Space odyssey for Wimbledon final coins

Teenager Marni Johnson will flip the coin at the toss for the Wimbledon women's final on Saturday as high as she can but not as high as it has already been -- to space and back.

Both the coins for the women's and the men's finals -- gold with tennis racquets on one side and '56' on the other to signify the number of expedition which went to the International Space Station (ISS) -- spent 197 days in 2018 in space, giving Wimbledon another piece of sporting history.

Commander Drew Feustel, who has been on three missions, said the idea emanated from a conversation he and his wife Indira had with Philip Brook, chairman of the All England Club, a few years ago.

His father-in-law had suggested back in 2009 that he take tennis racquets -- "we are a tennis playing family after all" -- but cargo having to be light the idea was dropped.

"What could we take to space which could tie together space and science and the excitement of tennis and the pinnacle of the sport?" said the American astronaut on Saturday.

"'Indi' thought of the coins as they are low mass, low volume and the team here (Wimbledon) came up with this design layout and size and dimension.

"They eventually made it to Houston, then to Russia and Kazakhstan and to the Soyuz craft and then space where they stayed for 197 days."
"I didn't want any risk of misplacing them, this is the first time they have been here (Wimbledon)."
- 'A little hypnotic'
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"I am not the best tennis player in the first place so that in itself was tricky
"It is a kind of lullaby, the reason I like the song is it has the pace when Earth passes by, slow and melodic and a little hypnotic."