Professional tennis players are stealing towels from the Wimbledon tennis championship in the U.K., and losses add up to US$170,000, according to tournament organizers.
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For each edition of Wimbledon there are about 6,000 official towels manufactured and given to players throughout the tournament.
“I kind of plan in advance space in half of a bag or an entire new bag for the towels that I take from Wimbledon," said Serbian player Novak Djokovic.
There are no limits on how many towels a player can ask for, but they are expected to return them at the end of the game. But no officials enforce this, so players end up taking them home.
Andy Murray (R) after a Wimbledon match in 2015. | Photo: AFP
"I normally take one each day and give it to someone on my team. I don't keep them. But my wife likes them. I think they're quite good quality towels," said the Scottish player Andy Murray.
This "theft" has even turned into a game among players, which are among the highest paid athletes in the world.
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"The juniors for many years I believe were having a competition to see how many they can get,” said George Spring, Wimbledon's court attending manager. “But our policy now is that if they do ask for another towel we will give them a white towel and they soon don't ask for another when that happens. We are trying to break in the next generation of towel connoisseurs."
According to Springs, U.S. player Serena Williams takes home the most towels.
"Serena is a legend as far as towels go and she would have to buy a second house," said Springs. "The towel thing has always been a little bit kept in secrecy."
Organizers say they expect only 20 percent of the towels to be returned. After that, they are washed and donated to charity. The towels are sold for US$40 during the tournament.
Spring says some players take as many as eight towels during a game, but despite the losses, they "go all around the world to advertise this wonderful tournament."