Wimbledon 2019 Stringing Update & The Amazing Numbers
It is a few years now since I retired from stringing at the Wimbledon Grand Slam Tournament and my article on the behind the scenes activities.
I still keep in close contact with my stringing friends at the tournament and I'm amazed at how the numbers of restrings continue to climb.
Here is a brief report on the year's event in 2019, finishing with the amazing numbers involved.
I hope you will all find of interest and hope a new lawn tennis season reaches us soon.
The stringing team and administration are put together by Apollo Leisure, the UK's major string, machine and accessories supplier from Verwood, Bournemouth, in partnership with Babolat and The European Racket Stringing Association.
It was Apollo's eleventh year of running the official on site racket stringing service at Wimbledon.
Racket numbers were up yet again and with uninterrupted play throughout the Qualifying Tournament and the Championships the experienced team was as busy as ever.
This year included stringing for the Wild Card Play off event at Aorangi Park, Wimbledon and so had an on-site presence from Thursday 20th June and with practice for the Qualifying competitions starting a day earlier the team was up and running at The Bank of England Sports Ground, Roehampton from Friday 21st June.
A major change was made to the service this year and Apollo worked with the All England Club towards not using plastic bags to store frames as part of the Club's sustainability programme.
As a result more storage was required at both Roehampton and Aorangi Park to allow for the newly designed storage system.
This change was considered to be a great success by both the club and Apollo.
At Roehampton for 'Qualies' there were 9 stringers, 3 front desk staff and 2 runners.
Runners are the fit and fast members of the tteam who cater for players requiring restrings during a match by taking rackets between court and stringing room as quickly as possible.
As ever it was extremely busy on the Sunday and Monday, day one, as players prepared for their first round matches.
The main time at Wimbledon was busy from Monday with players arriving early to practice on the grass.
The fine weather was a contributing factor to the increase in numbers and ensured that the Qualifying Tournament was completed on time.
Now to the main Championships.
By the Sunday, The Stringing Team had built up to 16 stringers, 4 front desk staff and 3 runners in readiness for the onslaught.
The team being assembled with the best Pro Tour Stringers from the UK and all over Europe.
This year Apollo were again working in partnership with Babolat France who supplied 16 Racket Stations that had previously been used at Roland Garros for the French Open Championships.
As in previous years the Sunday and Day one, Monday, were the busiest days seeing over 1,000 rackets dropped off over the two days.
With the weather slightly cooler there were fewer changes in tension than the previous year.
The number of "on courts" again increased this year with over 115 rackets taken to court by the energetic runners.
There is a constant stream of players and coaches bringing rackets in to be restrung to exacting specifications.
Every detail is recorded on The Booking System which is computerised and is essential to keep records of the many restrings for each player and the adjustments in tension which may be required.
Each racket may have to be numbered in sequence and prepared to their own specifications depending on their style of play, surface and prevailing weather conditions.
The team of 44 work tirelessly over long hours to get the workload completed accurately and on time.
At the end of the Championships 4902 rackets had been strung, a 9% increase on the previous year, for 713 players and using approximately 36.5 miles of string.
The Wimbledon Stringing Service is still considered to be the best of any of the Grand Slams.
The Amazing Numbers
- 21 STRINGERS used from qualifying to last day - 7 ADMIN STAFF - 7 RUNNERS
- 4,902 RACKETS STRUNG ( 36.5 miles of string ) - 9% INCREASE ON 2018
- 16 BABOLAT PERF STRINGING MACHINES
- BUSIEST DAY IN QUALIFYING Sunday 23 June - 324 RACKETS
- BUSIEST DAY IN CHAMPIONSHIPS Monday 1st July - 524 RACKETS
- RACKETS STRUNG FOR A SINGLE PLAYER - 56 for Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori
- 122 - RACKETS SENT FROM COURT DURING PLAY
- LOWEST TENSION - Adran Mannarino 14Kg (30.8 Lbs) Luxilon Alu Power
- HIGHEST TENSION - Barbora Strycova 35Kg (77.0 Lbs) Luxilon original
- NUMBER OF PLAYERS STRUNG FOR - 713, Male 327 - Female 265 - Boys 62 - Girls 59
- PLAYERS USING HYBRIDS (different strings in the mains and crosses - 230)
- Wilson Blade
- Babolat Pure Aero
- Babolat Pure Drive
- Head Prestige
- Wilson Pro Staff 97
- Head Speed
- Wilson Ultra 100
- Technifibre T-Fight
- Yonex Ezone 100
- Head Radical
My thanks to Apollo Leisure and the team for number crunching and providing this information.
I hope members find this information of interest.
I know many new and younger collectors that I talk to are now looking to the last 20 or so years as a basis for their collections and in particular the rackets used by the top players of this period and the current trends.
Jim Warner, 2019