LONDON (AP) — Grass in much of London turned brown last week amid a record heat wave that made Britain and the rest of Europe sizzle. Water demand skyrocketed and suppliers urged people to drastically reduce outdoor usage.
The perfectly manicured lawns of Wimbledon’s famous tennis courts are as green as ever, though, as play at the grass-court Grand Slam got underway this week.
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Ground staff fixes the net of a court one day ahead of the start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, June 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Maja Smiejkowska)
Spectators cool themselves with a hand fan as they watch the second round men's singles match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Valentin Royer of France, at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Maja Smiejkowska)
Ground staff works on the court on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Neil Stubley, All England Club head of courts and horticulture at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships poses for a photographer in London, Wednesday, July 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Andrew Dampf)
Ground staff waters a court one day ahead of the start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, June 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The lush green courts are a standard that players, spectators and broadcasters have come to expect — or take for granted.
“I have not once ever considered the watering of the grass,” American player Madison Keys said Thursday after a second-round win. “They always are (green), so that’s probably why I have never thought about it.”
The players don't need to worry about it because Neil Stubley, the All England Club’s head of courts and horticulture, and his team of 31 groundskeepers make sure that Wimbledon is always a picture-perfect spectacle thanks to constant maintenance.
Stubley said he's “probably got about 25 weather apps that I look at probably every seven minutes” to make sure he keeps up with the changing climate. He attributes the perfectly green courts to years of research into grasses that can withstand extreme heat.
“It’s inevitable and it is happening,” Stubley said of the increasing number of heat waves in Britain. “We have a grass species trial that’s been running for nearly 40 years looking at what are the best grasses for tennis, the more drought tolerant, the more hard-wearing grasses.”
The 18 tournament courts and 20 practice courts for Wimbledon have been sown with perennial ryegrass since 2001. Also, tubes are installed on Centre Court and four other courts in which a probe can be inserted to measure soil moisture.
Soil moisture levels have a direct bearing on surface hardness, live grass cover and ball rebound. The probes came in handy last week when temperature records for June in Britain were smashed on three consecutive days.
It was England’s warmest June on record, according to the Met Office, Britain’s national weather service.
What made the heat wave even worse was overnight temperatures were also well-above average.
That hasn't been an issue this week, though.
“At the moment, in London, in the UK, you may have a 33-degree (Celsius) day (91 Fahrenheit) but you’re then getting a 17-degree (62 F) overnight," Stubley added. "That allows the temperature to come down, it allows the dew point to come in. It’s almost like us going into an air conditioned room in the evening — we can all chill out.”
The heat wave in Britain ended last weekend and temperatures at Wimbledon this week have not risen above 26 C (79 F). But it's forecast to get hotter over the middle weekend and into next week.
What's more is that it hasn't rained once during this year's tournament and there is no rain in the forecast.
Spring in London this year was also drier than usual with April having had only 20% of the average expected rain, according to Thames Water, which is responsible for the water supply in Greater London.
There are 54 million grass plants on Centre Court alone at the start of the championships and 200 metric tons of soil are used each year to level the courts.
Each court at Wimbledon has its own unique irrigation program but the club does not have its own water supply system.
Still, organizers strive for conservation.
“Every time we do a project, part of the remit is how can we conserve things, whether that be energy, whether that be water, the construction of the core, we’re constantly looking at the drainage layers, whether we can start using systems where we can recapture water and reuse it, whether it’s just potable or can we have boreholes, whether we can use the lakes across the road,” Stubley said.
“It’s always a very fast-moving kind of dynamic because the laws always change. One minute you can have a borehole, the next year you can’t, depending on legislation,” Stubley added.
Hot temperatures have become an issue at all four Grand Slams in recent years, whether it’s consistently extreme temperatures at the Australian Open, an unexpected heat wave during this year’s French Open, or the humidity at the U.S. Open.
But Wimbledon is the only major played on a live surface; since the Australian Open and U.S. Open are contested on hard courts and the French Open is played on red clay.
Preparation of the Wimbledon courts is independently verified by the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) in Yorkshire.
The research institute performs moisture and hardness readings and even counts blades of grass on the baselines to see how quickly the plants are wearing out.
“And then every day we get that data,” Stubley said. “Each court will have its own microclimate. … So we’re constantly number crunching. … When we’re getting those hardness readings and it’s saying that Court 14 is firmer than Centre Court, we can then add a little bit more water to 14 and a little less to Centre Court so we keep those numbers the same.”
Heat isn’t the only menace to Wimbledon’s courts. Defending champion Jannik Sinner and seven-time winner Novak Djokovic act as unintended lawn mowers when they slide across the baseline to reach shots.
“If you look at the pimple of a grass-court tennis shoe, it’s almost like a cheese grater,” Stubley said. “As it cuts through the plant, it will shred leaves.”
Unlike the spots where most players stand to serve — which typically turn brown later in the tournament because of heavy usage — the sliding damage has a different impact on the courts.
“It’s more spread out when you’ve got the likes of Novak and Sinner doing that,” Stubley said. “Year on year you will have people that just have different styles and we just have to accept that.”
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Ground staff fixes the net of a court one day ahead of the start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, June 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Maja Smiejkowska)
Spectators cool themselves with a hand fan as they watch the second round men's singles match between Alexander Zverev of Germany and Valentin Royer of France, at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Maja Smiejkowska)
Ground staff works on the court on day two of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Neil Stubley, All England Club head of courts and horticulture at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships poses for a photographer in London, Wednesday, July 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Andrew Dampf)
Ground staff waters a court one day ahead of the start of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Sunday, June 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The Trump administration is proposing a new rule to keep hospitals from charging markups on discounted drugs for Medicare patients and says that could save consumers $1.1 billion next year, according to estimates obtained by the AP. The rule expected Thursday comes as the Republican administration tries to show it’s tackling the challenges of affordability for U.S. families.
Also, former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations he says are targeting him for “what amounts to phantom criminal conduct.”
The lawsuit says the records would shed light on the motivations of government officials who are investigating Brennan.
Here's the latest:
House Democrats allege consultants tied to Trump may have engaged in financial fraud related to the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
Democrats accuse the consultants of tricking donors who wanted to support the nation’s bipartisan 250th anniversary organizer into sending their money to a rival group set up by Trump’s Republican administration.
A Democratic report released Thursday says donors intending to contribute funds to the bipartisan America250 committee created by Congress were instead given banking and routing numbers for a different but similarly named Trump-backed group, Freedom 250.
A Freedom 250 spokesperson dismisses the Democrats’ report as “categorically false” and calls it a “partisan smear.”
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At least 258 ships transited the waterway last week, a period that included Iranian strikes on two commercial vessels, according to marine data and analysis company Lloyd’s List Intelligence. That’s up from 138 ships the previous week.
Iran’s attacks on ships in the strait on June 25 and 27 “seem to have been forgotten,” Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd’s, said Thursday during a webinar.
Still, traffic has slowed somewhat since the strikes and remains far below prewar levels, when about 130 vessels passed through daily.
And with ship operators having to choose between complying with Iran’s demands or braving the route off Oman watched by U.S. forces, “nothing about this situation is stable,” Meade said.
Douglas DePodesta has served as special agent in charge in Chicago, one of the FBI’s largest offices, for nearly two years and has been with the bureau since 2002.
He told colleagues in a resignation message that his last day would be Monday. Multiple people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move, said DePodesta had been pushed to retire.
The move is part of a broader upheaval in the FBI’s workforce as Director Kash Patel has sought to force out line agents and supervisors alike who are perceived as not supporting the Trump administration agenda. It also comes amid prolonged tumult in the law enforcement community in Chicago.
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-By Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer
The American Hospital Association said the Trump administration’s proposal to keep hospitals from charging markups on discounted drugs for Medicare patients would compound the financial pressures its members face.
“These proposals will undermine the ability of hospitals to maintain essential services and protect affordable access to care for those who depend on the 340B program,” said Ashley Thompson, the group’s senior vice president for public policy analysis and development.
There is the risk that hospital systems could see their revenues decrease, which could have consequences in the communities they serve.
California’s drawn-out tabulating has put the state in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and made it a target of those who promote unfounded election conspiracy theories.
California has enacted many changes over the years that were intended to boost voter turnout. But there hasn’t been significant improvement in participation and those changes are largely responsible for the state’s tediously slow ballot counting today.
Preliminary figures show turnout hit 40.8% in the June primary, with counties required to complete their vote counting on Thursday.
That would be an increase over recent primary elections but below participation levels in others stretching back to 2000.
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Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response,” ratcheting up tensions again over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies.
The strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has emerged as one of the top issues in negotiations seeking a permanent end to the Iran war. The statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, reported by Iranian state television, comes after both U.S. and Iranian diplomats met with mediators Wednesday in Qatar.
It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the threat from Iran. However, the U.S. military’s Central Command had put out a statement about a meeting with officials from Mideast nations in Bahrain that said “leaders underscored their shared commitment to the free flow of commerce through” the strait.
That appears to have been the phrase that angered Iran, which is preparing for the funeral that begins this weekend for the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s first moments in February.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration officials thanked National Guard members for their service in the nation’s capital as small groups of protesters chanted, “Guard go home!”
Hegseth apologized for being nearly 30 minutes late to the event in a city park, where more than 200 Guard members sweated in the morning sun as Washington faced an extreme heat warning.
Hegseth called the protesters “ingrates” as their whistles, chants and horn-blowing mixed with the speeches.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, claimed crime has rapidly fallen since President Trump deployed the Guard last year. Local officials say crime was already going down before Trump ordered troops into the city.
Hegseth credited Trump, Miller and the Guard for why Washington “is a safe and beautiful place” for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations this weekend.
The Supreme Court just wrapped up a term that yielded significant rulings in cases involving race and discrimination that could have lasting effects on U.S. politics and society.
Justices were at times bitterly divided — and critical of one another — in rulings that winnowed key provisions of a landmark voting rights law, allowed the government to revoke protections for some immigrants and even challenged the historic understanding of birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants.
The decisions come at a moment when long-standing debates over race and identity have turned toward immigration, increasing racial diversity and the fairness of policies meant to prevent and redress discrimination.
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On Saturday, Trump’s administration plans to launch Trump Accounts, tying the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence to an effort to boost financial independence for American kids.
Under the program, parents can open investment accounts for any child born during Trump’s second term and automatically receive $1,000 from the government. Accounts can be opened on behalf of older children — as long as they don’t turn 18 before the end of the calendar year — but they won’t get the $1,000.
That money — and anything else deposited by employers, philanthropies and relatives — is invested in the stock market by private firms. Children can’t access the money until they turn 18, and then only for specific purposes, like paying for a home or school.
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The administration is proposing the new rule Thursday to keep hospitals from charging markups on discounted drugs for Medicare patients and says that could save consumers $1.1 billion next year, according to estimates obtained by The Associated Press.
The rule would apply to hospitals that serve low-income patients under what’s known as the 340B program, which lets hospitals buy outpatient prescription drugs at discounted prices. But in many cases, hospitals can bill insurers at rates that exceed those costs, allowing hospitals to keep the difference and resulting in higher costs to patients.
Under the proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would change the formula for what hospitals participating in the program can get reimbursed, in an effort to cut costs for patients.
The Republican administration has sought to show during an election year that it’s tackling the challenges of affordability for U.S. families at a time when rising healthcare costs are driving financial strains for households and the government alike. While the administration has taken several steps it says will save money on medical treatment, it’s unclear how much savings might ultimately materialize based on the complexity of the country’s healthcare system.
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President Trump and his fellow Republicans are reviving a line of attack against Democrats heading into the midterm elections: They’re communists.
In just the past week, Trump has issued dark warnings that members of the Democratic Party’s ascendant left are communists who want to “completely destroy the traditional American way of life” and even engage in assassinations. Vice President JD Vance has similarly called out communism as a political shift that is “something we haven’t seen in the U.S.” House Speaker Mike Johnson has decried “radical candidates” who are “self-described, self-identifying Marxists.”
The GOP’s ideological focus conflates democratic socialism, which often centers on securing universal healthcare, higher taxes on wealthy people and stricter corporate regulation, with communism, under which private ownership is largely eliminated. It’s been building since Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor last year.
But it’s kicked into a higher gear recently after democratic socialists won several New York City congressional primaries last week.
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For decades, all that separated the U.S. from Mexico was barbed wire.
Now, after a massive infusion of cash from Congress, Trump’s administration is swiftly building what it’s dubbed a “smart wall,” a combination of 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel fencing and an array of sophisticated technology like sensors, cameras and towers allowing Border Patrol to surveil the territory.
The wall is under heavy scrutiny for the billions of dollars being dedicated to it when border crossings are at their lowest in decades. Critics say the U.S. is militarizing the border as it increasingly deploys sophisticated surveillance technology to the area, impacting local communities.
“We are seeing a massive expansion of surveillance and surveillance technology across the borderlands,” said Ricky Garza, border policy counsel at the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an advocacy group. “The wall in all its forms is harmful to communities.”
Officials say the technology is complementary to the physical wall and frees up agents for other tasks.
“It’s a smart wall. It’s not just a barrier,” Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said during recent congressional testimony.
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Trump’s latest financial disclosure report showed he took in about $1.2 billion last year from various crypto holdings, overshadowing a real estate business that brought him fame and helped propel him to the nation’s top office.
Whereas it took decades for Trump to amass his various properties, the rise of crypto in his portfolio was done in just over a year.
Running over 900 pages, the mandatory annual report showed Trump struck several other new veins of wealth last year, raising questions about whether he is profiting from his high office.
He took in tens of millions from new property holdings in foreign countries eager to please a man with power over where to deploy the U.S. military and how much to charge in tariffs. And he got tens of million more suing media companies worried they could lose their broadcast licenses or not get deals approved by his regulators.
Ever the salesman, Trump even made big money off the smallest of things, pulling in millions by slapping his name on Bibles, guitars and watches — the latter alone bringing in $4.7 million.
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Trump visited North Dakota on Wednesday to see the newly built Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a massive facility exploring the life of America’s 26th president, built in the rugged, lonely landscape where Roosevelt built his conservation values in the 1880s.
During a tour of the 96,000-square-foot library and in a speech afterward, Trump spoke admiringly of Roosevelt and compared himself favorably to the former president, who he described as the embodiment of the American spirit, praising his toughness as a leader and outdoorsman.
“He had a freakin’ wild life,” Trump told an audience at a Western-themed amphitheater. “He didn’t want to be quiet. He wanted to be great.”
The official opening of the library on Saturday coincides with July Fourth celebrations honoring the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “what amounts to phantom criminal conduct.”
The lawsuit says the records would shed light on the motivations of government officials who are investigating Brennan and would form the basis of defense efforts to dismiss any eventual indictment on grounds that the case constitutes a vindictive prosecution.
Such an argument, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Donald Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Justice Department to initiate investigations of Brennan “without regard to factual or legal justification.”
Without an order, the lawsuit contends, the records are at risk of being lost or intentionally deleted.
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President Donald Trump greets supporters after arriving on a Freedom 250 train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, N.D. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to board Air Force One at Bismarck Municipal Airport, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump arrives at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on the Freedom 250 train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, N.D. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
