Dale Gleed inspects centre court

"The Aquaflex readings we have taken have altered our water management programme, there is no doubt about that. We are putting less water on, and it has improved the surface. I am that confident in saying that. And the root structure benefits too. In the past we have probably watered when we didn't quite require it. You tend to err on the side of caution and basically that's what we have done. You know, it's been a warm sunny day and you think, "we'd better put some water on" But actually, 100mm down where the roots are there is plenty of water there, it is not required."

"What we are trying to create within a playing surface is almost two fold. On the one hand you want a solid firm "crust" (for want of a better word) on the surface that is firm, hard, fast, good anchorage for the players, doesn't break up under aggressive play, holds together, doesn't crack. Whilst at the same time the plant that holds it all together, anchors it, as it were, needs to be healthy, stress free, and you know, a healthy plant is critical. And obviously, one of the most important factors of that is moisture. Now, in previous times we have either taken samples or put probes into the ground but they have always been a bit hit or miss. What we have now is a continuous reading of what the moisture is below there, and there is no doubt that I would have watered in conditions like they are now but the moisture sensors are actually telling us that there is plenty moisture down there, sufficient moisture for the plant to survive and for the plant to be stress free."

"In a way, we are creating our own benchmarks to see how far we can go, how dry we can get without it really suffering. We have had a particularly wet winter and spring time and we have seen that the moisture very rarely gets above 35/36% even when there is surface water everywhere, and that's about field capacity for us. The driest we have got it, is down to about 8%. That was during the Nottingham open while we had been covering for a period of three weeks"

"Another thing that we have found, in typical summer conditions, our irrigation programme, that we thought we were putting water on at a rate to achieve a perfect moisture level, we were putting on "x" amount of water for "x" amount of time at night. And we thought that that was sort of "flat lining it", keeping the moisture content stable, but it wasn't, the ground was still drying out. So it is now showing us that, what I thought was giving us the perfect amount of water to keep it in the same condition, wasn't actually. It was actually drying out, more and more. So again, that brings us information. If I think the court is in good condition moisture wise, I now know how much water to put for that flat line, to give us consistency across the graph, to give us consistency and repeatability of playing conditions. I now know more about the management of the conditions than I did before we had the equipment."

"We have definitely changed our irrigation management as a direct result of using Aquaflex. And water is an expensive item. You don't want to be chucking it on forever and ever. In short, we water less frequently, but more deeply. The water usage is definitely less but it is now applied in a much more controlled way because we can see what is actually happening in the root zone and not just on the surface."

"Clay obviously holds a lot of moisture; it is a wet cold soil. But once it gets wet, it takes an incredibly long time to dry out. It's not like, perhaps on a golf course, on a sand based green where even if you don't want to water you know that within two or three days it can be very very dry. From being saturated to being in its top (playing) condition probably takes me the best part of two weeks, to get a court in its best playing condition. And obviously the more information you can have the better. If its saturated, you know, but if it's somewhere in between, I need to know what level that is at, so that I can aim, without putting any water on it, to get it to where I want it to be for the match. So now I can time the preparation, to achieve the desired playing surface. Of course you can do it just with experience and knowledge, but the Aquaflex is an added benefit, with figures now to back up what we do."

"The other thing is that we roll it. So now we now know when it's best to roll. I.e. at a time when it's not too wet and not too dry to dry."

"In tennis as in cricket surfaces do tend to get dried out too much. In our game, particularly in preparation for a match, we do a lot of things that go against what you would do to create a perfect lawn at home, or for looking after the health of the plant. We cut it too short, we stress it out, we compact the soil. You know, for about six months of the year we do all these things and then in a mad rush in the winter, we try to relieve all those problems we've just caused. But that is the nature of the sports surface we are trying to create."

"In sport, particularly Cricket and Tennis, the moisture content is so critical. If it's too dry it can crack and break up, or too wet and it is not going to perform at its best, you are not going to produce the desired bounce. And that causes you a problem as a groundsman and you can get slated for not having a quick enough court."

"The performance of a court is so closely related to moisture content within the soil. It is essential that we manage it correctly, to professionally understand what is a suitable level for plant health but dry enough to produce a fast firm-playing surface."

"We can now set benchmarks so we can get the conditions exactly as we want them. And we now know, from the sensors, how long it takes to dry out, or to get the moisture up."

"Aquaflex is a tool that enables me to use my experience a little better. Basically it has proved to us we have been doing most things right, but we now have that extra information that gives you the confidence to go that little bit farther, to fine tune things to that higher quality, refine things to be more precise."