In tennis, there are a total of four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Out of the four, Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It started in 1877 and, for the past 147 years, has been played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London.
But did you know that back in the day, tennis balls were either white or black in color? The fluorescent yellow tennis ball, which we all recognize today, was accepted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as the new standard only in 1972.
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This change was led by British naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough, who was visiting Wimbledon in the 1960s. It was when television was transitioning from black and white to color, and Attenborough was working for the BBC then.
BBC Two was gearing up to become the first channel in Europe to broadcast color television and honed in on Wimbledon as the perfect program to show in color. But producers were struggling to show the fast-moving black or white balls to the viewers when they traveled over white lines or when the balls were getting stained green on the grass.
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Following the 1967 Wimbledon tournament, Attenborough suggested that a fluorescent ball would be more visible, and the ITF, after experimenting with several colors, accepted the proposal.
The ITF introduced the fluorescent yellow balls in 1972, “as research had shown these balls to be more visible to television viewers.” But it took another 14 years, until 1986, for Wimbledon to be played with the fluorescent yellow balls.
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