Behind The Scenes At Wimbledon

Wimbledon is probably the most logistically complex sporting event on Earth. Martin Fletcher went behind the scenes to meet the groundsmen, chefs, umpires and even a bird of prey tasked with creating the perfect tennis tournament.

Wimbledon’s 15,000- seat Centre Court is serene and empty except for the 24-hour security guards protecting the most hallowed patch of grass in world tennis. I am visiting just before the start of this year’s championships. The scoreboard still proclaims the result of last year’s men’s singles finals, but the emerald sward before me is not the one on which Andy Murray won his trophy. That was shaved off immediately after the match ended, Neil Stubley, the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s (AELTC) head groundsman, explains as we sit on a couple of front-row seats. The court was then relaid with seven tons of topsoil and 54 million seeds of perennial rye scientifically developed over many years for maximum resistance to drought and wear. Throughout the winter, the grass has been spoon-fed nutrients and encouraged to grow using sodium lights. Since early April, using electric mowers to preclude any possibility of an oil spill, its height has been reduced by exactly a millimetre a week to a uniform eight millimetres. “It’s like family,” Stubley says of his pampered pelouse.