Claim:
Some of the 55,000 balls used during the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament are exceeded annually in threatened mice of the harvest.
Evaluation:
RATE: Obsolete
As the annual Wimbledon tennis championships took place from June to July 2025, social media users say that thousands of tennis balls used in the tournament receive a second life as homes for small mice facing habitats.
For example, an Instagram user shared an image (archived) with a text that reads: “55,000 tennis balls have been converted into mouse mice after Wimbledon.”
The inscription of the publication, which has accumulated nearly 20,000 likes for this writing, claims that the balls are “donated to conservation groups” that cut small entrances to mice to enter “grassy meadows and hedges”.
Similar it is the rumors on Facebook (archived) and reddit (archived).
In short, while Wimbledon has previously donated some of his tennis balls for conservation groups to use as home -harvesting mice, these donations seem to be one -off. For this reason, we have evaluated this claim to be outdated.
The oldest source for the alleged donation seems to be coming from an article by the BBC of 2001, which at the time said some of the 36,000 tennis balls of the tournament were donated to the treasures of the wild – British Federation of Divinner Charity Organizations – To recycle like mouse homes to harvest. A 2003 BBC article includes a small subsequent note to this story, stating that Wimbledon had donated 350 tennis balls to the wildness of the wild two years earlier.
Snops contacted wildlife and Wimbledon’s trips to confirm whether the tournament continued to make such donations and, if so, for details of what is included in them. A spokesman for the wildlife said: “Unfortunately, the story of a tennis ball is very outdated as we have not worked with Wimbledon that way for some time.” Similarly, a Wimbledon spokesman has confirmed that the story of the mice of the harvest is old.
In 2011, the Guardian newspaper reported that Wimbledon again donated tennis balls to home mice, this time at the request of an aquarium in Northern England. The Guardian did not say how many tennis balls were donated at the time.
It was not possible to find more recent articles about the tournament that makes such donations, although other tennis clubs in the UK have endowed tennis balls for the same purpose.
Although not threatened globally, mice are considered to be “close threatened” in the UK, according to a mammalian society, a British charity. Vintage mice are the smallest rodent of the UK, which means a tennis ball with a hole cut into it, it can be a place for mice to rest safely from their predators.
During the Wimbledon tournament, he sells his used tennis balls on the spot, and the receipts go to the Wimbledon Foundation, his charity. Wimbledon has been selling his tennis balls in the last few years, according to the tournament spokesman.
Wimbledon’s website does not include any information about the fate of unused and unsold tennis balls, but Keith research, a sports hospitality company that has partnered with Wimbledon, said they were donated or recycled during the weeks and months after the tournament was completed. Keith’s website added: “Before that, some of the balls were donated to the UK’s wildlife confidence, which cut them and used them to make mice for harvest mice!”
Sources:
“Harvesting Mouse.” Mammalianmamalal.org.uk/british-mamalals/harvest-mouse. Access on July 16, 2025
“Have a ball in Wimbledon!” Bbc2003, news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/tennis/features/newsid_2997000/2997504.STM. Access on July 16, 2025
“” New balls, please “for mouse homes.” BbcJune 25, 2001, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1406612.STM. Access on July 16, 2025
“Wimbledon’s Championships, Facts and Figures.” Wimbledon.comwww.wimbledon.com/en_Gb/atoz/faq_and_Facts_and_figures.html. Access on July 16, 2025
Wainrait, Martin. “What happens to the used Wimbledon balls? Ask the Cumbria mice.” GuardianJune 29, 2011, www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2011/jun/29/wimbledon-lukes-lakes-aquarium-slazenger-barnsley. Access on July 16, 2025
“Mice in Watermead County to live in tennis balls.” BbcApril 26, 2013, www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-22314712. Access on July 16, 2025
“What happens after Wimbledon | Tennis | Keith Pros.” Www.keithprowse.co.ukAugust 16, 2022, www.keithProwse.co.uk/news-and-blog/2022/08/16/what-happens-post-wimbledon/. Access on July 16, 2025