TNT Sports
Championship grass
By
Published 14/06/2005 at 07:03 GMT+1
Players often champion the Queen's Club and Eastbourne grass as being the best in the world, but it's Centre Court at Wimbledon that plays like one grand billiard table. With a multi-million pound budget to make the courts the very best, James Buddell exp
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
Head groundsman Eddie Seaward is charged with maintaining the All England Club's 19 grass courts to championship standard each year.
In recent years, the Wimbledon grass has catered for the baseliner much to Tim Henman's displeasure.
However, the steps Seaward and his ground staff take throughout the year have remained the same for the past eight-to-ten years.
COURT DRAINAGE
Under the surface of each court at Wimbledon, 45 centimetres of ground is excavated and filled with a mixture of angular stones, peal gravel and root zone.
Drainpipes are inserted in these trenches at nine-metre intervals with one main drain continuing out of the court area to a point where water is discharged.
THE SURFACE
Ten inches of topsoil is then added and is left exposed to the elements for a period of two months.
Purpose grown turf of two years of age is laid to give the courts a recognisable surface.
Seaward's team of groundsman at Wimbledon then sow up to 30 kilograms of grass seed on each court throughout their Autumn Regeneration Programme each year.
One part of the programme is scarifying the courts. Scarification removes much of the weak grass and dead material that can build-up during the season and thereby improves the surface quality.
This along with good irrigation is critical when the new grass seed begins to grow to lengths of no more than 25 millimetres.
A 50%-50% mixture of Aberelf and Aberimp ryegrass seed currently proves to be the best seeds after three years of research.
CHAMPIONSHIP COUNTDOWN
Work on the courts for the 'playing' season begins in March, with light rolling of the grass that gets cut to 12 millimetres in length.
Mowing and rolling continue throughout April and May with the addition of fertilisers and extra grass seed sown on thin areas.
As the start of another championships draws closer the height of the grass is cut to a playing length of 8 millimetres three times a week and each day during the tournament proper.
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