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It's fast, it's mean, and it is hugely competitive. It's the most | :00:10. | :00:19. | |
famous tennis championship in the It's that time when the UK goes | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
tennis crazy. We are here at Wimbledon to give you a very | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
special look behind-the-scenes. Coming up on today's show: Barney | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
meets a special Wimbledon worker with a rather unusual job. That's | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
just about big enough. I check out the strawberry farm that supplies | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
all two million strawberries to the tournament and we give you a sneaky | :00:43. | :00:51. | |
peak at what broadcasting is like at the championships. Hello. This | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
year's championships is particularly special. It is the | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
125th anniversary of Wimbledon. The crowds have queued in their | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
thousands, the tennis has not disappointed and it is raining. | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
little bit of wet weather does not spoil the mood here. You know, such | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
a massive championships like this doesn't happen overnight. | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
Preparations take place all year- round. I have been to meet a very | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
special employee who has a very unusual job, to make sure that play | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
on Centre Court isn't interrupted with any unwanted intruders, like | :01:21. | :01:28. | |
these guys. Birds, that is! In 1989 two tennis greats were disturbed | :01:29. | :01:35. | |
mid-match by two sparrows. sparrow won't go away. In 2007, a | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
family of ducks invaded an outside court. Wimbledon's biggest | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
reoccurring animal problem came to a head in 1999. Such fun with the | :01:44. | :01:52. | |
pigeons this year on this court and Court One. Amongst many others, Tim | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
Henman and Pete Sampras were not amused when pigeons interrupted | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
their match. It was after an incident like that one, that | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
Wimbledon decided to do something. I'm off to find out how. Meet a | :02:06. | :02:13. | |
Harris Hawk, who has been employed to combat this problem. He does | :02:13. | :02:23. | |
:02:23. | :02:23. | ||
really have his own ID card. Rufus. Right here is Rufus. Hello. This is | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
Wayne. Talk to us about Rufus? works for the Lawn Tennis Club and | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
he scares the pigeons off. We used to have a terrible problem with | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
them roosting and interrupting play. They would be swiping them off the | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
baseline. If you are a pigeon, you take one look at Rufus, he is a | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
predator. So are you going to show everyone what you can do? That was | :02:50. | :03:00. | |
:03:00. | :03:03. | ||
That's totally the response we want. As soon as he saw them... If the | :03:03. | :03:11. | |
pigeons hadn't seen him, he is letting everyone know there a | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
predator about. How often do you do this? Once a week throughout the | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
year and during the championships we come in every day at 5.00, | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
before the public get here. Has he ever flown off? Yes, now and again. | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
He will go up on to the roof and he has a favourite place which is a | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
lake down the back. If he does catch a rabbit or something, it can | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
be a day or two before I get him back. He is not going to be hungry | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
any more and therefore doesn't need you? That's it. He will find a nice | :03:42. | :03:51. | |
tree and roost there. I have put a radio transmitter on Rufus in case | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
he disappears. We have this to counteract that. It has a | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
directional aerial so it beeps as we try to find the hawk. We can | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
check the signal and it points to where the hawk is. Saves me a lot | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
of work. He is there on the roof. So it is perfect. He has his own | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
sat-nav fitted? He has. Better than my car! If we get a bit of meat out | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
for him, would he come back to us? Yes, we will see if we can call him | :04:20. | :04:27. | |
back with some quail. See if he is interested. He's seen it. He is | :04:27. | :04:35. | |
away. Rufus. Right on cue. Well done, mate. If you put your hand | :04:35. | :04:45. | |
:04:45. | :04:46. | ||
up... He's off. He's gone. Better get the tracker back out again! | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
There should be no pigeons disrupting play at Wimbledon this | :04:48. | :04:58. | |
year, thanks to Rufus - if he ever comes back that is! Every year at | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
Wimbledon, fans camp out overnight and queue for hours in the hope | :05:01. | :05:08. | |
they will see the best tennis match that day. That is what the | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
Wimbledon experience is all about. Tennis - a game that dates back to | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
the 12th Century over 800 years ago. The ancient game was called "game | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
of the hand or palm". It was called this because the game was hit with | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
the palm of the hand. It was played by French monks but they didn't use | :05:30. | :05:39. | |
a net, it was played against a wall. It became tennis but it is a | :05:39. | :05:49. | |
:05:49. | :05:49. | ||
mystery. The name might come from "tenai" which means "hold" or | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
"look-out". By the turn of the 16th Century it was played like this, | :05:53. | :06:00. | |
known as real tennis or Royal Tennis because it was popular in | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
Royal households. The racket had been introduced by this time. | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
was still very different to the game we know today. You could hit | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
the ball against the wall as well as over the net. The rackets were | :06:12. | :06:19. | |
made of wood, the strings of animal gut and balls hardly bounced. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
court at the Queen's Tennis Club, which is a cross between a squash | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
court and a tennis court, is one of 50 left in the world. Real tennis | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
is still played competitively even today. Shot! It is from this game | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
that lawn tennis was born. It took another 300 years to get from | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
this... To grass, or lawn tennis, which is played on grass courts. It | :06:43. | :06:53. | |
:06:53. | :06:55. | ||
was finally invented by a Brit in 1874. It was called "ball game" | :06:55. | :07:05. | |
which comes from Greece. Then finally in 1877, the first lawn | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
tennis championship was introduced. Its name? Wimbledon. While | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
Wimbledon was the first and still is the most prestigious tennis | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
event in the world, some players prefer in a most unusual location. | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
These are our top three weird ones. Normally the last thing you want is | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
for rain to stop play, but in this clash, a flooded court was | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
unavoidable as Nadal and Federer played on a floating platform in | :07:33. | :07:43. | |
:07:43. | :07:44. | ||
Two, described as the fastest tennis match in the world, these | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
two played a match on a high-speed train travelling at a speed of | :07:50. | :08:00. | |
At the number one spot, it is the world's highest tennis court. This | :08:00. | :08:08. | |
match between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi toork place on a hotel | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
-- took place on a hotel helipad in Dubai. In championship matches ball | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
boys and girls play a crucial role in the smooth running of the | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
tournament. They have to make sure the ball is in the right place at | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
the right time and they have to make sure the player has a town or | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
a banana. Blue Peter has been given access to find out what life is | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
really like for a BBG. I'm 14 and I'm training to be a ball girl at | :08:36. | :08:46. | |
:08:46. | :08:47. | ||
Wimbledon. This is what it is like being me. I live in Wimbledon with | :08:47. | :08:54. | |
my family. Here is my mum. Hi. is my dad. Hi. And my two dogs, | :08:55. | :09:03. | |
Pippy and Dippy. This is my sister, Lucy. And my brother, Joe. Hi. | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
have both been BBGs at Wimbledon before so it runs in the family. We | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
all go to a local school and this year my PE teacher put me forward | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
to be a ball girl at Wimbledon. All of the ball girls and ball boys | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
live in the local area. I love playing tennis. I'm pretty much | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
sport mad. In fact, that is why I wanted to become a ball girl in the | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
first place. I have to pass written and fitness tests. Once I got | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
through that, I started to come to training sessions here once a week | :09:30. | :09:40. | |
:09:40. | :09:42. | ||
where the final ball boys and girls They start with 600 of us but end | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
up with 250 for the championships so it is really tough to get chosen. | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
I do find it scary because you are being watched constantly and you | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
can be cut at any point. It is also very exciting. We don't find out if | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
we get in until a week before the tournament but I want to get in. | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
First we do drills like ball rolling and then we practice on | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
court. We work in teams of six, two at the net cord and four at the | :10:11. | :10:19. | |
back. I'm a centre so I'm always at the net. Blue Peter viewers wanted | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
to know more about your life as a ball girl. Have you ever got hit by | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
the ball? No, I haven't but last year Lucy got hit by Federer's | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
serve. It really hurt! How long can you be a ball girl for? Is it for | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
2011 or can you come back for a few years? It is not just for that one | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
year, you can come back for a maximum of four years. What if one | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
of the players got injured, and there was no-one else to play, | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
would you volunteer? Yes, I would definitely volunteer. In fact a | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
girl at my school had to do that last year. Is it scary when you run | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
to get the ball? Yes. If I fall over, it will be caught on camera | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
and everyone will see. My uniform has arrived which means I have made | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
it into the team and I am so excited. Bye. Bye. Have a good day, | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
girls. We are walking to the coach stop now. There are 15 coach stops | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
and you choose the one which is nearest to you. Then it takes you | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
into the grounds of Wimbledon. you excited? I am. Do you know what | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
court you will be on today? don't find out until the day. The | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
captain goes to the board about 20 minutes before and tells the whole | :11:28. | :11:37. | |
team which court they are on. We will have to wait and see. I | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
arrived at the ball girl complex at 10.30. Time for me to get ready to | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
go on court. On Monday, I was lucky enough to go on Centre Court with | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
Nadal and Murray. Teams rotate one hour off court and one hour on | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
court all day. My favourite part is being on court. The atmosphere is | :11:58. | :12:05. | |
fantastic and you get to see some good tennis. I can't believe I got | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
so close to such amazing players and on my first day as well. It's | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
been such an amazing week so far. I hope you have enjoyed seeing what | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
it is like being a ball girl. This is what it is like being me. | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
make sure you look out for Rebecca. Wimbledon is not just famous for | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
tennis, it's also famous for something else - the umbrellas | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
should give you a clue. # Why does it always rain on me... | :12:31. | :12:41. | |
:12:41. | :12:41. | ||
1991 was by far the wettest first week ever. After four days, only 52 | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
of 240 matches were completed. By contrast, a completely rainless | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
Wimbledon fortnight happens on average once every 20 years, but it | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
wouldn't be Wimbledon without rain and without rain this wouldn't have | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
happened in 1996. # We're all going on a summer | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
holiday # No more... # | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
Sir Cliff Richard performed an impromptu performance to all the | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
fans in Centre Court who had been sitting in the rain waiting for the | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
tennis to start. I bet he never thought he would get to play Centre | :13:14. | :13:22. | |
Court! APPLAUSE Nice jacket! Since 2009, they have had a solution, | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
this huge retractable roof. It weighs 3,000 tonnes and it covers | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
the same area as 7,500 Wimbledon umbrellas. It opens and closes in | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
ten minutes and once it is shut, it means no amount of rain or bad | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
light can affect the play so they can play the tennis matches much | :13:39. | :13:47. | |
later into the evening. Which is what Andy Murray did when he played | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
against Wawrinka. They were the first to play an entire match | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
underneath it and they carried on late into the evening. It didn't | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
finish until after 10.30. There is an 11.00 curfew here. The latest is | :14:00. | :14:07. | |
10.58! When the roof is on, it does feel totally different. It is more | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
like being inside a Sports Hall. I want one! Whether it is rainy or | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
sunny, there is always one summer fruit on the menu. They serve all | :14:19. | :14:26. | |
sorts here, but the most iconic is strawberries and cream. Delicious! | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
8,615 pun nets are eaten every day which means 28 tonnes are eaten | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
over the whole tournament. They have to come from somewhere. I have | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
come to Kent where every single Wimbledon strawberry is grown. That | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
is over two million individual berries. Producing this many | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
strawberries is a big ask. So this place is run like a military | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
operation with 400 people working here leading up to and during the | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
championships. That's good. Marion runs the farm and is in charge of | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
getting those strawberries to Wimbledon on time. I'm here to find | :15:05. | :15:13. | |
out how. You are my strawberry guru, what am I looking for when it comes | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
to the perfect strawberry? You need to be looking for ones that are red | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
all the way around. They need to be of a certain size and they need to | :15:21. | :15:30. | |
be free from any marks or damage. Let's get picking. You pick them | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
like that, so that you are holding them by the stalk. If you pick them | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
by the fruit, you can bruise them. This one's perfect but it's too | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
small. That's just about big enough. 25 millimetres they have to be for | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
Wimbledon. You don't measure them? We don't get out a ruler but you do | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
learn what the size is. She relies on her pickers to be accurate. But | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
they also have to be quick to get enough strawberries to Wimbledon | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
and the more they pick, the more they are paid. Is it competitive | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
then? It could well be, yes. I think there's a lot of competition | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
involved. I am probably the most competitive person there is but I | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
can safely say this is one competition that I would happily | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
lose. If you don't win, it is because you have eaten too many | :16:19. | :16:29. | |
:16:29. | :16:30. | ||
strawberries! It doesn't end there. The next step is weighing and | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
packing them and taking out any berries that aren't good enough so | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
we take one and put it on there. That needs a bit more on it. We put | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
another... We are looking for the green light because that says it is | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
the exact weight. Absolutely. Then you move it on. OK. How far in | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
advance are the strawberries picked before they are sent to Wimbledon? | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
They are picked the day before. So they are at their freshest when | :16:56. | :17:05. | |
people eat them. There you have it. A tray full of strawberries fit for | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
Wimbledon. It's not quite the two million that the championships | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
require, but at least I helped a bit and I'm sure I will be telling | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
anybody who will listen I have been to the farm where those | :17:15. | :17:22. | |
strawberries are grown! Oh, yes! But it's not just strawberries | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
Wimbledon's been serving up, oh no. Over the past years, it's been | :17:27. | :17:36. | |
serving up some impressive stats. Here are our top three: Three, a | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
loud grunt as the ball is whacked down the court has become as common | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
at Wimbledon as strawberries and cream. The most famous grunter is | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
Maria Sharapova who at 101 decibels is almost as loud as a lion's roar. | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
Two, one of the key weapons a tennis player must have is a fast | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
serve. In 2010, Taylor Dent produced the fastest ever serve to | :18:05. | :18:15. | |
:18:15. | :18:18. | ||
be played at Wimbledon - a whopping Our number one stat also happened | :18:18. | :18:26. | |
last year when a first-round match between Is snrks er and Mahut | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
became the longest tennis match - Johniser and Nicolas Mahut became | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
the longest tennis match. When Wimbledon first started in 1877 | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
this is what the players would have worn, all in white. Men practically | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
wore suits, trousers, shoes and a white shirt. When women joined the | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
tournament they wore long dresses like this. I am sure I look very | :18:55. | :19:02. | |
elegant but I do not feel ready to prance around a tennis court. As | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
impractical as it might be, though, this outfit is the height of | :19:06. | :19:12. | |
fashion. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam which still enforces the | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
players wear mainly white so over the years players have had to come | :19:17. | :19:27. | |
:19:27. | :19:29. | ||
up with inventive ways of expressing their own style. In 1919 | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
Suzanne Lenglen won Wimbledon in a kneeth dress. In 1985 Ann White | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
pushed the fashion boundaries a bit far by wearing this white catsuit. | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
Not surprisingly, she was asked to dress more traditionally the next | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
day. Spoilsports! More recently, Roger Federer made front-page | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
headlines with his RF-branded jacket and waistcoat combo. He has | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
style! Players from all over the world come to Wimbledon so there's | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
a huge team of international broadcasters recording what is | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
going on, who wins what and how they win it? I'm joining the radio | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
team at Five Live this year. That means I get a pass with a few | :20:13. | :20:21. | |
privileges. Wimbledon's broadcast coverage averages 11,000 hours over | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
the fortnight. It takes a lot of organising and a lot of cameras. | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
There are 14 on Centre Court alone. Also sitting on Centre Court | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
watching the action is the commentator. Returns with a | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
backhand, wonderful cross court shot... Mr Tennis is Jonathan | :20:40. | :20:45. | |
Overend. Do you run out of things to say? The idea is that I don't. | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
Sometimes - when it used to rain we had to fill a lot of time chatting | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
about tennis. Now we have the roof, we are OK. We can play all day on | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
Centre Court. I think one of the best tips you ever gave me, last | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
year you said talk about what you can see, their outfits or their | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
You have to remember the listeners can't see so we have to describe | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
everything we can see, the lush green turf of the court and what | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
the spectators are doing as well as the players. The atmosphere in here | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
is intense. It is. We can't jump out of our seat too much. I'm 6ft | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
3in and very close to the ceiling. If Andy Murray is on, we are all | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
desperate for him to win so there is a lot of excitement. While the | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
commentary is left to the experts, my job is to be on hand to give | :21:31. | :21:37. | |
live scores and updates of other matches going on. At the minute, it | :21:37. | :21:46. | |
is one set all. What about the TV side of things? So this is the BBC | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
TV studios so at night when you watch the highlights, this is the | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
set that you will be looking at. Sue Barker will sit up there, Tim | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
Henman might be there. They have a stunning view so they can see the | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
matches that are running on late into the evening. This truck is a | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
vital part of the jigsaw, it is very technical. Come and have a | :22:08. | :22:17. | |
look. We have to be quiet. When we were at Centre Court we saw all the | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
cameras which are picking up the pictures of the action and all of | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
those cameras send their pictures here so that is why we have so many | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
different TV screens. The director sitting in here says I want that | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
one, I want that one and the shots that he picks are the shots that | :22:32. | :22:39. | |
you see on TV. Outside the studio I grab a quick chat with Tim Henman. | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
Has the broadcasting side of things changed a lot since your day? | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
think it has... Not saying you are old! Not too old. It is changing | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
all the time. You look at this year, we are going to be covering the | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
semifinals and the final in 3D. Hence the big camera. That is a 3D | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
camera. Look at them pretending to be busy. We are! They are experts. | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
Back to some actual work with the five live podcast team. My mission | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
is to discover what's fashionable this Wimbledon season and get an | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
entire new outfit from fans or players. I'm going to put the lime | :23:19. | :23:26. | |
Greenside on. That is just fit! Thanks. Would you mind if I borrow | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
your hat? No. OK. Can I borrow the jacket? You can borrow my jacket. | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
The lining is spectacular. Have a look at this. Helen! All in a day's | :23:37. | :23:43. | |
work. You are pretending to work hard but you love it. It is such | :23:43. | :23:50. | |
hard work. Do you see who that is? Nadal! That is game, set and match | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
on our behind-the-scenes at Wimbledon. You can follow the | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
coverage on the BBC. Watch tomorrow because it is our last show of the | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
series. We will be trying to break a world record and Diversity will | :24:03. | :24:07. |