Fun facts about Wimbledon

This weekend's GK nugget has some of the lesser known facts about 1 of my favourite sports, tennis.

It's the final weekend of Wimbledon, one of the few times in the year when even non-tennis fans want to know who lifts the prized trophy at SW19.

But wait, have you ever wondered why Wimbledon is also referred to as SW19? Simple, that's the postcode of the locality.

Here are some lesser known info nuggets about the most famous & the (widely considered) most prestigious of the tennis grand slams. (There are 4 tennis grand slams in the year - the biggest tennis tournaments - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon & US Open).

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, started in 1877, and the only major tournament still played on a grass court. The grass on the courts is tended year round and cut down to 8mm before the tournament.

Wimbledon is notable for the longest running sponsorship in sports history due to its association with Slazenger who have supplied all tennis balls during the tournament since 1902.
In 1986 (exactly 30 years ago), yellow balls were used for the 1st time so that they would look better on TV.

54,250 balls are used during The Championships fortnight. The balls are stored at 20 degrees celsius. Balls are changed after the first seven games and then after every 9 games.

The longest tennis match in history (not just Wimbledon history) was played between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon on June 22-24, 2010. The match took 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days, lasting so long it was suspended because of darkness two nights in a row. The match was won by Isner 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.

Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation (1800 staff) carried out in Europe. On an average the Wimbledon fortnight sees consumption of:
330,000 cups of tea and coffee
230,000 bottles of water
28,000 kgs of strawberries served with 7,000 litres of fresh cream
25,000 scones
110,000 pints of draught beer and lager
16,000 portions of fish and chips
44,000 litres of milk
10,000 portions of frozen yoghurt
29,000 bottles of champagne
5,000 kilos of bananas (for players)

Ok, now I'm hungry. Time to get my hands on some strawberries and cream and get ready to watch the final between Canadian Milos Raonic & Britain's Andy Murray.
On a lighter note, I hope Andy Murray wins - I don't think the UK can handle a 3rd BrExit this summer ;)

Have an enjoyable day.

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