It’s just 7 a.m. Thursday, July 6, and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), overlooked by St. Mary’s Church in Wimbledon Village, is gradually waking up. The light is soft and the temperatures are cool. It was only 13 degrees that morning. All recognizable by their zucchini green outfits, they are the first to set foot on the lawn which will be undermined by the frantic races of the best tennis players.
We hope it won’t rain today, says one of them. We can only pray, replies his neighbor. Ready? Pull, exclaims a third, further. On court number 4, there are six of them pulling on straps, green and purple, to uncover the grass. The more it rolls up, the more force they have to give to fully discover the terrain. Once in the open air, the grass is, for a few minutes, scintillating. Meanwhile, other cleaners are cleaning the scoreboards and aisles, drying the seats, and methodically lining up the wooden benches at the edge of the courts.
Neil Stubley, the lawn gentleman of Wimbledon
Microphone tests are also carried out and the handlers also start their day. The search dogs, whose mission is to locate explosives, are the darling of the bullet collectors who have just arrived. In these same bays, we also meet Neil Stubley, responsible for the courts and horticulture at the AELTC, who supervises the work of the agents every day, early in the morning.
Since 2012, Neil Stubley has been responsible for courts and horticulture at the AELTC. At 54, he is the eighth to hold this position since the creation of the tournament. Here on Center court. (APOLLINE MERLE / FRANCEINFO SPORT)
At 54, he is the eighth to occupy this position since the creation of the tournament. In 2012, he took over from Eddie Seaward, a strong predecessor of 30 editions. If he has only been in charge of the courts for eleven years, Stubley is in his 28th tournament. An honor, but also a lot of pressure, confides the head of the courts. I like to think that we can be part of history. You sort of take over from your predecessor, and hopefully leave the place in a better position than you took it.
A mowing at 8 mm
The court maintenance ritual is meticulous. The first mission of the teams is to clean the lines using a portable blower, in order to remove the weeds pulled out the day before and allow the application of the paint. Then, the roar of mowers, nearly half an hour later. The task is precise: you have to mow vertically, and follow your line, in a regular rhythm.
Apolline Merle / Franceinfo: sports
8 millimeters. No more no less. This is the regulation height of the grass. We determined this height with the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI, a consulting firm specializing in the development of sports surfaces). At eight millimeters, there are enough leaves on the plant for it to photosynthesize, to allow it to survive and repair itself overnight. And it’s short enough that players’ shoes won’t catch and slip. It’s a happy medium, develops Neil Stubley. After a few round trips, the two shades of green are revived.
Last mission: painting the lines. Outside the court, using a knife, the excess paint is first removed from the rollers. Then, you have to pull an orange rope, along each line, on the interior part, in order to use it as a guideline to pass the paint roller. Two machines take turns, with two different widths, to match the lines of the inside of the court and those of the corridor and the back of the court. Once again, the work is carried out to the millimeter. The slight traces left by the wheels of the device are then erased with a sponge broom.
Apolline Merle / Franceinfo: sports
This choreographed routine is performed daily by cleaners. In the evening only, the courts are watered as needed. If a court is too firm, we can water it more to soften it. This can range from 800 to 1,600 liters of water per day and per court.Which seems like a lot, but over this vast area, it’s literally a millimeter of rain, or the equivalent of five minutes of downpour.
The weeks before the championships, we water a lot. The soil profile is therefore quite humid. During the tournament, all it takes is a little splash of water to refresh and restore color overnight. Above all, do not water too much, at the risk of the ground slipping.
Neil Stubley, Head of Courts and Horticulture at AELTC
at franceinfo: sport
In the evening, the grass pulled up during the day is also removed using a vacuum cleaner. And a team checks that there was no damage caused on the courts during the matches, adds Neil Stubley. Many data are also collected every day and scrupulously observed: the hardness of the ground and the grass, the wear of the court, as well as the rebound of the ball.
Year-round maintenance
After the tournament, the courts are also maintained and accessible to club members. In August and September we slowly begin to close batches of courts and then proceed with a renovation which will, depending on the condition of the court, either remove all the covering or bring it back to ground level and then reseed. Or, on other courts, we will simply do a light tillage, which will allow us to thin them out and seed them a little more, then re-level them, explains Neil Stubley.
Each court goes through a two or three year cycle, where we remove the grass. We treat it to prevent the arrival of parasites or diseases and we replant, he specifies. Growth takes place in the fall and is then maintained until spring. In total, ten tons of seeds are planted each year.
Two machines take turns, with two different widths, to redraw the lines of the courts each day. (GLYN KIRK / AFP)
As the tournament approaches, the courts are upgraded and the cuts become more precise. The amount of fertilizer used throughout the year is reduced. While you want a nice green color, you don’t want it to be lush and slippery either, argues Neil Stubley.
A stronger lawn since 2001
Since 2001, the seeds used are 100% perennial ryegrass. Previously, the turf was a mixture of two varieties, rye (70%) and red fescue (30%). Research, carried out by the STRI, has shown that this turf is more resistant to climatic conditions and to the wear caused by modern play, without affecting the perceived speed on the court, explains Neil Stubley. This is also why the middle sunday, a day off on the intermediate Sunday, has been removed, as the lawn no longer needs a rest day.
In order to tame this living surface, Neil Stubley and his teams, 18 all year round, 30 during the tournament, always want to do better. We never want to rest on our laurels. We are always looking for that 1% improvement, which is why we pay attention to every detail, assures the head of court maintenance. Rigor is all the more necessary with climate change. We are very attentive to the plant and nature. And we are always looking for a grass which, of course, must be resistant to play, but also to drought. This is why we try to work with seeds that are more self-sufficient, which therefore need less fertilizer. The balance is fragile and Stubley intends to maintain until he hands over.
