The BBC is on a roll with its sporting animations this summer. After hitting the net with the claymation Euro 2025 animation featuring a star-studded fantasy team, it went for a similarly handcrafted approach for the Wimbledon animation used as the opening card for its coverage of the tennis tournament.
This time rather than clay, it's papercraft stop-motion. Real paper cutouts and models were made of Wimbledon players along with the courts, Aorangi Terrace (Henman Hill), strawberries and even a London bus (see our pick of the best animation software if you want to try making your own work).
The Wimbledon animation was created by the London-based 2D animation specialists A+C Studios and directed by Jess Deacon for BBC Sport. It was made entirely from paper textures in a custom studio in Margate, where animators, set designers and model makers spent weeks recreating the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in miniature.
The result is an engaging and richly layered piece of animation that feels like a storybook. There's a clever resource of a match contested between vintage photos. Add the Fred Perry stature coming to life, and the piece captures the legacy of the competition while also making it feel fresh and relevant.
Deacon has said paper was chosen for the animation style to represent the precision and delicacy of tennis as a sport. I think it was a great choice, and it shows how the craftsmanship of traditional 2D stop-motion animation still has a unique warmth and authenticity that can triumph over more modern 3D CG animation approaches to create a timeless feel.
For more animation news, see the reaction to the first Cat in the Hat trailer. If you need to upgrade your setup for your own work, see our pick of the best laptops for animation.
