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Andy Murray gets the headlines. Novak Djokovic gets the trophy. But somebody has to sprint across Centre Court between points, hand over a fresh ball with perfect timing, and stand completely motionless for two straight hours in the July heat — and that somebody is usually 14 years old.
Wimbledon’s ball boys and ball girls are some of the most visible unpaid workers in professional sports. While the 2026 singles champions are walking away with a record £3.6 million each, the roughly 280 teenagers running the same matches are working for something else entirely. Here’s exactly what they earn, why they do it anyway, and what it actually takes to land the job.
Wimbledon ball boys and girls receive no salary. They get a flat £200 expense stipend for the entire two-week Championships. About 280 are selected annually from roughly 1,400 applicants, mostly aged 14 to 17. Pay is expenses-only, not wages. Perks include free meals and keeping their uniform.
How Much Do Wimbledon Ball Kids Actually Get Paid?
The direct answer: they don’t get a salary at all. Every ball boy and ball girl selected for the Championships receives a flat £200 to cover expenses across the full fortnight — not an hourly wage, not a per-match fee, just a stipend. That works out to roughly £14 a day if you spread it across the tournament, for kids who are often on court for six-plus hours a day during peak rounds.
To put that next to the money swirling around them: a first-round loser in the main singles draw pockets £80,000 for a single afternoon of work. The ball kids standing feet away from that match, doing a physically demanding job with zero margin for error, get expenses money.
Pay & Perks Breakdown Table
| Wage / Salary | £0 | No formal pay structure exists for this role |
| Expense Stipend | £200 total | Covers the entire two-week Championships |
| Meals & Refreshments | Provided | Free while on duty across match days |
| Uniform | Theirs to keep | Ralph Lauren-designed Wimbledon kit |
| Court Access | Court-side, some finals | Some get better sightlines than paying spectators |
| Training Period | ~5 months unpaid | Starts as early as February, months before pay-free duty begins |
How Selection Works: 1,400 Apply, 280 Get In
Getting picked is genuinely competitive. Wimbledon draws around 1,400 applications each year and takes about 280 — a roughly 1-in-5 acceptance rate for a job that pays in exposure, not cash. Most new recruits are Year 9 and Year 10 students from local schools around the All England Club, while the rest of the cohort is made up of returning veterans who impressed the previous year and got invited back.
That returning-veteran system matters for search intent here too: kids who want this job aren’t applying once and hoping. Many treat it as a multi-year pipeline, starting the process in their young teens and working their way toward the most visible court assignments — Centre Court, finals weekend — by their second or third year in the program.
The Training Is No Joke
Preparation for the role starts roughly five months before the first ball is ever served, with indoor training sessions beginning in February. Former ball boys have described the process as closer to athletic conditioning than a summer job — hours spent perfecting the exact throw needed to get a ball back to a player without disrupting play, and drilling the ability to stand completely still for extended stretches without breaking focus.
About a month out from the tournament, training shifts onto the actual Wimbledon grounds, with recruits practicing in full uniform on the courts themselves before the Championships begin. None of that preparation time is paid either — it’s a five-month unpaid runway toward a two-week unpaid job.
Why Teens Do It For Free
This is the part that trips people up when they first hear the numbers: if there’s no real money in it, why do 1,400 kids apply every year? The honest answer is that Wimbledon ball kid status functions as social currency rather than income. It’s a recognizable badge across participating schools and boroughs, a résumé line that stands out, and — for a subset of recruits — a shot at being on camera during some of the most-watched tennis matches on the planet.
That’s the same dynamic that keeps stadium ushers, marathon pacers, and Olympic volunteers lining up for unpaid or low-paid roles at marquee sporting events worldwide. Wimbledon just runs one of the most visible versions of it.
FAQs
Do Wimbledon ball boys and girls get paid a salary?
No. They receive a flat £200 expense stipend for the entire two-week Championships instead of a wage or per-match fee. Meals and their uniform are provided on top of that.
How many ball kids work at Wimbledon each year?
Around 280 are selected annually from roughly 1,400 applicants, covering close to 700 matches across the fortnight.
How old do you have to be to become a Wimbledon ball boy or girl?
Most recruits are Year 9 and Year 10 students, typically between 14 and 17 years old, drawn from schools local to the All England Club.
How long is Wimbledon ball kid training?
Training begins as early as February, roughly five months before the Championships start, and moves onto the actual Wimbledon courts about a month before the tournament.
Do Wimbledon ball kids get any perks besides the stipend?
Yes. They keep their Ralph Lauren uniform after the tournament, receive free meals and refreshments while on duty, and some get court-side positioning better than what paying spectators can access.
Editorial Take
Here’s the tension nobody at the All England Club really wants to sit with: Wimbledon just posted its biggest single-year prize money jump in tournament history, pushing the total pool to £64.2 million. That money has to come from somewhere — record broadcasting deals, sold-out hospitality, global sponsorship. None of that abundance has trickled down to the kids standing on court for six hours a day. Call it tradition, call it a “prestige economy,” but £200 for a fortnight of skilled, high-pressure labor next to a £3.6 million champion’s check is a gap that’s hard to justify on merit alone. It works because demand for the badge of honor still outstrips the actual pay — but that’s a choice the Club is making, not a law of nature.
Would you take the job for £200 and the story — or is that exposure economy exploitative? Drop your take in the comments and tag a friend who was a ball kid growing up.
Sources: reporting on Wimbledon 2026 ball boy/girl pay and training via GiveMeSport and SportBible