REVEALED: THE SURPRISING SUM BALL BOYS AND GIRLS ARE PAID AT WIMBLEDON - AND THE GRUELLING TRAINING REGIME THE 650 LUCKY APPLICANTS MUST UNDERGO

• Highly trained ball boys and girls are vital to the smooth-running of the event
• The All England club previously confirmed that they will not be changing term  
• Wimbledon 2024 LIVE : All the reaction as Murray confirms he will NOT play

With this year's Wimbledon tournament well and truly underway, scores of the competition's ball boys and girls will finally get a chance to put their weeks and months of preparation to the test in SW19. 

Court assistants - whose names will remain the same rather than changing to more gender-neutral terms, the All England Club confirmed last weekend - will work intensely over the next fortnight in a bid to preserve the smooth-running of high profile matches. 

But over the action-pack two weeks, the amount paid to a ball boy or girl remains curiously low - for all of Wimbledon's high prices elsewhere. 

Over the course of the tournament, the teenagers can expect to receive £200 total for their travails, after working in high-octane one-hour-on, one-hour-off shifts to ensure that balls on the court are quickly and seamlessly cleared and handed to serving players. 

The schedule is in-built to ensure that during the heat of a July summer, the ball boys and girls are not subject to punishing spells in the sunshine. 

That said, rising temperatures have in the past seen court assistants faint in the midday sun, or suffer dizzy spells under the intensity of the work. 

In 2023, a fainting ball boy was revived by British player Jodie Burrage, who fed the teenager Percy Pigs and gave him her energy drink to rehydrate himself before he was helped off court. 

But few ball boys and girls buckle under the highly pressurised conditions in SW19, with selected candidates undergoing months of training to ensure they are in pitch-perfect form for the tournament. 

As per the Sun, out of approximately 1,000 applicants, made up of teenagers from 30 selected London schools, 650 are picked to be put to the test as early as February. 

The teens - who have an average age of 15 - will be made up of a mix of experienced hands and novices, but all will take part in early fortnightly sessions in the dead of winter at the Raynes Park Community Sport Ground. 

From Easter, the ball boys and girls resume their preparations at the All England Club itself, with sessions upping to once-a-week, for two hours each. 

At the competition however, only the most highly-trained will be able feature on the showcourts, Centre Court and No1 Court. 

Six teams of six service those courts only, while another six teams of six will rotate around the grounds serving the remaining 16 venues. 

Instantly recognisable in their Ralph Lauren purple and green uniforms, keeping the outfit is another major perk which makes up for the relatively low wage. 

Another will be watching the great and the good of the tennis world play at their home Grand Slam, and the priceless opportunity to see high-level matches from the most unique of vantage points.  

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2024-07-02T13:31:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd