Behind the scenes

CLOSE TO THE ACTION: Wimbledon 2019 women’s singles champion Simona Halep holds aloft her trophy. Behind the net, Gisborne’s Andrew Bristow is second from left. Pictures supplied

Jeremy Tucker was a ball spotter.

Andrew Bristow painted the lines.

The Gisborne men were working behind the scenes at two major sporting events last month — Tucker at golf’s British Open and Bristow at the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Bristow was one of about 20 ground staff at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club cutting the grass, marking the lines and doing other bits and pieces to have the courts looking at their best for television.

He chatted with two tennis greats — Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic — and was courtside when they squared off in the epic 2019 men’s singles final won by Djokovic.

Bristow, 26, said he had brief interactions with some players in the practice week before the Wimbledon championships.

“Players can book hour slots on the championships courts in the days leading up (to the tournament) and one of our jobs was to set the nets up and then take them down once their hour was up,” Bristow said.

Some players would ask general questions about the grass and courts.

“Also, if they go over their time limit, you need to be tough and kick them off, which is hard when you are a bit star-struck.”

Djokovic and Federer were “really nice and friendly”.

“It has been one of the most unbelievable experiences, to see behind the scenes of one of the biggest tournaments in the world, plus getting to meet these massive stars has been surreal.”

Tucker, 23, was working for Virtual Eye at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, during the British Open.

Virtual Eye is a Dunedin-based company that produces real-time three-dimensional sports graphics for TV providers.

Tucker said he was brought on to help with ball spotting.

“This involves walking the course in front of the groups playing and sending ball locations on the holes,” he said.

“This data gets sent to the guys in the truck and they then create the virtual hole on the television to show ball locations, shot tracking, weather and lots more.”

Tucker, a former student of Gisborne Boys’ High School, said he was “super-stoked” to be part of the team at such a prestigious event.

“I was lucky enough to get brought on to the team for the weekend by my cousin Jaime McGregor and her husband Reece Witters,” he said.

Both are from Gisborne.

“They are lucky enough to call this their full-time gig as they follow the golf circuit around Europe,” Tucker said.

The weather provided challenging conditions during the final round as eventual winner Shane Lowry preserved his lead amid rain and wind.

“It made for great golf, because that’s what the Open is about — tough links golf, which involves some bad weather from time to time.”

Bristow was born and raised in Gisborne and went to Lytton High School, then moved to Dunedin to study physical education at Otago University.

“Once finished there I was still undecided on a career path and, being a bit of a sports nut, decided to move to Queenstown and work at the Millbrook golf course and study sports turf management while working.”

He worked there for about four years before the opportunity came up at Wimbledon, which was “hard to turn down”.

He also helped to look after other grassed areas such as Henman Hill and the work hasn’t stopped, post-tournament.

“We are doing renovations to the courts to get grass on the base lines in preparation for next spring.”

Bristow wasn’t a huge tennis fan before his Wimbledon gig.

“I do follow it a wee bit but I have definitely become more of a fan since working here and experiencing it — it’s hard not to.”