Wimbledon attendees chance their arm against robot tennis stars’ serves

Could you return Emma Raducanu’s 110mph serve, or receive a 145mph stroke from Andy Murray? What about Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s 153mph torpedo, which broke Wimbledon records last year? This year’s tournament attendees have had the opportunity to try their luck on the court, facing off against a robotic serving machine rather than their tennis heroes. For many, it was a welcome break from camping out in the queue for the next day’s tickets, while others gained renewed appreciation for the technical skill on show in Centre Court. Alex Ellis found his robot significantly harder than his usual opponents. “I got one over the net from Sir [John] McEnroe, so that will do, but [the Ukrainian player Elina] Svitolina’s – I couldn’t get anywhere near it,” he said. “It felt like pressure to be honest, it’s almost like I’m playing at Wimbledon, but it was enjoyable. It definitely shows how competitive it is at the real level.” The first-of-its-kind robot recreates the speed, angle and trajectory of serves from the world’s best players, and uses the 5G network to connect it with real-time data from Centre Court. Oliver Kibblewhite, whose 5Gs agency created the machine, said the robot arm was built “very stout” to handle faster serves than a normal tennis serving machine. Around half of punters were able to return at least one of three serves, and Raducanu has proven the most popular to tackle, he said. 5Gs’s robotic serving machine, created in collaboration with Vodafone. …