:00:10. > :00:19.It's fast, it's mean, and it is hugely competitive. It's the most
:00:19. > :00:24.famous tennis championship in the It's that time when the UK goes
:00:24. > :00:29.tennis crazy. We are here at Wimbledon to give you a very
:00:29. > :00:34.special look behind-the-scenes. Coming up on today's show: Barney
:00:34. > :00:38.meets a special Wimbledon worker with a rather unusual job. That's
:00:38. > :00:43.just about big enough. I check out the strawberry farm that supplies
:00:43. > :00:51.all two million strawberries to the tournament and we give you a sneaky
:00:51. > :00:54.peak at what broadcasting is like at the championships. Hello. This
:00:54. > :00:59.year's championships is particularly special. It is the
:00:59. > :01:02.125th anniversary of Wimbledon. The crowds have queued in their
:01:02. > :01:06.thousands, the tennis has not disappointed and it is raining.
:01:06. > :01:09.little bit of wet weather does not spoil the mood here. You know, such
:01:10. > :01:13.a massive championships like this doesn't happen overnight.
:01:13. > :01:16.Preparations take place all year- round. I have been to meet a very
:01:16. > :01:21.special employee who has a very unusual job, to make sure that play
:01:21. > :01:28.on Centre Court isn't interrupted with any unwanted intruders, like
:01:29. > :01:35.these guys. Birds, that is! In 1989 two tennis greats were disturbed
:01:35. > :01:39.mid-match by two sparrows. sparrow won't go away. In 2007, a
:01:39. > :01:44.family of ducks invaded an outside court. Wimbledon's biggest
:01:44. > :01:52.reoccurring animal problem came to a head in 1999. Such fun with the
:01:52. > :01:57.pigeons this year on this court and Court One. Amongst many others, Tim
:01:57. > :02:01.Henman and Pete Sampras were not amused when pigeons interrupted
:02:01. > :02:06.their match. It was after an incident like that one, that
:02:06. > :02:13.Wimbledon decided to do something. I'm off to find out how. Meet a
:02:13. > :02:23.Harris Hawk, who has been employed to combat this problem. He does
:02:23. > :02:23.
:02:23. > :02:29.really have his own ID card. Rufus. Right here is Rufus. Hello. This is
:02:29. > :02:33.Wayne. Talk to us about Rufus? works for the Lawn Tennis Club and
:02:33. > :02:38.he scares the pigeons off. We used to have a terrible problem with
:02:38. > :02:44.them roosting and interrupting play. They would be swiping them off the
:02:44. > :02:50.baseline. If you are a pigeon, you take one look at Rufus, he is a
:02:50. > :03:00.predator. So are you going to show everyone what you can do? That was
:03:00. > :03:03.
:03:03. > :03:11.That's totally the response we want. As soon as he saw them... If the
:03:11. > :03:16.pigeons hadn't seen him, he is letting everyone know there a
:03:16. > :03:20.predator about. How often do you do this? Once a week throughout the
:03:20. > :03:25.year and during the championships we come in every day at 5.00,
:03:25. > :03:29.before the public get here. Has he ever flown off? Yes, now and again.
:03:29. > :03:33.He will go up on to the roof and he has a favourite place which is a
:03:33. > :03:37.lake down the back. If he does catch a rabbit or something, it can
:03:37. > :03:42.be a day or two before I get him back. He is not going to be hungry
:03:42. > :03:51.any more and therefore doesn't need you? That's it. He will find a nice
:03:51. > :03:56.tree and roost there. I have put a radio transmitter on Rufus in case
:03:56. > :04:01.he disappears. We have this to counteract that. It has a
:04:01. > :04:04.directional aerial so it beeps as we try to find the hawk. We can
:04:04. > :04:10.check the signal and it points to where the hawk is. Saves me a lot
:04:10. > :04:15.of work. He is there on the roof. So it is perfect. He has his own
:04:15. > :04:20.sat-nav fitted? He has. Better than my car! If we get a bit of meat out
:04:20. > :04:27.for him, would he come back to us? Yes, we will see if we can call him
:04:27. > :04:35.back with some quail. See if he is interested. He's seen it. He is
:04:35. > :04:45.away. Rufus. Right on cue. Well done, mate. If you put your hand
:04:45. > :04:46.
:04:46. > :04:48.up... He's off. He's gone. Better get the tracker back out again!
:04:48. > :04:58.There should be no pigeons disrupting play at Wimbledon this
:04:58. > :05:01.year, thanks to Rufus - if he ever comes back that is! Every year at
:05:01. > :05:08.Wimbledon, fans camp out overnight and queue for hours in the hope
:05:08. > :05:15.they will see the best tennis match that day. That is what the
:05:15. > :05:21.Wimbledon experience is all about. Tennis - a game that dates back to
:05:21. > :05:26.the 12th Century over 800 years ago. The ancient game was called "game
:05:26. > :05:30.of the hand or palm". It was called this because the game was hit with
:05:30. > :05:39.the palm of the hand. It was played by French monks but they didn't use
:05:39. > :05:49.a net, it was played against a wall. It became tennis but it is a
:05:49. > :05:49.
:05:49. > :05:53.mystery. The name might come from "tenai" which means "hold" or
:05:53. > :06:00."look-out". By the turn of the 16th Century it was played like this,
:06:00. > :06:06.known as real tennis or Royal Tennis because it was popular in
:06:06. > :06:09.Royal households. The racket had been introduced by this time.
:06:09. > :06:12.was still very different to the game we know today. You could hit
:06:12. > :06:19.the ball against the wall as well as over the net. The rackets were
:06:19. > :06:23.made of wood, the strings of animal gut and balls hardly bounced.
:06:23. > :06:27.court at the Queen's Tennis Club, which is a cross between a squash
:06:28. > :06:33.court and a tennis court, is one of 50 left in the world. Real tennis
:06:33. > :06:38.is still played competitively even today. Shot! It is from this game
:06:38. > :06:43.that lawn tennis was born. It took another 300 years to get from
:06:43. > :06:53.this... To grass, or lawn tennis, which is played on grass courts. It
:06:53. > :06:55.
:06:55. > :07:05.was finally invented by a Brit in 1874. It was called "ball game"
:07:05. > :07:11.which comes from Greece. Then finally in 1877, the first lawn
:07:11. > :07:15.tennis championship was introduced. Its name? Wimbledon. While
:07:15. > :07:20.Wimbledon was the first and still is the most prestigious tennis
:07:20. > :07:25.event in the world, some players prefer in a most unusual location.
:07:25. > :07:29.These are our top three weird ones. Normally the last thing you want is
:07:29. > :07:33.for rain to stop play, but in this clash, a flooded court was
:07:33. > :07:43.unavoidable as Nadal and Federer played on a floating platform in
:07:43. > :07:44.
:07:44. > :07:50.Two, described as the fastest tennis match in the world, these
:07:50. > :08:00.two played a match on a high-speed train travelling at a speed of
:08:00. > :08:08.At the number one spot, it is the world's highest tennis court. This
:08:08. > :08:14.match between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi toork place on a hotel
:08:14. > :08:17.-- took place on a hotel helipad in Dubai. In championship matches ball
:08:17. > :08:21.boys and girls play a crucial role in the smooth running of the
:08:21. > :08:24.tournament. They have to make sure the ball is in the right place at
:08:24. > :08:29.the right time and they have to make sure the player has a town or
:08:29. > :08:36.a banana. Blue Peter has been given access to find out what life is
:08:36. > :08:46.really like for a BBG. I'm 14 and I'm training to be a ball girl at
:08:46. > :08:47.
:08:47. > :08:54.Wimbledon. This is what it is like being me. I live in Wimbledon with
:08:55. > :09:03.my family. Here is my mum. Hi. is my dad. Hi. And my two dogs,
:09:03. > :09:08.Pippy and Dippy. This is my sister, Lucy. And my brother, Joe. Hi.
:09:08. > :09:12.have both been BBGs at Wimbledon before so it runs in the family. We
:09:12. > :09:15.all go to a local school and this year my PE teacher put me forward
:09:15. > :09:20.to be a ball girl at Wimbledon. All of the ball girls and ball boys
:09:20. > :09:24.live in the local area. I love playing tennis. I'm pretty much
:09:24. > :09:27.sport mad. In fact, that is why I wanted to become a ball girl in the
:09:27. > :09:30.first place. I have to pass written and fitness tests. Once I got
:09:30. > :09:40.through that, I started to come to training sessions here once a week
:09:40. > :09:42.
:09:42. > :09:48.where the final ball boys and girls They start with 600 of us but end
:09:48. > :09:52.up with 250 for the championships so it is really tough to get chosen.
:09:52. > :09:58.I do find it scary because you are being watched constantly and you
:09:58. > :10:03.can be cut at any point. It is also very exciting. We don't find out if
:10:03. > :10:06.we get in until a week before the tournament but I want to get in.
:10:06. > :10:11.First we do drills like ball rolling and then we practice on
:10:11. > :10:19.court. We work in teams of six, two at the net cord and four at the
:10:19. > :10:23.back. I'm a centre so I'm always at the net. Blue Peter viewers wanted
:10:23. > :10:27.to know more about your life as a ball girl. Have you ever got hit by
:10:27. > :10:32.the ball? No, I haven't but last year Lucy got hit by Federer's
:10:32. > :10:35.serve. It really hurt! How long can you be a ball girl for? Is it for
:10:35. > :10:39.2011 or can you come back for a few years? It is not just for that one
:10:39. > :10:43.year, you can come back for a maximum of four years. What if one
:10:43. > :10:46.of the players got injured, and there was no-one else to play,
:10:46. > :10:50.would you volunteer? Yes, I would definitely volunteer. In fact a
:10:50. > :10:55.girl at my school had to do that last year. Is it scary when you run
:10:55. > :11:00.to get the ball? Yes. If I fall over, it will be caught on camera
:11:00. > :11:06.and everyone will see. My uniform has arrived which means I have made
:11:06. > :11:10.it into the team and I am so excited. Bye. Bye. Have a good day,
:11:10. > :11:14.girls. We are walking to the coach stop now. There are 15 coach stops
:11:14. > :11:20.and you choose the one which is nearest to you. Then it takes you
:11:20. > :11:24.into the grounds of Wimbledon. you excited? I am. Do you know what
:11:24. > :11:28.court you will be on today? don't find out until the day. The
:11:28. > :11:37.captain goes to the board about 20 minutes before and tells the whole
:11:37. > :11:42.team which court they are on. We will have to wait and see. I
:11:42. > :11:47.arrived at the ball girl complex at 10.30. Time for me to get ready to
:11:47. > :11:54.go on court. On Monday, I was lucky enough to go on Centre Court with
:11:54. > :11:58.Nadal and Murray. Teams rotate one hour off court and one hour on
:11:58. > :12:05.court all day. My favourite part is being on court. The atmosphere is
:12:05. > :12:09.fantastic and you get to see some good tennis. I can't believe I got
:12:09. > :12:13.so close to such amazing players and on my first day as well. It's
:12:13. > :12:18.been such an amazing week so far. I hope you have enjoyed seeing what
:12:18. > :12:22.it is like being a ball girl. This is what it is like being me.
:12:22. > :12:26.make sure you look out for Rebecca. Wimbledon is not just famous for
:12:26. > :12:31.tennis, it's also famous for something else - the umbrellas
:12:31. > :12:41.should give you a clue. # Why does it always rain on me...
:12:41. > :12:41.
:12:41. > :12:47.1991 was by far the wettest first week ever. After four days, only 52
:12:47. > :12:51.of 240 matches were completed. By contrast, a completely rainless
:12:51. > :12:55.Wimbledon fortnight happens on average once every 20 years, but it
:12:55. > :12:58.wouldn't be Wimbledon without rain and without rain this wouldn't have
:12:58. > :13:03.happened in 1996. # We're all going on a summer
:13:03. > :13:07.holiday # No more... #
:13:07. > :13:10.Sir Cliff Richard performed an impromptu performance to all the
:13:10. > :13:14.fans in Centre Court who had been sitting in the rain waiting for the
:13:14. > :13:22.tennis to start. I bet he never thought he would get to play Centre
:13:22. > :13:26.Court! APPLAUSE Nice jacket! Since 2009, they have had a solution,
:13:26. > :13:31.this huge retractable roof. It weighs 3,000 tonnes and it covers
:13:31. > :13:35.the same area as 7,500 Wimbledon umbrellas. It opens and closes in
:13:35. > :13:39.ten minutes and once it is shut, it means no amount of rain or bad
:13:39. > :13:47.light can affect the play so they can play the tennis matches much
:13:47. > :13:50.later into the evening. Which is what Andy Murray did when he played
:13:50. > :13:54.against Wawrinka. They were the first to play an entire match
:13:54. > :14:00.underneath it and they carried on late into the evening. It didn't
:14:00. > :14:07.finish until after 10.30. There is an 11.00 curfew here. The latest is
:14:07. > :14:13.10.58! When the roof is on, it does feel totally different. It is more
:14:13. > :14:19.like being inside a Sports Hall. I want one! Whether it is rainy or
:14:19. > :14:26.sunny, there is always one summer fruit on the menu. They serve all
:14:26. > :14:31.sorts here, but the most iconic is strawberries and cream. Delicious!
:14:31. > :14:36.8,615 pun nets are eaten every day which means 28 tonnes are eaten
:14:36. > :14:41.over the whole tournament. They have to come from somewhere. I have
:14:41. > :14:44.come to Kent where every single Wimbledon strawberry is grown. That
:14:44. > :14:49.is over two million individual berries. Producing this many
:14:49. > :14:55.strawberries is a big ask. So this place is run like a military
:14:55. > :15:01.operation with 400 people working here leading up to and during the
:15:01. > :15:05.championships. That's good. Marion runs the farm and is in charge of
:15:05. > :15:13.getting those strawberries to Wimbledon on time. I'm here to find
:15:13. > :15:18.out how. You are my strawberry guru, what am I looking for when it comes
:15:18. > :15:21.to the perfect strawberry? You need to be looking for ones that are red
:15:21. > :15:30.all the way around. They need to be of a certain size and they need to
:15:30. > :15:34.be free from any marks or damage. Let's get picking. You pick them
:15:34. > :15:39.like that, so that you are holding them by the stalk. If you pick them
:15:39. > :15:45.by the fruit, you can bruise them. This one's perfect but it's too
:15:45. > :15:50.small. That's just about big enough. 25 millimetres they have to be for
:15:50. > :15:56.Wimbledon. You don't measure them? We don't get out a ruler but you do
:15:56. > :15:59.learn what the size is. She relies on her pickers to be accurate. But
:15:59. > :16:03.they also have to be quick to get enough strawberries to Wimbledon
:16:03. > :16:08.and the more they pick, the more they are paid. Is it competitive
:16:08. > :16:11.then? It could well be, yes. I think there's a lot of competition
:16:11. > :16:15.involved. I am probably the most competitive person there is but I
:16:15. > :16:19.can safely say this is one competition that I would happily
:16:19. > :16:29.lose. If you don't win, it is because you have eaten too many
:16:29. > :16:30.
:16:30. > :16:35.strawberries! It doesn't end there. The next step is weighing and
:16:35. > :16:41.packing them and taking out any berries that aren't good enough so
:16:41. > :16:45.we take one and put it on there. That needs a bit more on it. We put
:16:45. > :16:49.another... We are looking for the green light because that says it is
:16:49. > :16:52.the exact weight. Absolutely. Then you move it on. OK. How far in
:16:52. > :16:56.advance are the strawberries picked before they are sent to Wimbledon?
:16:56. > :17:05.They are picked the day before. So they are at their freshest when
:17:05. > :17:08.people eat them. There you have it. A tray full of strawberries fit for
:17:08. > :17:11.Wimbledon. It's not quite the two million that the championships
:17:12. > :17:15.require, but at least I helped a bit and I'm sure I will be telling
:17:15. > :17:22.anybody who will listen I have been to the farm where those
:17:22. > :17:27.strawberries are grown! Oh, yes! But it's not just strawberries
:17:27. > :17:36.Wimbledon's been serving up, oh no. Over the past years, it's been
:17:36. > :17:41.serving up some impressive stats. Here are our top three: Three, a
:17:41. > :17:45.loud grunt as the ball is whacked down the court has become as common
:17:45. > :17:55.at Wimbledon as strawberries and cream. The most famous grunter is
:17:55. > :18:01.Maria Sharapova who at 101 decibels is almost as loud as a lion's roar.
:18:01. > :18:05.Two, one of the key weapons a tennis player must have is a fast
:18:05. > :18:15.serve. In 2010, Taylor Dent produced the fastest ever serve to
:18:15. > :18:18.
:18:18. > :18:26.be played at Wimbledon - a whopping Our number one stat also happened
:18:26. > :18:32.last year when a first-round match between Is snrks er and Mahut
:18:32. > :18:37.became the longest tennis match - Johniser and Nicolas Mahut became
:18:37. > :18:43.the longest tennis match. When Wimbledon first started in 1877
:18:43. > :18:49.this is what the players would have worn, all in white. Men practically
:18:49. > :18:55.wore suits, trousers, shoes and a white shirt. When women joined the
:18:55. > :19:02.tournament they wore long dresses like this. I am sure I look very
:19:02. > :19:06.elegant but I do not feel ready to prance around a tennis court. As
:19:06. > :19:12.impractical as it might be, though, this outfit is the height of
:19:12. > :19:17.fashion. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam which still enforces the
:19:17. > :19:27.players wear mainly white so over the years players have had to come
:19:27. > :19:29.
:19:29. > :19:34.up with inventive ways of expressing their own style. In 1919
:19:34. > :19:39.Suzanne Lenglen won Wimbledon in a kneeth dress. In 1985 Ann White
:19:39. > :19:43.pushed the fashion boundaries a bit far by wearing this white catsuit.
:19:43. > :19:48.Not surprisingly, she was asked to dress more traditionally the next
:19:48. > :19:54.day. Spoilsports! More recently, Roger Federer made front-page
:19:54. > :19:59.headlines with his RF-branded jacket and waistcoat combo. He has
:19:59. > :20:04.style! Players from all over the world come to Wimbledon so there's
:20:04. > :20:07.a huge team of international broadcasters recording what is
:20:07. > :20:13.going on, who wins what and how they win it? I'm joining the radio
:20:13. > :20:21.team at Five Live this year. That means I get a pass with a few
:20:22. > :20:25.privileges. Wimbledon's broadcast coverage averages 11,000 hours over
:20:25. > :20:28.the fortnight. It takes a lot of organising and a lot of cameras.
:20:29. > :20:33.There are 14 on Centre Court alone. Also sitting on Centre Court
:20:33. > :20:39.watching the action is the commentator. Returns with a
:20:40. > :20:45.backhand, wonderful cross court shot... Mr Tennis is Jonathan
:20:45. > :20:48.Overend. Do you run out of things to say? The idea is that I don't.
:20:48. > :20:53.Sometimes - when it used to rain we had to fill a lot of time chatting
:20:53. > :20:57.about tennis. Now we have the roof, we are OK. We can play all day on
:20:57. > :21:01.Centre Court. I think one of the best tips you ever gave me, last
:21:01. > :21:06.year you said talk about what you can see, their outfits or their
:21:06. > :21:11.You have to remember the listeners can't see so we have to describe
:21:11. > :21:15.everything we can see, the lush green turf of the court and what
:21:15. > :21:19.the spectators are doing as well as the players. The atmosphere in here
:21:19. > :21:24.is intense. It is. We can't jump out of our seat too much. I'm 6ft
:21:24. > :21:28.3in and very close to the ceiling. If Andy Murray is on, we are all
:21:28. > :21:31.desperate for him to win so there is a lot of excitement. While the
:21:31. > :21:37.commentary is left to the experts, my job is to be on hand to give
:21:37. > :21:46.live scores and updates of other matches going on. At the minute, it
:21:46. > :21:50.is one set all. What about the TV side of things? So this is the BBC
:21:50. > :21:55.TV studios so at night when you watch the highlights, this is the
:21:55. > :22:00.set that you will be looking at. Sue Barker will sit up there, Tim
:22:00. > :22:03.Henman might be there. They have a stunning view so they can see the
:22:03. > :22:08.matches that are running on late into the evening. This truck is a
:22:08. > :22:17.vital part of the jigsaw, it is very technical. Come and have a
:22:18. > :22:21.look. We have to be quiet. When we were at Centre Court we saw all the
:22:21. > :22:25.cameras which are picking up the pictures of the action and all of
:22:25. > :22:28.those cameras send their pictures here so that is why we have so many
:22:28. > :22:32.different TV screens. The director sitting in here says I want that
:22:32. > :22:39.one, I want that one and the shots that he picks are the shots that
:22:39. > :22:44.you see on TV. Outside the studio I grab a quick chat with Tim Henman.
:22:44. > :22:48.Has the broadcasting side of things changed a lot since your day?
:22:48. > :22:54.think it has... Not saying you are old! Not too old. It is changing
:22:54. > :22:59.all the time. You look at this year, we are going to be covering the
:22:59. > :23:05.semifinals and the final in 3D. Hence the big camera. That is a 3D
:23:05. > :23:10.camera. Look at them pretending to be busy. We are! They are experts.
:23:10. > :23:14.Back to some actual work with the five live podcast team. My mission
:23:14. > :23:19.is to discover what's fashionable this Wimbledon season and get an
:23:19. > :23:26.entire new outfit from fans or players. I'm going to put the lime
:23:26. > :23:32.Greenside on. That is just fit! Thanks. Would you mind if I borrow
:23:32. > :23:37.your hat? No. OK. Can I borrow the jacket? You can borrow my jacket.
:23:37. > :23:43.The lining is spectacular. Have a look at this. Helen! All in a day's
:23:43. > :23:50.work. You are pretending to work hard but you love it. It is such
:23:50. > :23:53.hard work. Do you see who that is? Nadal! That is game, set and match
:23:53. > :24:00.on our behind-the-scenes at Wimbledon. You can follow the
:24:00. > :24:03.coverage on the BBC. Watch tomorrow because it is our last show of the
:24:03. > :24:07.series. We will be trying to break a world record and Diversity will