When Pat Cash famously clambered up to the Players’ Box to celebrate with his entourage after winning the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy in 1987, he didn’t just initiate a ritual that would become a treasured element of Wimbledon finals day, he threw a spotlight on the unsung people who had enabled him to play the perfect tournament. They say it takes a village to raise a child and in this spirit, victorious players today are quick to credit their team, acknowledging the many influences that nurture a champion.

Broadening this spotlight to The Championships, can we have a round of applause for the unseen niche jobs that enable Wimbledon to run like clockwork? Step forward three unsung heroes, whose roles ensure the strawberries are superb, the courts have the correct number of appropriate balls and a global audience can access up-to-the-last-hit match stats.

Practice may make perfect for players, but down in Kent, at the family-run Hugh Lowe Farms that supply 50 tonnes of strawberries for the Fortnight, ‘pollination’ is the buzzword. Quite literally. Integral to the quality of Wimbledon’s iconic sweet treat are the Buckfast honey bees managed by Chris Woodgate, whose 180 hives ensure 250,000 Wimbledon-designated strawberry plants are fully pollinated in order to produce a crop of desirably plump, heart-shaped berries.

“Every single seed, or ovule, on a strawberry needs to be pollinated for the fruit behind it to ripen, otherwise you get a misshapen or small berry,” says Marion Regan, who runs Hugh Lowe Farms. Successful pollination requires careful coordination with Chris and his wife Sue, who work year-round to foster healthy bee activity over the fields. In the winter, they monitor the food stores and supplement with sugar fondant if necessary. From early March, the Woodgates move onto a nine-day cycle, inspecting the colonies for disease, strength and stores. “It’s all about making sure the hives are happy,” says Chris.

To hit the crucial two-week window of picking for Wimbledon, timing – dictated by the weather – is a big factor. Strawberry plants flower a month before they reach a peak of fruit bearing; for those four weeks, the field that produces The Championships’ berries will be buzzing with pollinators from four hives located on a ‘bee station’ tucked safely away from the pickers. It is not always the same field.

“I speak regularly to the agronomist to find out which field will be peaking and then move hives to the necessary location”, Chris says. “The rule is that you can move hives three feet or three miles, so there has to be a lot of careful planning.”

New balls, please

Back at the All England Club, it’s a similar tale of forensic attention to logistical detail for Andy Chevalier. As Ball Distribution Manager, he’s responsible for ensuring there are enough balls on match and practice courts each day of The Championships. Six balls are in play on a court for the first seven games of a match (accounting for the warm-up), then replaced every nine games thereafter. So far, so straightforward, even if that involves 58,752 balls in 19,584 cans.

Each morning, Andy’s team delivers 72 cans to Aorangi’s practice courts, 21 cans to each Championships court, and further supplies to the Indoor Tennis Centre, the Referee’s Office (in case top players have a hit on the Championships courts) and to a front office where Ball Boys and Girls swap used balls for 10 cans of fresh ones.

But what happens if a ball is lost during a match? Or a day’s play is blighted by on-and-off rain and players need to warm up again when play resumes…but not with fresh balls? The umpire then selects appropriate replacement balls from a tin marked 3, 5 or 7, containing balls that have been played for fewer than nine games.

Thus, a key element of Andy’s daily role is grading used balls to fill the 3, 5 and 7 tins according to his own yardstick. “I do this by hand, going through all the tins returned at the end of matches. In my office under Centre Court, there’s a row of balls on a shelf ranging from a fresh unstruck ball (brightly coloured with a clear logo) to a ball played for nine games (fluffy, and therefore less aerodynamic, with a faded logo) so I can match up the used balls with ones that have been played for roughly three, five or seven games.”

Even then, there are variables. “I also give the balls a squeeze because the pressure decreases once they’re out of the tin, and sometimes a ball that’s only been played for three games has to go straight to the Used Balls Kiosk for sale to the public.’’

The people behind the data

Ball fixation is also part of the job description for the specialist team of 75 IBM Data Collectors. These eagle-eyed courtside workers are responsible for logging every point of every match on every court throughout Qualifying and all Championships events to be accessible to a worldwide digital audience. They can never blink and miss it – not even a Carlos Alcaraz 136 mph serve.

“Regional or national tennis experience is a prerequisite for the job,” says Helen Weal, IBM Resource and Operations Manager at the AELTC. “These are very capable individuals; tennis is in their blood. They have three seconds in which to input data from each point, but they’re used to the pressure of playing an individual sport in front of an audience, so they’re very calm.”

On the Show Courts there will be three data collectors: one ‘calling the verbals’ from a lexicon, the second inputting the data, the third operating a keypad. We’re talking aces, double faults, winners, unforced errors, return stats, rally stats, direction of serve stats, you name it.

The team prides itself on being a family, with 60% returners and distinguished alumni. Last year, Henry Patten, who wore the IBM uniform in 2016 and 2017, won the gentlemen’s doubles title alongside Harri Heliovaara. “Our first ever Data Entry Wimbledon Champion!” exclaims Helen. But boy, did Henry make his former colleagues work hard. The scoreline was 6-7(7), 7-6(8), 7-6(9).

This feature is one of many in the 120-page Official Wimbledon Programme 2025, which is available to purchase here.