Game , set and smashing time
WIMBLEDON FACTS AND FIGURES
WIMBLEDON is officially a load of balls – as the Championships use a whopping 53,000 of them!
The tournament, which starts today, will also see a sweet 166,000 portions of the traditional strawberries and cream gobbled up by hungry tennis fans. Here JAMES MOORE serves up some more ace figures about the SW19 extravaganza, which runs until July 15…
0 …coloured clothing is ever allowed, with officials insisting that players dress in all-white.
1 …the top seeds this year are Swiss legend and eight-time winner Roger Federer, 36, and Romanian Simona Halep, 26.
2 ...pounds and 50p. Price of a punnet of strawberries at the championships.
4 …the BBC will stream the tournament in Ultra HD 4K resolution for the first time.
5 …bombs hit Centre Court during World War Two.
7 …years without rain interruptions: 1931, 1976, 1977,
1993, 1995, 2009, 2010.
8 …millimetres. Standard height the tough ryegrass is cut to on court.
9 …record singles’ wins by American great Martina Navratilova.
11 …hours, 5 minutes – longest match in 2010 between America’s John Isner and France’s Nicolas Mahut.
15 …age of youngest ladies’ doubles champion, in 1996, Switzerland’s Martina Hingis.
18 …number of courts, plus
20 practice courts.
22 …seed number of Johanna Konta, the British No1.
30 …seconds. How long it takes to cover a court if rain arrives.
42 …acres – area that the Wimbledon grounds cover, all patrolled by pigeon scarer Rufus the Hawk.
47 …cm. Height of silver gilt cup given to men’s champ. The women’s silver salver is 48cm in diameter. Winners don’t get to keep them but get a replica instead.
68 …degrees Fahrenheit. Precise temperature that the balls are stored at.
74 …number of seats in the Royal Box where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can be spotted.
101 …decibels, noise level of Maria Sharapova’s grunts.
148 …mph – speed of fastest serve by the USA’s Taylor Dent, in 2010.
156 …current ranking of twotimes champion Andy Murray, who has withdrawn after surgery.
210 …pounds. Top price of a centre court ticket for a final. Ground tickets cost from as little as £8.
212 …most aces – by Goran Ivanisevic in 2001.
250 …ball boys and girls take part, with 370 umpires and 15 gardeners.
600 …number of competitors, including junior and wheelchair players.
675 …the number of matches scheduled for Wimbledon fortnight.
1877 …year Championships began at All England Club.
1986 …first year yellow balls were used.
1996 …the year a 23-year-old streaker shocked fans by running on to Centre Court during the men’s singles final.
2,195 …kilos of bananas are eaten by the players, plus 4,235 portions of pasta.
5,200 …square metres of retractable roof on Centre Court, weighing 3,000 tonnes and taking 10 minutes to close.
14,979 …people who can pack into Centre Court.
34,000 …kilos of strawberries will be eaten along with 10,000 litres of cream.
76,603 …ice creams are eaten, along with 17,170 portions of fish and chips.
303,277 …glasses of Pimm’s drunk plus 21,917 bottles of bubbly and 110,000 pints of beer.
473,000 …number of fans expected to attend.
2.25 …million pounds. What the men and women’s single’s champions each receive.
7.4 ...million. How many viewers watched Johanna Konta beat Simona Halep in last year’s quarter-final.
34 …million pounds. Overall prize pot for competitors.