Wimbledon attendees chance their arm against robot tennis stars’ serves

Tournament’s serving machine can deliver balls in the style of anyone from John McEnroe to Elina Svitolina

Could you return Emma Raducanu’s 110mph serve, or receive a 145mph stroke from Andy Murray? What about Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s 153mph torpedo, which broke Wimbledon records last year?

This year’s tournament attendees have had the opportunity to try their luck on the court, facing off against a robotic serving machine rather than their tennis heroes.

For many, it was a welcome break from camping out in the queue for the next day’s tickets, while others gained renewed appreciation for the technical skill on show in Centre Court.

Alex Ellis found his robot significantly harder than his usual opponents. “I got one over the net from Sir [John] McEnroe, so that will do, but [the Ukrainian player Elina] Svitolina’s – I couldn’t get anywhere near it,” he said.

“It felt like pressure to be honest, it’s almost like I’m playing at Wimbledon, but it was enjoyable. It definitely shows how competitive it is at the real level.”

The first-of-its-kind robot recreates the speed, angle and trajectory of serves from the world’s best players, and uses the 5G network to connect it with real-time data from Centre Court.

Oliver Kibblewhite, whose 5Gs agency created the machine, said the robot arm was built “very stout” to handle faster serves than a normal tennis serving machine. Around half of punters were able to return at least one of three serves, and Raducanu has proven the most popular to tackle, he said.

The tennis coach Arthur Culicovschi found the experience “a reality check”, returning a serve from the Italian No 1 seed, Jannik Sinner, but missing ones from Roger Federer and the former US star Andy Roddick.

Mori Arathoon from Germany found the serve came from a much higher point than in his tennis league, resembling being struck from a second storey. “Now I can relate to [professional players] a bit,” he said.

Wimbledon is gearing up for an extended heatwave starting on Friday, just a week after temperatures in the area reached 35C (95F).

The tournament’s operations director, Michelle Dite, told reporters “this is how it is now”, after experiencing last week’s qualifying championships as “hotter than the surface of the sun”.

“We have upped our shade and shelter here for the public,” she said. “We’re always trying to make sure that we can provide as much shaded shelter as we can, not just for our temporary infrastructure, but also when we’re doing permanent upgrades here.”

There is a new retractable roof on the tea lawn this year, shielding punters purchasing strawberries and cream, and two other covered social spaces in the southern village and the “Henman Hill” area.

Wimbledon’s chief executive, Sally Bolton, said one area of focus was evolving planting to “ think really carefully about what an English summer garden will look like into the future when water is harder to come by”, and to anticipate Met Office predictions that temperatures in England will rise to 45C by 2056.

The venue’s head of courts and horticulture, Neil Stubley, said he was looking five to 10 years ahead to protect “probably the most scrutinised piece of turf in the world”.

“The grasses that we’re selecting now – they’re more drought-tolerant and wear-tolerant – help us on weeks like last week,” he said, though higher overnight temperatures of 30C would deprive grass of the cooler nights needed to recover.

Aside from the weather, the courts need to adapt to other changes, including different styles of play and the length of matches.

“Two male players – Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner - are notorious for sliding into their shots, so that means that tears in the turf,” Stubley said.