THE SPIELBANK BAD HOMBURG CENTRE COURT SHINES IN LUSH GREEN! THE FAMOUS 8 WIMBLEDON MILLIMETRES…!

The desire is clear: sunshine! And pleasant temperatures! That would be the ideal weather for the days leading up to the start of the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt (22 to 29 June 2024) from the perspective of the grass whisperers. And what climate would supervisor Oliver Stuhldreier and English greenkeeper Stuart Burridge prefer during the week of the tournament? The answer is clear: ‘20 to 25 degrees Celsius would be perfect – and no rain.’

Watering at dusk – double cut and exact Wimbledon length

Immediately after the end of the matches, the courts are watered every evening, not just in the morning. ‘So that there is more time to dry,’ explains Stuhldreier. During the important preparation phase, the grass is mowed every two days with a so-called double cut, i.e. once there and once back. The workload will then be increased to once a day.

At present, the cut length is still 10 millimetres, but during the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt, the ‘Lawn’ will be exactly the length of Wimbledon: The famous 8 millimetres!

In addition, the baseline will be widened from the current 5.0 centimetres to 7.5 centimetres, as is customary at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC). The chalk-based paint used for this line comes from England and is extra robust.
Did you know that…

…the measuring of the 23.77 metre long and 10.97 metre wide tennis court before the first marking is normally carried out with 3 people, 3 red ropes, 36 pins and conventional measuring tapes and takes about an hour?
…the actual marking with a handcart takes around 45 minutes?
…approximately 1.5 litres of a chalk mixture is required for the one-off line marking of a grass tennis court?
…the chalk mixture is also used to mark the pitches in Bundesliga football stadiums?
…the lines are redrawn after every second or third mowing of the tennis lawn?