I freely admit to not being a tennis expert, but when I’ve played it I’ve had a t-shirt, shorts, racket and of course some tennis balls and never felt short on equipment that I could or would like to take.

So why is it when watching Wimbledon and even some lunchtime players at work, it seems de riguer to carry at least one, sometimes two large holdalls plus a racket bag on to the court? What do they have in there?? Is there a niche tennispacking activity I’m unaware of?

Enquiring minds must know. Your answers please

It’s to transport your ball boys to the court of course

Pretty sure there’s a couple of spare jockey wheels in there.

Mars bars, Kettle, brew kit, spare shorts, trainers [of the foot kind]
Mobile phones, first aid kit….they can’t get everything in a bum bag unlike us MTB’ers

Barley water.

Drinks, towels, bananas, a shop full of spare rackets, and a priest.

An ipad so they can write a poorly worded rant about umpires on tennistrackworld and some cone spanners just in case.

priest

Younger players now favour an electric monk.

A selection of improbably sized tennis balls to sign and hand out to over excited middle aged fans.

Zee drugs.

spare pants?!

Sponsorship logos and styrofoam.

Sponsorship logos and styrofoam.

I expect this from the pro, maybe not from the lunchtime mob. Maybe a stash full of drugs being sold to the watchers?

Their ego?

Tennis bats, lots of tennis bats.

I did think this the other day when Andy Murray was packing up, he had what looked like 2 of the biggest sports bags in the world and was swamped by them.
I mean they have slave kids running around the court fetching their ball back for them, surely they could have a couple of minimum wage porters to carry their bags for them?

The lunchtime lot have got to look pro too.

Lots of racquet’s. Sometimes 10+

I think part of it could be to do with sponsorship (showing off the kit) and the more is better mentality amongst the top pros.

The top guys will often travel with 5 people+ (coach, 2nd coach stringer, manager, family etc)

The severed front leg of an elderly hyena.

They have a sideline in ventriloquist acts and never travel anywhere without their dummies.

The severed front leg of an elderly hyena.

Excellent 😆 😆 😆

My missus carries 2 racquets, balls, knee supports, water, trackie bottoms and top, a cap, hairbrush, spare top in case it rains between matches and probably loads more as well I’m not privy too.

Guns , lots of guns.

lots of racquets and big bags that advertise their sponsors, mostly.

Spare tops and kit and maybe tape and stuff for patching themselves up if they have to call the trainer out, as it would be unlikely that they would have all the stuff required. Was thinking about the other year when Murray had to patch up his feet.

The cheque for carrying the massive advertising hoardings?

PEDs?

(Pure speculation of course)

GO ROGER!

An old man?

HA! Superb, njee20.

I think it’s their bag of cash.

Robinson’s pop, strawberries and cream and one of those whack off great chairs for the umpire. This is the mandatory minimum carry for all tennis players regardless of skill level.

P. S. and a ridiculous amount of bath towels to be used once only for wiping a sweaty brow

It all started with Tim Henman having to carry the impossible weight of misguided expectation of a nation.

Then he stepped aside for Murray who similarly carried unfounded hopes of scotland Britain. Of course he’s actually achieved this expectation. Now it’s just the happy pills he hides under his tongue and spits out when his mum isn’t looking.

Seriously, around 5-10 rackets strung at different tensions. You may prefer a higher or lower tension based on weather conditions, balls, or based on how your opponent or you are playing. A few lbs of tension here or there are very noticeable at the higher levels.

You usually have at least one full change of clothes, maybe shoes, a jacket, food and drink.

If the tournament’s stringer doesn’t carry the brand you use you may carry a reel or a more of your own reels with you.

Maybe you have spare towels in there.

Used to carry some basic first aid stuff (plasters, tape, heat spray, painkillers). The pros probably have that too just in case they don’t want to use up an injury timeout to get an Ibuprofen.

It makes sense when you realise they could be on court for maybe 4-5 hours easy.

Different sized tennis balls to choose from so you have the current fashionable one that makes the court come alive.

Do they have boost spacing though?

I believe priests were banned after McEnroe knocked out an umpire and crippled a ball boy with one in ’81.

They all carry Hoovers.

Apart from Djokovic.

Don’t they have changing rooms at Wimbledon? And lockers? Why bring all that stuff out on court?
Are they really going to change shorts/pants/bras etc on court?

25 full-size cardboard cut-outs of Björn Borg.

Hundreds of ear defenders to sell in case Cliff makes an appearance and decides to sing

When I was full-time on the tour, at least one bag was all just bananas of varying ripeness and sub-species (again, in different weather and varying cloud cover, musaceous requirements can change wildly)