By Chris Oddo | Tuesday July 24, 2018
Artificial grass on Wimbledon's Centre Court? Hard to imagine but the All England Club is exploring the hybrid possibility.
Photo Source: Tennis Now
Astroturf on Wimbledon’s fabled Centre Court? We’ll believe it when we see it.
And yet, as crazy as it sounds, the Daily Mail reports that the All England Club is considering a subtle “weave” for Wimbledon, and that plans are advancing to create a practice court which features an artificial (plastic) mixture of about 5 percent synthetic grass mixed into the existing perennial ryegrass to strengthen the plant and allow for more play over the course of the fortnight.
More: How Marian Vajda Helped Novak Djokovic Find His Purest Form Again
Rumor has it that Wimbledon’s organizers have grown tired of limiting their biggest showcourts to just three matches a day, and they feel it makes it difficult to manage a balance between men’s and women’s singles matches.
“In an ideal world, you'd like to have four matches on Centre Court and Court No1,” Wimbledon member and former British star Tim Henman told the Daily Mail on Sunday. “What people never focus on is the fact it's a natural surface. It's grass. You've got to have that court for 13 days and if you kill it in the first five days, then you're in trouble.”
Henman told the mail that Wimbledon is investing lots of energy and money into a hybrid experiment.
“Wimbledon are investing a lot of money looking at the hybrid thing,” Henman said. “When you see the football and rugby pitches now, they're three per cent artificial. We're certainly looking at, "What does five per cent look like on a tennis court? What does 10 per cent look like on a tennis court?'If you go back a few generations, it was huge in America, Australia, India and a lot of it has died out because of the maintenance, the cost, the quality of court. If that area can evolve then it may be relevant for Wimbledon.”
Can it really be that Wimbledon, the most traditional in a sport that has always had difficulty breaking with its past, is considering diluting the purity of its cherished green lawns? Apparently so…
“We're getting close to the stage where we put down a hybrid grass court in one of the practice courts,” Henman said.
A practice court at Aorangi Park is a long way from Centre Court, but even so, it’s a story worth watching.
It may happen, just like a fifth-set tiebreaker at all four Slams may happen. Until then we sit back, enjoy the tennis and debate…