yellow tennis balls were first used at wimbledon in 1986.
yellow tennis balls were first used at wimbledon in 1986.
when were yellow tennis balls first used at wimbledon?
1986
wimbledon was also involved in a piece of television history, when on 1 july 1967 the first official colour television broadcast took place in the uk. four hours live coverage of the 1967 championships was shown on bbc two, which was the first television channel in europe to regularly broadcast in colour. footage of that historic match no longer survives, however, the gentlemen's final of that year is still held in the bbc archives because it was the first gentlemen's final transmitted in colour. the tennis balls used were traditionally white, but were switched to yellow in 1986 to make them stand out for colour television. since 2007, wimbledon matches have been transmitted in high-definition, originally on the bbc's free-to-air channel bbc hd, with continual live coverage during the tournament of centre court and court no. 1 as well as an evening highlights show "today at wimbledon". coverage is now shown on bbc one and two's hd feeds. beginning 2018, all centre court matches are televised in 4k ultra-high-definition.
the championships, wimbledon
in 1990, the cardinal hockey boosters club began a tradition of fans throwing hundreds of tennis balls onto the ice after the first suny plattsburgh goal was scored against the visiting lakers from suny oswego. there are a number of reasons tennis balls may have been chosen: it is believed that tennis balls were chosen because the head coach for oswego's hockey team was also the school's tennis coach; because tennis balls matched the bright yellow color of the lakers' jerseys; or because the tennis coach from oswego state had left to work for plattsburgh. in 1998, oswego goaltender carl antifonario shutout the cardinals in plattsburgh, denying fans the opportunity to throw any tennis balls. this accomplishment led to an oswego counter-tradition of throwing hundreds of bagels (representing a zero; also said to represent "bird food" for plattsburgh's mascot: a cardinal) on their home ice following the first goal scored against the cardinals in oswego. the suny plattsburgh tradition of throwing tennis balls at home games against oswego lasted for 18 years but, following oswego's lead two years earlier, it was finally ended by school administrators on january 25, 2008.
state university of new york at plattsburgh