The broadcaster came up with the idea in his previous role at the BBC
Fact Checkthis year’s Wimbledon ChampionshipsWhile lawn tennis dates to the 1870s, the use of yellow tennis balls was only brought in by the International Tennis Federation 100 years later in the 70s – after an idea by none other than broadcaster and wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough.
Previously, tennis balls were white or black depending on the colour of the tennis court. But after the revolution of colour television, the balls were changed so that viewers could see them better on colour television screens.by John Lloyd, James Harkin and Anne Miller, the switch from white tennis balls to yellow was the idea of Sir David when he was the controller of BBC Two.
“It suddenly dawned on me that the one thing we did have was outside broadcast units. I thought, ‘Blimey, couldn’t we deploy them?’ “And then I thought of Wimbledon. I mean, it is a wonderful plot: you’ve got drama, you’ve got everything. And it’s a national event, it’s got everything going for it.”, in 1972 it introduced yellow tennis balls into the rules of tennis after research had shown these balls to be more visible to television viewers.Opinion
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