How many balls are typically used in the annual Wimbledon Championships Grand Slam tennis tournament?

Every year, over 54,000 tennis balls are prepared for the Wimbledon Championships. At the most recent tournament, in 2019, the official count was 54,250 balls – enough to provide 48 tins of balls for the Centre and No.1 Courts and 24 for each outside court on a daily basis.

Because of the effect of temperature on ball performance, all of the tennis balls used during Wimbledon are kept at exactly 68°F. They are also switched for a replacement set after the first seven games (to cater for the warm-up period before each match) and are then switched every nine games to prevent players from having to use warmed, scuffed or damaged balls.

The ‘hot’ tennis ball behaves very differently on the court from a cool one. The lower the tennis ball’s temperature, the more its gas molecules contract and, during a game, the less it bounces. The warmer the ball’s temperature, the greater the amount of energy its molecules contain and the higher it bounces.

After each of the annual tournaments, the used balls are sold and the revenue from sales is given to charitable causes in support of tennis at a local level.