Wimbledon stars sniffing freshly unpacked tennis balls

Wimbledon stars are taking part in a bizarre new craze by sniffing freshly unpacked tennis balls in a bid to get a whiff of their 'heavenly' smell.

Slovakian beauty Dominika Cibulkova started the trend after she was spotted indulging in the odour while on court.

The world number nine is so skilled that she can identify where different balls come from just by their scent.

She was blindfolded at last year's championships and managed to correctly match each one to the tournament where it was originally used. 

Slovakian beauty Dominika Cibulkova started the trend after she was spotted sniffing while on court

Tennis stars are smelling the balls to get a whiff of their 'heavenly' smell

The world number nine is so skilled that she can identify where different balls come from just by their scent

Viewers at home hailed the 'satisfaction' of opening a pack saying they smell like 'heaven'

She was blindfolded at last year's championships and managed to correctly match each one to the tournament where it was originally used

Dominika, 28, who tumbled out of this year's Wimbledon after losing to Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh, said: 'I know this smell because I smell it all the time.'

Jamie Murray has also been spotted taking part in the craze and even regularly gets his nose between two balls at once.

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On Friday he even managed to hold three in one hand before sniffing them for good luck.

Viewers at home hailed the 'satisfaction' of opening a pack saying they smell like 'heaven'.

Jamie Murray has also been spotted taking part in the craze and even regularly gets his nose between two balls at once

On Friday he even managed to hold three in one hand before sniffing them for good luck

Jamie Murray is pictured enjoying the smell of two freshly unpacked tennis balls

Maia Wendel wrote: 'Smelling a fresh can of tennis balls is something only tennis players truly understand.'

Mia Ray tweeted: 'Does smelling a can of freshly opened balls count as an inhalant?'

Paige Marie added: 'Opening a new pack of tennis balls is like smelling heaven in a can.'

It comes as a new survey reveals that half of Britons find watching Wimbledon as stressful as being stuck in traffic, experiencing delays or arguing with their partners. 

Dominika Cibulkova is pictured relaxing at a swimming pool while away from the tennis court

Dominika, 28, tumbled out of this year's Wimbledon after losing to Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh so will have plenty of time to lap up the sunshine

As well as being a tennis professional one of Dominika's hobbies appears to be snorkelling

Psychologist Honey Langcaster-James said: 'Despite the fact that many Brits love watching Wimbledon, myself included, it can be so stressful when your favourite player performs a less than perfect manoeuvre or when their opponent does something amazing. '

'Psychologically we become vicariously involved in the match and the more we are attached to our favourite players the more we empathise with them and experience some of the stress and tension that they do while they're actually playing.'

The top three things that Brits found as stressful as Wimbledon were being stuck in traffic at 46 per cent, experiencing train delays at 30 per cent and having a poor phone signal at 26 per cent.

The survey, commissioned by ticket marketplace StubHub, also showed that over half of those surveyed found that Andy Murray was the player they found most stressful to watch.

The next most stressful were Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

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