriage of convenience between man and machine might be an equitable solution. Hawkeye, knowing its limits, could be just as sure or unsure as a human being and concede that the view of a linesperson, now and again, is better.

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