Wimbledon is over for another year - but the expert number crunchers are already working for 2018 and beyond

Their contributions are behind all the stats you enjoy during Championships fortnight, from those highlighted between sets on TV to those pumped out to 22 million devices via the app

Wimbledon is over for another year - but plenty of work is still going on behind the scenes (Getty)

And with that it's gone. After two weeks of sun, strawberries and smashes, Wimbledon now shuffles back into the shadows, leaving us with nothing but warm memories and a few gaping holes in our schedules.

If the eighth day of the Championships has come to be known as Manic Monday, this is Melancholic Monday – the day on which we have to face facts and acknowledge that our next fortnight-long tennis tryst is fully 50 weeks away. No more Andy, no more Jo, no more Roger.

For some, though, there is little time to rest and reflect. Take the master data team at IBM, the driving force behind every last stat – from average service speed to number of points won with sliced backhand returns – that brings the experience to life on television, online and on the Wimbledon app.

"We've already started planning for 2018 and 2019," Sam Seddon, IBM's client executive for Wimbledon, told the Independent at SW19 last week. "Everything you see is set up within three and a half weeks of the Championships, and within 48 hours of the final ball being hit on Centre Court it's all gone."

It's no small task: during the tournament, the statistics are painstakingly collated, both at courtside and in "the bunker", an underground rabbit warren of rooms with names like 'Applications: tech room 59' and 'Internet: tech room 58', full of servers and screens. This is what it takes to run the most complex data operation in tennis.

"Wimbledon is very progressive as a client," said Seddon. "Their mission is to be the biggest tennis tournament in the world and we are a component part of that. Data collection here is more comprehensive than anywhere else." The number of data points being gathered, he says, currently lies north of 53 million. And it's ever growing.

With that in mind, it should perhaps come as little surprise that a certain level of expertise is required to even punch the raw stuff into the system. On each show court there are three data collectors, who are backed up in the bunker – but not by computer experts or analysts in the first instance.

"We get good tennis players rather than technical people," Seddon explained. "They all have to have a certain LTA ranking, so they're national standard. They see the game slightly differently... it's about interpretation, feel. There's a certain amount of anticipation as well."


 Federer triumphed after a historic fortnight 
 (Getty)

Their contributions are behind all the stats you enjoy during Championships fortnight, from those highlighted between sets on television to those pumped out to 22 million devices via the app. The speed of the thing is staggering: it can take as little as 2.5 seconds from an initial button press courtside to your phone anywhere in the world.

Innovation is also a watchword. This year, Seddon and his team brought artificial intelligence into the mix, in the shape of a complex algorithm that can establish, at any moment in time, which matches being played are the most competitive. Ever felt overawed by the number of options on the red button? This, in the years ahead, could be the key to picking a five-set thriller over a straight-sets parade.

It is an exciting prospect and unlikely to be the only new addition in the years ahead. As Seddon asks: "We've got all this information, but how can we do more with it?"