When Roger Federer returns to Wimbledon later this month to begin his bid for Olympic gold, the seven-time champion will find the historic venue he regards as a second home has undergone a major facelift.
Federer barely had time to pack away his rackets after his final victory over Andy Murray before Wimbledon groundstaff began to transform the hallowed confines of the All England Club into a riot of color ahead of the Olympic tennis event.
The Games are returning to Wimbledon for the first time since 1908 and the experience will come as quite a culture shock to those used to the genteel surroundings of the southwest London arena.
Aside from the high-quality tennis on show, a significant part of Wimbledon’s charm is the tranquil atmosphere.
From the creeping vines and flowers that cover the outside of Centre Court to the club’s insistence that all players must wear white kit, there is something unique about Wimbledon.
Between Saturday next week and August 5, all that will change and even seven-time champion Federer may be forgiven for doing a double-take when he gets his first glimpse of the overhaul.
Dark green is the dominant color during the Wimbledon tournament, but the All England Club will be lost in a purple haze for the duration of the Games, with many of the outside courts decked out in the vivid Olympic livery and legendary ring logo within 24 hours of Federer’s triumph.
Perhaps most noticeably, the Wimbledon requirement that players wear white clothing will be gone. Instead, spectators can expect a rainbow of hues as players wearing outfits in the colors of their nation bring a splash of color to the world’s most famous tennis courts.
However, despite some marked differences, one thing will have to be the same — the grass courts — and that means plenty of extra work for head groundskeeper Eddie Seaward and his 28-person team. Seaward is due to retire this summer after more than 20 years, but before that, he and his team face the job of returning the courts to top condition in record time.
“We’ve had Davis Cup ties before, soon after the Championships, but that’s only one court, and there will be 10 match courts for the Olympics,” he said. “There are fewer matches for the Olympics than for a Grand Slam, and the matches are shorter, but it’s going to be very high profile.”
They may not be able to follow the usual post-Championship renovation program, which would ordinarily take 12 months to complete, but Seaward is confident they will get it done.
“We have 20 days between The Championships and the Olympics, and we’re confident that we can get the grass back on the baselines,” he said. “Between the two events, we’re going to be sowing grasses which are pre-germinated — in other words, they would have already started to grow. That should take about three days. On the practice courts, it’s a different issue, as the players will start practicing about a week after The Championships finish, and we won’t have time to do much in that time.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite