Wimbledon Players' Food Stipends Might Not Be A Winner

Imagine it: you're a world-famous tennis star heading to Wimbledon to compete in "the oldest and most famous tennis tournament in the world" (via Insider). The average player burns 575-775 calories per hour in a competitive game of tennis (per Active Tennis Coaching), which means you're probably pretty hungry, but since you have a £90 stipend (about $108) to spend at restaurants on-site each day, fueling up shouldn't be a problem ... right? It all makes sense in theory, but what's actually happening at Wimbledon this year has somehow become a lot more complicated.

Apparently, competitors at Wimbledon were sent an email telling them to not spend their entire food allowance each day. According to The Guardian, concerns arose after it was believed that some players were trying to max out their budget each day intentionally, purchasing items in excess of what they were actually eating, which could potentially lead to supply shortages. There was even one rumor shared about a coach who used their budget to buy 27 probiotic yogurt drinks at once, which is surely more than any reasonable person would consume in a single day. The UK may be facing a summer beer shortage, but do citizens need to worry about yogurt now, too? People online had a lot of opinions to share about the request. 

There seemed to be two main takes on the news coming out of Wimbledon. One opinion was that the event organizers need to loosen up and just let people spend what they want, while others thought the players' budget and the cost of food in general was far too much. "It's Wimbledon. The English are soo tight," said one Twitter user. On the other hand: "£90 food allowance....someone's making an absolute packet there supplying the food to Wimbledon," scoffed another Twitter user. 

Still, others tried to come to the defense of the rumored yogurt-hoarding coach. "Maybe he just had gut issues?" wondered one empathetic Twitter commenter). "He will do after 27 yogurts," a Twitter user said in reply. "It's a grand tradition," joked another. "Wimbledon, where the probiotic yogurt drink flows like wine" (via Twitter) While strawberries and cream being served at Wimbledon is a tradition, we're not so sure about the probiotic yogurt. What we do know is that even if the players do run out of money in their per diem budget, they can rest easy knowing that a reliable bowl of strawberries and cream will only set them back £2.50 (via Metro).