Summer Sports - Tennis
2012 Olympics Tennis
The tennis event of the 30th Olympiad will be held on the lawns of The All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, for nine days from Saturday 28th July to Sunday 5th August 2012. The event is organised by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), working closely with the International Tennis Federation, on behalf of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Tennis has long been associated with the modern Olympic Games, reaching back to the beginning when the game was one of nine sports being contested. Tennis continued to be a contesting sport up until after the games of 1924, when the International Tennis Federation could not reach agreement with the IOC over the amateur question and general management of the tournament, which resulted in tennis being side-lined for sixty-four years until 1988.
The event will see 172 players (86 men, 86 women) playing five medal events - men’s and women’s singles (64 draws) and men’s and women’s doubles (32 draws), mixed doubles (16 draws - last held in1924).
All matches will be the best of three sets with the exception of the men’s singles final, which will be the best of five sets. All mixed doubles matches will be resolved by a first-to-10 tie-break if they reach one set all.
Courts to be used: Twelve courts will be used for matches: Centre, No.1, No.2, 14, 18, (TV courts) 7, 11, 12, 15-19. Seven courts will be used for practice: Courts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9,
10.The Aorangi practice courts will not be used by the Games.
Play will commence at 11.30am on the outside courts, and noon on Centre and No.1 Court for all days except Saturday 4th August, when the women’s singles final will begin at 2.00pm, followed by the men’s doubles final. On Sunday 5th August, the mixed doubles final will begin at noon, followed by the men’s singles final and women’s doubles final.
No. 1 Court ready for marking out
and most of May had put the preparations back by one week. I had arranged my visit to coincide with the setting up of the courts for their initial marking out. However, the weather had put paid to this and Neil and his staff were hoping to begin work the following week. Yet, the courts, as you might expect,
looked immaculate, and were being mown every other day. As The Championships draw near they will be cut daily, with the aim of gradually getting down to the match height of 8mm for when members begin play in June. “All the courts are hand mown, using
Toro G1000s,” explained Neil. “But, we have been trialing Toro’s latest battery powered cylinder mower. It is very quiet, and we will use it on certain courts during this year’s Championships. The battery lasts about eight hours, allowing us to cut a number of courts before re- charging. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with its performance. It weighs about two kilos more than the petrol models, but handles just as well.” “Quite often, we have to turn off our mowers when a media interview is being conducted courtside, so an additional benefit of the battery powered mower
being so quiet is that, this year, we may be able to carry on mowing whilst an interview takes place.”
“Marking out the courts will be our
next job. We will begin by pegging out the lines ready for marking - it usually takes about an hour and half to do the initial marking of one court,” said Neil. Wimbledon use a ready-mixed paint, applied using transfer wheel linemarkers. The lines are checked for accuracy every week; there will be some slight movement in the lines, as the clay soils tend to shrink when they dry out. “At this time of year [May], the courts
are usually re-marked every two to three days, depending on the weather. During The Championships, we mark out every day, and the process is usually repeated over forty times for each court during the course of the season, although it will end up being over sixty times on some courts with the addition of the Olympic event!” Thirty-six staff will be working at this year’s Championships, with an additional three coming in to help out during the Olympics. The complement of staff is made up of sixteen full-time groundstaff, five seasonal experienced tournament staff and fifteen staff who start in April and work through to October. “It is important that they all get on
Toro’s new electric mower is being trialed 50 PC JUNE/JULY 2012
New lighting rigs on Centre Court
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