Players could enter court to a fanfare under organisers' plans to distinguish Olympic tennis from 2012 Wimbledon tournament
Its historic, manicured grounds are more accustomed to the sound of rippling applause and enthusiastic, if decorous, shouts of "Come on Andy!"
But on 28 July next year, when the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club becomes the home, for two weeks, of Olympic tennis, the courts of SW19 could find themselves echoing to We Are the Champions by Queen or Tina Turner's Simply the Best.
Under plans being considered by Locog, the 2012 Olympics organising committee, players ? dressed, of course, in national colours rather than "predominantly white" ? could enter the courts to rousing tunes of their choice, creating arguably the rowdiest atmosphere seen at Wimbledon in its 125-year history.
It is part of a strategy to differentiate Olympic tennis from the 2012 Wimbledon championships, which will have concluded just 20 days earlier.
"What we don't want is to come here and everyone say this is Wimbledon part two a few weeks later," said Debbie Jevans, 2012's director of sports and venues. "The championships have their unique look, a unique feel. Everything about them is completely identified with Wimbledon.
"When it comes to 2012, we want the look and feel to be distinctive."
The All England Club's distinctive livery of purple and green ? reflected even in the planting of the flowerbeds at Wimbledon ? will be replaced with hoardings and branding in as yet unconfirmed Olympic colours, said Jevans. She acknowledged, however, that "there are some things you can't change: the grass is green".
More than 100 Locog staff have been on site during the championships, shadowing All England Club personnel in preparation for the wholesale handover next year. Aside from a tiny number of key personnel ? including the head groundsman, Eddie Seward, who plans to resow the courts between the two events with specially pre-germinated grass seed to ensure they are pristine for the Olympics ? almost all staff, from catering to security to ticketing, will be new to Wimbledon.
There will be a new entrance during the Olympics, at the southern end of the site where the corporate marquees are erected, but with a much smaller programme of events: only 10 courts will be used compared with the 19 during the regular championships, and the visitor numbers will be around half.
What is essentially a dry run during Wimbledon 2011 is the first of a rolling programme of test events designed to prepare the venues that will host the Games next summer. A comprehensive 12-month testing programme will cover 42 events across 26 venues and involve 8,000 athletes from more than 50 countries.
Among the more high-profile test events are beach volleyball at Horse Guard's Parade in August and basketball games in a dedicated temporary arena on the Olympic Park, for which spectators will be bussed in and out of what is essentially still a building site.
The first big public test will be eventing (dressage, show-jumping and cross-country) at Greenwich Park, which takes place at the beginning of July. Tickets for the equestrian events will be given away to local residents, some of whom have been critical of the need to close the park during the Games.
A total of 150,000 tickets costing between �5 and �35 will be on sale for several events, although others, such as the London?Surrey Cycle Classic to test the road race route, will be free.
For spectators, perhaps the biggest difference for the Olympics at Wimbledon will be the absence of queueing, which gives even ticketless fans a chance to watch Centre Court matches if they are prepared to wait long enough. All tickets for Olympic tennis will be sold in advance.
Jevans said she was examining Wimbledon's system whereby departing spectators hand in show-court tickets for resale to ground ticket-holders. Separately, however, Olympics organisers have confirmed they are considering a similar scheme for the Olympic Park. They want to avoid the empty seats that embarrassed organisers in Beijing.
The architects of the park are also studying the ambience on Wimbledon's Murray Mound for landscaping ideas. They hope people will remain in the park to eat, drink and watch the action on big screens so that they can regulate the crowds and create atmosphere.
The use of music might break Wimbledon's hallowed traditions, but it is not entirely new. Some tennis tournaments, including the US Open and the ATP finals at the O2, already use amplified music to build atmosphere. At Flushing Meadows signature tunes are played as the players emerge and also at each change of ends. And if a particular celebrity is in the crowd, they are often greeted with a relevant burst of music, and shown on the big screen.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/26/olympics-2012-rousing-music-wimbledon
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