Wimbledon

Wimbledon is one of those events that I have always wanted to attend... I remember first watching it with interest over the 4th of July soccer tournaments in Avon (that's football for you UK readers), and on a Thursday when I was already out of the office for the afternoon, and with Rachel off traveling in Stuttgart, I thought that I'd hop on the tube and head over to see if I could get in.

The weather in London has been fantastic since we've been here (in my opinion), but sure enough, with an international viewing stage, the rain has appeared right on queue to interrupt things. Places are flooded in places like Sheffield, Leeds and Lincolnshire, (in the north? I am still learning the UK geography), and Wimbledon has been a mess so far with play regularly interrupted and it seems like the courts have been covered more frequently than not. I was fortunate in that while grey and cool, and a bit breezy (ahh, summer in London?), not a raindrop fell... which would have made me question even more the the hour and a half that I waited in the infamous queue.

Once in though (at just after 6pm, for a £12 grounds ticket) it was well worth it. I set out to explore a bit first before seeing any tennis, and then picked a few matches to see using the main schedule board:


One thing I was immediately struck by was that besides Centre and Court 1 it is a very intimate environment, where it is very easy to get a very close view of the courts and participants.


a few observations:

• the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club) is tucked right within a residential neighborhood and next to a golf course
• the spectators were well behaved and had a high level of 'tennis knowledge'
• strawberries & cream = £2
• the courts are cut to about the length of fairways at a well manicured golf course (I was always curious, and managed to get right up to two of the courts as the photos show)
• all of the scoreboards I saw were manually operated, and the 'hawkeye' replay challenge cameras are only on the main two courts
  
• it is a great family event with little kids all fired up about seeing their favourite (had to do it) players and all chatty about their own tennis aspirations.
• tickets are tough to get - I think they allow in 36,000 at any one time, and many Londoners have never been, even though it is walkable from at least two tube stops (Southfields and Wimbledon)

I ended up seeing a bit of the singles, including some of a Nadal match on the big screen from "Henman's Hill" outside of Centre Court, and then three (two at the same time by merit of the fact that some of the outer courts are separated by no more width than a sidewalk with benches facing in either direction) very good doubles matches, the last of which went to a tiebreak.

I'll definitely do this again (maybe not this year with our upcoming travel schedule), and will enter the lottery next year for tickets because it is such an easy trip there and back, and I am not sure if I am up for camping overnight on the sidewalk to get the 500 ticket they reserve each day for walk up sales to the 'major' courts.


more photos can be seen here




-- next on the sport 'to do' list is the British Open / Open Championship... but that requires significantly more planning and logistics efforts, so will not happen this year at Carnoustie...