I was one of the lucky few who scored last minute tickets to Wimbledon! (unfortunately not the Sunday but the Saturday)
The main games of the Saturday were the ladies singles final and the mens doubles finals. There was also the ladies doubles finals but we left before that. The omens were good! we scored last minute tickets, the weather looked great and everyone was buzzing about Murray being in the final (he of course went on to win! Hurrah!).
Now like the F1 racing from last week it wouldn’t have been half as enjoyable if it had been raining!!! A lot of Wimbledon is outdoors especially Murray Mount/Henman Hill. Many of the courts don’t have covers too! So we were lucky to have centre court tickets. I would strongly suggest aiming for centre court or court number 1 tickets if you are booking in advance and have a choice.
We got to the grounds early wanting to soak up the atmosphere and get our bearings. This mainly involved wandering around finding the champagne and pimms bar, and then stopping there for a while. I must say the (reasonably priced) Strawberries and cream were lovely however my mum makes better pimms! (and this wasn’t so reasonably priced! Nearly £30!!!!) The bar was right by centre court and was one of the few places that accepted card. That’s right we may be in 2013 but at Wimbledon the food court only takes cash!!!! the food by the way is pretty varied and rather nice. (not just your standing burgers and chips which is sold at every sporting event – however you can still get a burger if needs be)
The main thing I liked about Wimbledon was that it was civilised! There was no pushing or shoving and no (very) drunk people. (although the couple next to me were knocking back the gin and tonics!) Centre court itself is not small by any means but is not sooo large that the tennis players look like match sticks and the ball is a tiny yellow speck.
We were very lucky with our seats. They were far back but they were on the shady side of the court! Temperatures reached over 28 degrees on Saturday and opposite us on the other side of the court there were a lot of fainters. The paramedics had to be called out a few times for people who had fainted in the heat. A lot of people in those seats were glad that the women’s final was so short.
I must point out that I haven’t talked about the actual tennis much. The women’s final was…. erm….. disappointing. Bartoli destroyed Lisicki in straight sets. It was rather uncomfortable to watch a tennis player go to pieces so comprehensively! The men’s doubles final was entertaining but it was hard to get behind the Americans who were the number one seed. (I’ve nicknamed them the bryanators! as they twins with the surname Bryan, appear to be unbeatable and share the personality of a robot. A single robot designed to do a tedious task)
Overall it was a good day! the atmosphere was amazing the tennis was average but I think that was down to the nerves of the players not Wimbledon.
I am already looking to see if I can get men’s final tickets next year! I don’t even care if Murrays not in it! I might even try for the women’s final, I just hope there are more interesting and deserving players in it next year!
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