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Wimbledon to open balls on court
Wimbledon to open balls on courtReuters
PARIS, May 25 -- Wimbledon hopeful Tim Henman has pinpointed a reason why he has so far failed to win his home Grand Slam -- flat tennis balls.
Four times a semifinalist at the All England Club but yet to win a grand slam, Britain's top player says he has finally got to the bottom of an issue which has been irking him for some time.
"Wimbledon said they open all the balls 'about' a week before the tournament," Henman said. "I think that might have a part to play in why you feel like you're using flat balls after four or five games," said the attacking serve-volleyer.
"It's obviously one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard of. But they said certainly for the last couple of years there they've opened the balls, you know, a couple of weeks before the tournament.
Organizers said on Thursday they would be scrap their policy of opening tennis balls from their containers before the tournament after Henman's complaint.
On Thursday Wimbledon chief executive Chris Gorringe said: "Tim Phillips, the Chairman of the Club, and I have had a number of discussions with Tim Henman over the last couple of years during which we have discussed various issues, including the preparation of the courts and the specification of the ball, which itself has remained unchanged since 1995.
"More recently, we discussed the practice of opening the cans of balls a short time ahead of the matches.
"This practice has been carried out for over 10 years and was certainly not a couple of weeks in advance, as has been suggested.
"Although we have continually been advised by [manufacturer] Slazenger that this not would make any difference to the balls' playing properties, we had nevertheless decided in April this year that we would adopt the policy of opening the cans of new balls on court."
The news will be music to Henman's ears.
"When I'm on the court and they crack the can, then that will be a good sound again," he smiled.
Wimbledon starts on June 20.
Source.
^^^ Damn, hahahaha. Theres an interesting fact/issue Id never contemplated before for tournaments.
~Jem~
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