Djokovic victorious on Centre Court
Venus Williams victorious on Court #1
Overlooking Court #1 from my First Row seat
Wimbledon - Centre Court
The Train exit at WimbledonMonday, June 21st
This morning I decided to change hotels and move into the city of London. My place I've been staying at is not much more than a closet and it was about time to move on. Although very inexpensive, it was questionable in many other areas. Since it's so small, my head was about 6 inches from the door when laying down. This morning 2 different chambermaids keyed in. Not a big deal - they knock - I ask them to come back later - they come in anyway. I don't care - eventually I've just started not saying anything because they come in anyway. Then, this other guy throws open the door. It was like Kramer's entrance on Seinfeld. I must have been sleeping because I didn't hear keys. This scared the living daylights out of me. The door slammed open. I must have jumped about 2 feet horizontally from the bed. I don't know who it was - but they left.
I'm now staying near Earl's Court - walkable to many of the tour sites in London (Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, etc). It's perfect, you get off the train and walk about 50 yards. Plus, I'm still only paying about $80. London can definitely be cost effective if you find the right spots.
My first order of business today was getting my Russian Visa worked out. Russia is easily the most difficult country for me to gain access on the entire trip. The Visa process is involved and time consuming. You can only apply for a Visa within 90 days of your departure; therefore, I couldn't do it before leaving the US. I don't have the luxury of easy resources like in the states. I found a place in London (through internet search) that would assist people like me. I went there early afternoon. I found out it's possible for them to handle everything for me (including the sponsorship letters, etc). Only problem - it's going to take 14 days with my passport. I have copies, but I don't want to be without it travelling from country to country. I worked out the schedule to bring them my passport on July 19th and they will send in while I'm travelling in Scotland for 2 weeks. That's a huge relief. I was worried this was not going to happen.
It was about 2pm. What should I do now? Go to Wimbledon - that's the easy answer.
Wimbledon - the All England Tennis Club - the home of the 3rd tennis major of the year - the home of the most prestigious event in tennis (my opinion). Wimbledon is to tennis as The Masters is to golf.
I didn't have tickets and was skeptical how I would get in. I knew that today was the very first day of Wimbledon; therfore, the matches were all first round and shouldn't be quite the price as quarterfinal matches in Paris. I took 'the Tube' to the Wimbledon exit (District Green Line). When I got off the train, the sidewalk was grass and chalked, just like at Wimbledon - that was pretty cool. I followed the people for about 3/4-mile to the grounds. I found out right away that the only chance to get tickets is to stand in the Queue line. This gives you access to Grounds Tickets and then you can possibly buy resale tickets for the main courts once inside.
I had my backpack with me so this worked out just fine. I had a book while my backpack acted as a pillow. We had to wait about 2-1/2 hours. It was well done however. They had given you a queue card so you could go to the bathroom, get a drink, etc. People came around and gave out free drinks while in line. They also had piped in wimbledon updates from the loud speakers. Finally, we got to the gate just after 5pm. I paid 14 pounds for Grounds Access (about $20). That's a great deal.
The place was amazing. Much more refined and elegant than Roland Garros. Mint julip is to the Kentucky Derby as "x" is to Wimbledon? Answer - champagne and strawberries. There were huge booths for champagne and strawberries. Matter of fact, there were food booths with just about anything. I took the first hour or so and walked the grounds. There are 17 courts at Wimbledon. Centre Court, Court #1, and Court #2 are the stadium-type courts, while the other 14 have minimal seating. With a ground ticket, you can view any of the 14 outside courts. There were 64 matches being played today. Men's players included: Federer (#1), Djokovic (#3), Roddick (#5). Women's players included: Venus Williams (#2), Jankovic (#4), Schiavone (#5).
Federer had completed his match while I was in the Queue. He lost the first 2 sets and then came back to win the next 3. He even had a tie-breaker in set #4. I don't think I'm such a good luck charm for Roger Federer. If he would have gotten upset in the first round at Wimbledon, that would have been the most surprising thing out of tennis forever. Federer has one 6 of the last 7 Wimbledon Championships. He's going for a record 7th men's Wimbledon Championship this year.
The grounds were really impressive and I enjoyed spending time here, but, I wanted Centre Court at Wimbledon. I found out that they have a resale booth. You stand in line and then have access to tickets for 5 pounds. The line wasn't even that long. Within 10 minutes, I had a ticket to Centre Court. I made my way there. My ticket was for the second row from the court, just inside the baseline. This ticket may go for $1,000 come Championship Sunday - wow! I couldn't believe it. I was sitting second row at Wimbledon. The resale booth is a great idea. Whenver someone leaves for the day, they chart their ticket location, and offer this to others currently in the grounds. I had just entered the stadium as the Men's #3 seed - Novak Djokovic started his match. He was playing this guy - Ollivier Rochus. Never heard of him. He was this short little guy. He could barely see over the net. Djokovic was this tall, lanky, powerful player. This would be a laugher - wouldn't it??
I watched the first set of this match. Rochus won the first set. Unbelievable. Djokovic kept making too many mistakes. I figured this would take a while - Venus Williams was starting to play on Court #1 - let's see if I can get a 5 pound ticket to watch her play. Again, I strolled up to the resale window, bought a ticket for Court #1 and went into the stadium. This time, my ticket was in the First Row. I was on the stadium floor. I couldn't beleive it. There's Venus Williams - about 15 yards away. She is destroying her opponent. Venus serves as fast as most men. She's hitting the gun near 120mph. For reference, the little guy currently playing Djokovic, he musters it up around 103mph. Djokovic can get up to the upper 120's. Venus's match takes only an hour - she straight-sets her opponent without barely breaking a sweat. She is also a 5-time winner at Wimbledon.
I left the stadium and went to get something to eat. It's now a little after 9pm. The match with Djokovic and the little guy has gone 3 sets so far. The little guy is up 2 sets to 1. This is too good. I grabbed a little pizza and a soda and went back into Centre Court and my second row seat. When I got into the stadium this time, the lights were just coming on and the stadium roof was closing. Awesome. Under the lights at Wimbledon on Centre Court. The fans were really getting into it. A few glasses of champagne and a couple frosty beverages later, people were feeling it. I thought tennis people were supposed to be refined. The crowd was doing 'The Wave'. People were going crazy. I had heard this about the US Open Tennis, but never Wimbledon.
The playes were in on a break. No way this little guy could beat the #3 seeded Djokovic - could he? This baby was going 5 sets - there was just no other way around it. The players came back onto the court and it was Go Time. People were cheering uncontrollably for the little guy. He could barely muster the ball across the net - but he was still winning. It was clear to me (even being a complete tennis novice), that Djokovic needed to stop making mistakes. I learned after the match that Djokovic had 48 unforced errors to the little guy's 20. I just wanted to yell out: "Dude, stop going for the big shot, you don't need to hit lines or drop fancy volleys to beat this guy, keep it conservative and you'll win this thing". I think Djokovic must have been given the same advice by his coaches. He stopped making so many mistakes. Even though the little guy had alot of heart, he just couldn't hang with the more powerful Djokovic. The match did go 5 sets, with Djokovic winning the last set 6-2.
It was an awesome night. The match ended after 11pm. I believe this was the very final match of the night. I took some last photos and then walked the 3/4 mile back to 'The Tube'. A 15 minute train ride to Earl's Court - a 5 minute walk to my hotel - I called it a night. Great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment