reinstating the outdoor hard courts once all the hospitality and seating has been removed
it becomes their turn for renovation. The second renovation technique is often used on these courts due to the time of year. It is basically the same as the original operation, however, the fraise mowing is replaced by heavy scarification. These courts are generally fraise mowed in rotation on a three year cycle to ensure minimum poa annua content and thatch build up. It also ensures that all courts are the correct level. By the time the courts are all topdressed and ready for winter we are well into November. The winter at Wimbledon involves a varying degree of projects. The amount of construction taking place, with the instalment of the retractable roof on Centre Court and a new stadium for Court No. 2, throws up many different challenges. The time was spent rebuilding court edges where they had realigned four of the championship courts as part of the construction work on No. 2.
Also, on these courts, the post sockets had to be moved to ensure they remained central. Each socket had to be
It is a huge task
removed from its concrete base, repositioned, and then set in fresh concrete before we could fill in the holes we had made.
The Centre Court roof project saw us trial a set of grow lights to improve the quality of the turf on the south end affected by the shade produced by the construction team. In-house irrigation projects were carried out by the team including the instalment of new pipe and heads to four of the practice courts, along with the four realigned Championship courts. Also, by the time this reaches your coffee tables, we will have been handed the new No. 2 stadium in order to construct the court and install the irrigation.
Along with the work on site I was also fortunate to gain my PA1, 2 and 6 thanks to Eddie Seaward and the club. The transition from golf to tennis has been quite smooth on the whole and it has definitely seen me appreciate what is
Rolling one of the five Har-Tur courts
required to prepare these world class surfaces. I am somebody who feels that whether it be tennis, golf, football or cricket the turf industry is one industry and each surface as its own varying challenges.
My passion is for turf and sport, so who knows where the next challenge lies? How will I top Wimbledon? Where will I go? For now though, I am very happy working at this world class venue, for a world class manager with world class colleagues. I would love to tell you more but I have a word limit - and I think I passed that just before you all fell asleep! Good luck to you all with your relative seasons and I look forward to talking to you in the future.
David can be contacted by email at
dave-procter@hotmail.com
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