The #Wimbledon Scoreboard Explained

Andrew Neale

Every year during the #Wimbledon fortnight, a post we wrote over 15 years ago about ‘The Wimbledon Scoreboard‘ crops up again and again as one of the most popular daily reads because of all the search engine traffic it attracts.

For all of those interested in the Centre Court Scoreboard here is a quick rundown…

  • In 2008 the original dot matrix scoreboards on Centre and Number One Courts were replaced by BARCO OLite 612 LED displays
  • These displays are not only used as the scoreboard (simulating the original dot matrix display if you like) but as a mechanism to relay to the crowd the Hawk-Eye replays, player profiles and a variety of statistics.
  • The BARCO OLite 612 LED display is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, with a 12mm pixel pitch, 6,000NIT light output and 15 bit processing
  • With an outdoor IP65 rating the OLite panels can be used in all weather conditions – err, usually useful given the English climate, Ed
  • The displays were installed by Creative Technology, a company founded in London in 1986 and one of the leading suppliers of LED display technology to international sporting events
  • In 2008, The Championships featured a total of 10 displays using BARCO technology (though that number will probably have increased by now)

18 Responses to “The #Wimbledon Scoreboard Explained”

  1. Neal Says:

    On the new scoreboard on the previous sets screen, when there has been a tie break, a number in white appears between the 7-6 scoreline.

    This has varied each time I have seen it from 3 through to 10. Does anyone know what this signifies?

  2. Toby Says:

    It’s the number of points the loser of the tie-break won. By doing it this way you can work out the score in the tie-break e.g. 0 to 5, the winner got 7 points, 6 or more, the winner got that plus 2 more points.

    Incidentally, the screens also work very well in “real life” although the ones they have dotted around the grounds telling you who is playing on what court and the current score are rubbish – the information isn’t on display long enough to take in the info presented to you and then make a decision on what court to go to – the old wooden boards were much better as you could see who was playing on every court in one go. Obviously the downside of the wooden displays was no live scores.

  3. Bruno Says:

    What is the 10.59 and 3.11 on top ?

  4. Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief Says:

    10:59 is / was the time (should have been in 24 hours – correct time was 22:59) and 3.11 is the time spent on court in the match so far.

    See also http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18659208

  5. Oded Says:

    In 2013 or 2014 the Barco Olite 612 12mm pitch screens at Wimbledon were replaced again, this time to a higher resolution 8mm Barco called C8, more boards were added around the entire site and new information boards were added which i think are called EID (electronic information displays) are Aoto LED screens of 8mm pitch, i got talking to one of the Creative Technology guys looking after the LED screens, think they said they had some ROE 7mm there this year too, must say they look good, would like to do their job of sticking it all in.

  6. Anonymous Says:

    What do the yellow dots under a player’s name signify.

    At the moment there are 3 dots under Federer’s name and 2 dots under Mannarino’s

  7. Mazza Says:

    On Wimbledon Centre court scoreboard, what do the amount of tennis balls mean under players names?

  8. Pete Whitfield Says:

    It is the number of challenges each player has remaining.

  9. Susan Says:

    What do the numbers represent in the green column next to tennis players’ names in Wimbledon tournament? I know the set count, game count and score count is there, but I’ve never seen this number in the green column before. It seems to be a low number (its not their ranking). It looked like it was “order” but that doesn’t make sense. Would love to have some clarification. I can’t seem to find the answer on any site.

  10. Anonymous Says:

    What are the blue squares on the centre court score boards for?

  11. Peter White Says:

    Yellow dots are challenges left for each player

  12. Gordon Woolf Says:

    so the dots mean challlenges remaning viz o to 3?

  13. Shirley Says:

    What do the yellow dots mean

  14. Steve Says:

    Why does Karolina Pliskova have the KA shown on the scoreboard wheras others are srname only?

  15. Bel Says:

    Her name comes up as Ka Plíšková because she has an identical twin sister who plays, Kristýna Plíšková. You need the first 2 letters of her name as their names both start with K.

  16. Sandra Says:

    She has a twin sister, Kristyna, who also plays tennis. I presume it is to distinguish them apart if they are playing in the same tournament?

  17. Christine Says:

    The number of yellow dots are the number of incorrect challenges the players each can make in that set. If it goes to a tie break they get an extra challenge awarded, but the number gets reset to 3 at the start of the next set. A player can make any number of challenges, but once they hit the limit of incorrect ones in a set, they have to wait until the next set.

  18. Kev Says:

    Does anyone know if the AELTC saved the erstwhile dot-matrix scoreboard as a museum artifact?

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