Huh? The prestigious Wimbledon says: don’t buy too much food & drink
Even at the oh-so-proper Wimbledon tennis tournament, attended by royalty and where you see people sipping champagne and daintily poking at strawberries with cream, a little scandal can arise…
And this time not on the court, because since tennis greats like John McEnroe stopped having racket-throwing arguments with the umpire, things have become a lot more peaceful. No, this commotion has everything to do with food and drink:
Working for your meal
What’s going on? During Wimbledon, all the tennis players taking part in the competition receive a daily food budget, and their coaches get one too. The coaches receive about half of what the players get – logical, because they naturally don’t burn as many calories as those athletes labouring for hours on end. And every day, that amount is ready to be happily spent in the cafeterias.
Eating like a king
And that these cafeterias aren’t the kind serving ‘pink iced cakes from the factory and, if you’re lucky, a chicken corn dog personally fished out of the fryer by Ria the cafeteria lady’, that much is clear. Especially when you see how much that players’ budget is: a whopping £90 PER DAY, or one hundred rock-hard quid. And coaches get about fifty pounds, every day again. At least until that player gets smacked off the court, but perhaps they can immediately drown their sorrows with that budget at the Pimm’s bar afterwards. (I’m not sure whether it exists, but surely it does.)
Luxury food
More than a hundred euros a day for the company cafeteria; how on earth are you supposed to spend it all, we wonder? Of course, as an athlete you undoubtedly need plenty of nutritionally balanced eating moments throughout the day. And London is screamingly expensive; you’ll find a high concentration of incredibly pricey (but exceptional) restaurants, and when I’m there and get a coffee and something sweet somewhere (okay, at Ottolenghi), I close my eyes while tapping my card.
Arms full of yoghurt
But still, there must undoubtedly be some basis for that budget. So what’s the situation? The organisation has issued an urgent appeal asking everyone to please keep themselves a little in check in that cafeteria. Could people show a little self-control and not throw their entire budget for the day out the window, please and thank you.
The reason was that a certain coach (name and number still unknown) was spotted carrying no fewer than twenty-seven yoghurts under their arm. Haha! This must have been someone with an enormous love of dairy, or someone facing the next match pessimistically and thinking, ‘Tomorrow I’ll have to pay for my yoghurts at the supermarket again.’
Sharing fairly
In any case, because this made the organisation fear shortages (and because it’s rather rude), they have asked players and coaches not to burn through their entire séjours (daily food and drink budget) anymore. Hopefully, that way there will still be something left for the next person…
Read also:
- Eddie’s food pet peeves: those heavy breathers at the breakfast buffet
- This drink is fit for a princess
- Top tip: this holiday home in England, beer taps included
