Line judges, strawberries and more breaks: What's new at this year's Wimbledon Championships

ITV News

16 hours ago

This year's Wimbledon tennis championships has begun with the hottest opening day on record, according to the Met Office.
Temperatures reached a provisional high of 29.7C at Kew Gardens in west London on Monday afternoon, surpassing the previous record of 29.3C set in June 2001.
But the heat isn't the only unusual feature at this year's championships - there are changes to the rules on court, the judges and even the strawberries will be different.
Here, ITV News runs you through the changes.
The most Brits taking part since the 1980s
There's 23 Brits competing at this year's Championships in the men's and women's singles, with the figures exceeding 50 whenthe doubles, wheelchair event and Juniors are added - the most since 1984.
The ones to watch will include Jack Draper, ranked fourth in the world, the highest seeded British player since the former champion Andy Murray back in 2017. The 23-year-old goes into the tournament as a legitimate title contender and a top-four seeding means he will avoid Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner until the semi-finals.
Draper is one of 13 British players in the men's singles, alongside Pinnington Jones, Cam Norries and Jacob Fearnley.
Another to watch is Emma Raducanu, hoping to build on last year's fourth round at the All England Club in the women's singles, after regaining her position as Britain's number one.
But we also can't rule out the debutant and teenager Mimi Xi, the 17-year-old wildcard who's drawn against Raducanu in the first round. The welsh player from Swansea has already beaten top-100 players on grass already this summer, taking home her first win of the WTA Tour in Nottingham.
No more line judges
This year will be the first championship where line judges will be replaced by an electronic system, after 148 years of service.
The role of the line judge was to assist the umpire by calling whether a ball lands in or out - you may have seen them decked in Ralph Lauren and positioned on the boundary line of the court.
A fully automated version of the 'Hawk-Eye' system is to be used at the Wimbledon Championships, ITV News' Aisha Zahid explains
Since 2007, Hawk-Eye has assisted the officials at Wimbledon on certain courts, with players able to challenge line calls, but the system will now be fully automated across all courts.
The technology is already widely used in the sport, including at the Australian Open and US Open. The system has already been used during the qualifiers at Roehampton and will continue to be used for the rest of the Championships.
Wimbledon said the decision had been made as they "consider the technology to be sufficiently robust" and an "important step in seeking maximum accuracy in [their] officiating", but this hasn't been met entirely with a warm reception.
One major concern for Wimbledon had been the loss of a prestigious opportunity for officials and the effect this could have at the lower levels of the sport, but ultimately progress has won out.
The French Open, which has relied solely on human officials, is now the outlier, although it may well follow suit, with all ATP Tour events to feature the technology from next year.
Wimbledon's lesser-used heat rule
It's the hottest start to the Championships on record, with temperatures serving up to 34C, which will prove challenges both on and off the court.
There's currently an amber heat health alert in place for parts of England and will require precautions to take place for both athletes and spectators.
Wimbledon has decided to trigger their lesser-used heat rule, which means when the temperatures breach 30.1C there will be extra ten minute breaks in play.
It will apply to all matches, including those which have already started, and only one of the players participating in the match needs to request the break for the rule to be implemented.
Players are allowed to leave the court during this break, but they cannot receive any coaching or medical treatment.
Fans have been camped outside for days to bag a spot at the front of the famous Wimbledon queues with the earliest getting there from Friday. If you are planning to join the queue for day passes, don't forget a hat, water and plenty of SPF.
Bigger, better but more expensive strawberries
With cream, with sugar, or, according to Sir Andy Murray, "with my fingers", there's no question that the fruit is a quintessential part of every Wimbledon Championships, and this year they're the biggest and sweetest on record.
Due to an unusually sunny spring, with the highest levels recorded by the Met Office in more than 100 years, paired with some cooler weather, which has allowed the crop to develop slowly with sweeter results.
Heightened bee activity during March and April has also resulted in excellent pollination - an essential factor in producing the classic strawberry shape.
But as with everything, it comes at a price.
The price of the iconic Wimbledon strawberries has been raised for the first time in 15 years.
This year the price of one punnet will increase by 20p, from £2.50 to £3.20, the highest it's been since 2010.