When Mail Sport arrives at the All England Club for a glimpse behind the scenes of final Wimbledon preparations, staff are traversing the pathways with brushes and pointy-ended sticks.
Their task? To remove moss or weeds from the gaps between the paving stones — a perfect example of the obsessive attention to detail that goes into Britain’s favourite sporting event.
For a place so steeped in nostalgia, the All England Club are good at looking ahead — and preparations for the tournament began, says operations manager Michelle Dite, ‘the day after the last one!’
But from around 100 days out, the thinking shifts from longer-term projects to the next Championships, to the process of turning a tennis club into a tennis tournament.
The wooden railing around the clubhouse entrance is gleaming in the sun — freshly varnished and buffed by the club’s own French polisher.
The head painter has been at work throughout the grounds — everything may look green but after 17 years in the job, he knows the subtle difference in shades between the railings around Court 18 and the side door to the player locker room.
Mail Sport pulls back the Wimbledon curtain. Pictured: Operations manager Michelle Dite
The All England Club have to be skilled at looking ahead and have a key attention to detail
Winter plants are cleared away and head gardener Martyn Falconer begins the task of bringing Wimbledon into full bloom
Stands are erected on outside courts. Winter plants are cleared away and head gardener Martyn Falconer begins the task of bringing Wimbledon into full bloom.
‘Six weeks out from the tournament, 28,000 plants are delivered,’ he tells Mail Sport, then talks us through a nearby flowerbed: ‘Our ethos is tennis in an English garden, so lots of pastel colours, pinks and yellows.
‘Hydrangea is an iconic plant, we’ve got lots around the site (5,000 to be exact), there are petunias (12,000 of those) around Centre Court. Agapanthus give a bit more height and salvias are the Wimbledon purple.’
After the tournament, some plants are donated to local charities. Wimbledon staff can also buy them, with the proceeds going to charity.
When spectators arrive on the opening day, everything is an oasis of calm and beauty but, as Dite puts it: ‘We’re like swans. We’re out presenting but under water there’s quite a bit of kicking going on.’
2pm, Sunday June 29:
‘Monday’ at Wimbledon begins with the opening of the queue, the afternoon before play begins. Around 400-500 people are expected to camp out overnight to try to guarantee one of the 500 Centre Court tickets available for each of the first 10 days.
From Sunday afternoon on, the queue will be staffed 24 hours a day by stewards.
Monday at Wimbledon begins with the opening of the queue the afternoon before play begins – pictured: Carlos Alcaraz
Strawberries are picked at first light, 30 miles away at Hugh Lowe Farms – the same family-run farm Wimbledon have worked with for 25 years
Joe Furber, head of food and drink, says: ‘It has been a very good year for strawberries — they’re looking nice and big’
Overnight Sunday into Monday:
‘We’ve got a huge workforce,’ says Dite. ‘And some never see daylight. They do the night shift throughout the Championships.’
During the hours of darkness, chefs work on food prep for Wimbledon’s eateries, including new restaurant The Cavendish, named after Henry ‘Cavendish’ Jones, one of the pioneers of lawn tennis.
4.30am Monday
At first light, 30 miles away at Hugh Lowe Farms, the strawberries are being picked. Wimbledon have worked with the same family-run farm for 25 years, and head of food and drink Joe Furber says the patrons are in for a treat: ‘It has been a very good year for strawberries — they’re looking nice and big!’
5am
Head gardener Falconer and his team — 12 permanent and eight extra for the high season of April to October — arrive and fan out across the grounds, each in charge of an area. There is dead-heading, pruning, weeding and watering.
‘We want those coming on day 14 to get the same experience of the plants as those who came on day one,’ he says.
6am
Back at the queue, the shaking of tents begins as 500 hardy souls are woken by stewards.
More will join them as the morning goes on — those who are very early might get a No 1 Court seat, the rest will be in on a ground pass, which at £30 for up to 10 hours of top tennis remains the best-value ticket in sport.
7.30am
The ground staff arrive to apply the finishing touches. The grass is mowed to 8mm, then measured to confirm. White lines are drawn in titanium dioxide (use of chalk is a myth). Lines are 50mm (2in) wide except the baseline, which is 100mm.
Falconer and his team — 12 permanent and eight extra for the high season of April to October – arrive at 5am
The ground staff arrive at 7:30am to apply the finishing touches – the grass is mowed to 8mm
8.30am
The food begins to arrive — including 2.5million strawberries across the fortnight. Each day, 180,000 of them are hulled — the green hats removed — and portioned into punnets, with 10 in each.
Do they ever sell out? ‘No!’ says Furber. ‘We have many years of data to understand the amount we might need. And we’d rather over cater, because any leftovers are frozen and used to make jam, for the Victoria sponge, or to serve with scones to members the rest of the year.’
8-10am
These are the magic two hours when the staff — 8,000 in total across the tournament — take their places. Shelves have been stocked.
In the club shop you can get a cotton hoodie for £95 or a cardigan for £125. At the site’s 12 bars, Pimm’s will flow at £10.20 for a 250ml glass, of which more than 300,000 are expected to be drunk throughout the fortnight, along with 25,000 bottles of Lanson champagne at £26.55 a pop. The strawberries are ready to be sold — as Mail Sport revealed — at £2.70 per punnet, the first price rise for 15 years.
There is a new technological innovation this year, with Wimbledon using AI to create a ‘frictionless’ shop in the Walled Garden. Fans can scan their card on the way in, take what they like off the shelves and then leave: 50 cameras use AI technology to record your purchases and charge your card.
10am, gates open
As the fans stream in — 40,514 arrived on day one last year — so do 280 ball boys and girls, chosen from 31 local schools and trained to the hilt. There is a modest office in the bowels of Centre Court marked Ball Distribution. Here is the beating heart of the Championships, controlling the flow of balls to and from the match and practice courts.
Andy Chevalier is the ball distribution manager, and via the ball kids he distributes 21 cans — containing three balls each — per court. The lines are drawn. The grass is mowed and measured. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the gates are now open.’
Strawberries will be sold, Mail Sport revealed, at £2.70 per punnet, a first price rise for 15 years
40,514 people arrived on day one of Wimbledon last year – and they will flock in from 10am
There is a modest office in the bowels of Centre Court marked Ball Distribution – the beating heart of the Championships
Andy Chevalier is the ball distribution manager, and via the ball kids he distributes 21 cans — containing three balls each — per court
1.30pm
As lunchtime approaches, the Royal Box guests begin to arrive, ahead of the start of play on Centre Court at 1.30pm. The compilation of the most inclusive invite list in sport is a year-round process. With just 80 seats available a day, attendance is at the discretion of club chairwoman Debbie Jevans, with suggestions from the organising committee.
Last year, the box hosted Benedict Cumberbatch and Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Darcey Bussell, Hugh Grant and Queen Camilla, to name but a few.
But there will also be room for more ordinary folk who achieved extraordinary things. In 2021 Dame Sarah Gilbert, who led the team which developed the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid 19 vaccine, was given a standing ovation. There will also be plenty of sports stars, of course, and Mail Sport understands that this year, the traditional Super Saturday — when the box is dedicated to athletes — will be extended into the weekend, with a Super Sports Sunday, too.
Once play has begun the Wimbledon machine clicks into gear — but it still needs oiling every now and then.
The ebb and flow of people throughout the day is managed by Wimbledon’s stewards, who are all volunteers: 505 from the armed forces, 190 from the London Fire Brigade and 200 civilian ‘Honorary’ stewards. Most come back year after year and are assigned to the exact same gangway on the same court.
Ball boys and girls work on a one hour on, one hour off rotation. After every match, the head ball boy or girl will take any used balls back to Chevalier in exchange for fresh tins. The old balls are then taken to the club shop and sold individually as souvenirs at £2 a pop, with the proceeds going to the Wimbledon Foundation. Every one of the 66,000 balls sells out, every year — that is £132,000 to charity.
But what happens if a ball is hit out of the court and lost? ‘If you drop in a new ball, whoever is serving will have a massive advantage,’ says Chevalier. ‘So I give each umpire under their chair a ball we think has been used for three games, for five games and for seven games, so when a ball is lost they can drop another into the circulation.’
A tennis ball whisperer, Chevalier can tell instantly for how many games a ball has been used. But if he needs to check, on a shelf in his office he has nine lined up — from one used for a single game to one used for nine.
After every match, the head ball boy or girl will take any used balls back to Chevalier in exchange for fresh tins
The Royal Box guests begin to arrive as lunchtime approaches – the likes of Tom Cruise (left) were present last year
At the end of the day, they will do it all again the next day, and every day until the men’s singles champion is crowned
Falconer and his team are working away in greenhouses behind Henman Hill on future projects — but ready for the call if a hanging basket falls or someone has drunk too much Pimm’s and takes a rest in the wrong spot.
‘We have plants that get sat on,’ says Falconer. ‘So we do what we call our Wimbledon twist to shake them up a bit.’
And then they do it all again the next day, and every day until the men’s singles champion is crowned.
‘People have waited years to come to Wimbledon,’ says Dite. ‘When they get their ticket, we’ve got to make sure their day is as good for the people coming on day 10 as those on day one. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.’
