MacCAM (often written as MacCam, Mac-Cam or Mac Cam) is a system of
slow-motion
Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...
cameras developed by
FastCAM Replay LLC and
DEL Imaging Systems LLC used during
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
matches to replay close or controversial line calls. The system is named after
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
, who was infamous for contesting
umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
calls.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
was the first network to use the MacCam widely, as John McEnroe was one of their tennis analysts.
History
The MacCam was used at the
2004 U.S. Open to demonstrate several poor calls by
chair umpires. In
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
' controversial quarterfinal loss to
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics ...
, several poor calls were contested by Williams. Television replays demonstrated that there were actually several crucial calls that were obviously erroneous. Following this match, the chair umpire
Mariana Alves did not officiate for the remainder of the tournament; this however was not punitive, as commonly thought, as she was not scheduled to officiate.
A major limitation of the MacCAM was that it could only evaluate the baseline—not sidelines or service line calls. It was ultimately supplanted by
Hawk-Eye and similar technologies.
Details
The MacCAM system has since been replaced at the US Open as well as other supporting tournaments with the ShotSpot system. In the US Open it was available only where the venue has necessary equipment (Arthur Ashe stadium).
Trivia
* Though
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...
ed by FastCAM Replay, the phrase "Mac Cam" is sometimes used
generically by American media to refer to any manual or automated line monitoring, ball tracking or replay system, including
Hawk-Eye,
Cyclops,
PointTracker and
Auto-Ref.
References
{{Tennis on CBS
Tennis equipment
Sports officiating technology