Centre Court, strawberries and cream, the Fred Perry Statue: all powerful symbols of Wimbledon. But the enduring star at the All England Club each year may be the luxurious green grass on which the players make history.
For the world's billions who think of tennis as a game for clay or hard courts, it seems almost magical that a 14-day tournament can be contested on a surface as seemingly fragile as grass.
How does it survive? How can it provide true bounces? Consistent footing? Yet it does all that, decade after decade, providing a lush and visually appealing platform for arguably the planet's grandest tennis tournament.
This is not just any grass, to be sure: it is 100 per cent rye, considered one of the hardiest of all varieties. And it grows on an island known for plentiful rain and a minimum of scorching-hot days.
Still, Wimbledon's 19 grass courts are not simply the bounty of nature. They are refreshed annually with one tonne of grass seed, carefully nurtured and then trimmed to a height of exactly 8mm for the duration of the tournament.
Grass produces the fastest variety of tennis in the world, one particularly favourable to the serve-and-volley game.
Many players operate under the misapprehension that the grass affects the bounce of the ball. Actually, it is the hardness of the soil below that produces "kick". The dryer and harder the soil, the bigger the bounce.
Each court is mown and rolled at the completion of play each night, and the trimming often is so incremental that the entirety of the clippings from one court barely fill a bucket.
Eddie Seaward, the head groundskeeper at Wimbledon since 1991, told the Daily Telegraph that caring for the All England grass is "the total reverse of domestic lawn care.
"It involves lots of rolling before the championships," he said, "mowing very short every day and keeping the grass dry to make a hard playing surface."
Seaward and the 100 per cent rye surface are credited with keeping Wimbledon as popular as it is; the average power shot arrives about one-10th of a second slower than it did 20 years ago, giving clay-court specialists an even chance and making the All England Club the powerful lure it remains today.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
More tennis, s10-11
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
SPECS
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Recipe
Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo
Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
▶ Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.
▶ Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.
▶ Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.
▶ Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Premier Futsal 2017 Finals
Al Wasl Football Club; six teams, five-a-side
Delhi Dragons: Ronaldinho
Bengaluru Royals: Paul Scholes
Mumbai Warriors: Ryan Giggs
Chennai Ginghams: Hernan Crespo
Telugu Tigers: Deco
Kerala Cobras: Michel Salgado
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
