Winter at Wimbledon – Inside the Slam that never sleeps

While he also has responsibility for areas like the Hill and Wimbledon Park golf course, which the All England Club bought in 2018, Stubley’s primary focus is the same as most fans; the courts.

“Centre Court is probably one of the most scrutinised pieces of turf in the world,” he says.

“We all come in with eyes wide open, we know what the challenge is.”

By now, he will know more about the challenge for 2024. A 200-page document was set to land in his in-tray shortly before Christmas, postmarked from Bingley, West Yorkshire.

It will contain tens of thousands of data points collected by a team of three specialists from the town’s Sports Turf Research Institute. The trio travel down the week before the Championship and test the courts, every morning and evening for the following three.

One test involves dropping a ball in select spots and measuring height of its bounce. In another, they insert a probe to different depths in the soil to collect moisture content readings. One analyst will get on their hands and knees to count the living blades within a wooden quadrant.