Tickets originally went on sale for this event in March when I was on holiday in Orlando, now I had originally planned to seek out an internet connection and get up super early to try and get tickets. On arrival this quickly got discarded as finding an internet connection was more difficult than expected and to be honest I quite like my sleep!
Having returned home and finding how difficult it was to get tickets, I was quite pleased that I hadn’t wasted my time on holiday only to be disappointed.
So, resigned to watching the event on TV I was quite looking forward to seeing what the roof would look like. Then the week before I saw that Scoobs had a friend who had managed to get tickets, so I had a look out of curiosity to see if there were any available......
A search on ticketmaster uncovered seats in section 209, row F.......it was like it was meant to be!
Only slight complication was that Rob had agreed to attend a training session on the same day (some of you may already know he is a special constable and all training is done on weekends).....I briefly considered going on my own but Rob swapped his training so that he could come too and be official photographer for the day.
So, tickets bought and another issue, what to do with the dog?
We called the kennels and they were fully booked! We couldn’t leave him at home all day on his own so I asked my little sister (she’s 23....so not so little) if she would come over and look after him – problem solved!
The main event
So, we got up early on Sunday and I went and picked my sister up while Rob walked the dog and did a few things around the house. Then just before 10 we got in the car and headed off!
Thankfully the drive was uneventful; we stopped at the services to get something to eat and then continued to London. Saw from my phone that Dave and Fiona were already in the queue, so was excited and jealous at the same time!
The sat nav did a great job and managed to take us right to the Wimbledon car park, which at £20 isn’t too bad a deal.
We walked across the road and straight in.....I offered my bag to be checked and the guy did an extremely poor job....which is slightly worrying.
Picked up a souvenir programme (essential at these things) and wandered over towards the food area and who did we see?
Sally, Jambon and Linda all gathered by the Pimm’s bar, it turns out Sally had just texted everyone informing them of her location but I hadn’t even realised I had a message!
We had a brief chat and Linda and I discussed just how far back our seats are for Mens semi finals day (the very back row as it turned out). The band were rather loud though so Rob and I decided to go and have a look around.
The only time I have been to Wimbledon is for Davis Cup so I have not been able to explore all of the grounds, we went over to the new Court 2 and as it was open went in to take a look around.
So the new Court 2 is great, we took a couple of photos from the back row and I think it’s safe to say there are no bad seats in here. Also if you are in the back row you can also see play on a couple of the other courts, which is great. I am also pleased to report that they have installed the new padded seats which are a big improvement!
Unfortunately the old Court 2 (now 3) seemed to be closed which was a shame cos I would have liked to compare......
More random wandering followed, including a walk to the top of centre court to find our seats for The Championships and a visit to the shop, we came out empty handed as I couldn’t justify buying anything.....we found ourselves back at the am.com gang and but didn’t stay long as the band were too noisy, we grabbed a drink and a snack for Rob and went to find somewhere to sit that was quiet.
Food and drink finished, we decided to go find our seats and wait for the action to begin.
Got to our seats to find that our ‘restricted view’ was amazing! We had nobody in front of us and were right behind a stairwell so the only time our view was remotely restricted was when people got up and left!
It was quite cold and windy sitting there waiting for the start of proceedings and there was in fact some light rain while we waited. I was willing them to close it early as I was very cold and had to put my gloves on.
We then had an interview with Pat Cash and Virginia Wade before we finally got to the part we were waiting for......the closing of the roof!
Roof closing
This really was one of the best parts of the day, the structure of the roof is something else and the way it unfolds is amazing!
We were quite interested in the guys wandering around on the roof as it closed, not quite sure what their role was? Were they supposed to manually close it if it broke? Gladly it all went smoothly and we didn’t find out!
During the roof closing, as you all know we were entertained by Katherine Jenkins, somebody else and a group of young men called Blake......I admit now that I have very little clue who any of them are and the music wasn’t exactly to my taste.
I think Rondun summed it up best ‘sounds more like a funeral than a celebration’.
I think it’s safe to say that there was greater applause for the roof closing than for the musical performances.
Mixed Doubles
So onto the tennis (I almost forgot we were there to watch some tennis not just the roof!), this was a very light-hearted match for the most part. All four players seemed to be having a great time; Steffi was rewarding Andre for winning points as he got a kiss every time he did so....!
There was a great moment in the match when the women were whacking the ball back and forth with both men almost frozen in their positions not daring to interrupt! I believe Dave has a photo in his blog.
In contrast to the reward scheme Steffi chastised Andre when he accidentally hit Kim with a return of a Tim serve......which resulted in another fun exchange and a first serve given to the 'ims'.
As has been said elsewhere it was a little stage managed in parts, there were several shots which were clearly long and not called by the line judges and Team Agassi were a break up at one point but ended up losing the match in the tie break.
That said it was great fun and all four players have not lost their ability to play great tennis.
I never managed to see Steffi or Andre play live (before Sunday) so it was great to see them both on the same side of the court enjoying their tennis.
A special guest
After the players had gone off I decided to pop to the ladies......huge mistake as the queues were ridiculously long. I eventually gave up and went back to my seat only to find that a very special guest had arrived.....Andy!
He seemed really chilled and it was great to see the interaction between Tim, Agassi and Andy. Loved the revelation that Agassi was his favourite player when he was growing up!
It was nice to see a happy smiley Andy in full view of the TV cameras for once, although no doubt it will have gone unnoticed by most of the British public.
Mens singles
After aborting my trip to the ladies I headed off again in the hope that I would get back in time for the start of the mens singles. Unfortunately it was not to be and they did not have the TV’s on so I missed the first three games.
This match was a little more serious than the mixed but still good fun. We got to see some great shots from both Agassi and Henman; there were lots of mildly irritating calls of C’mon Tim! and one shout of ‘do it for Britain’. Sadly it was not to be and Agassi broke Tim to take the set 6-4.
A lovely moment at the end of the match as both guys got a great response from the crowd......I’m fairly sure I was on my feet for a few minutes (much to Rob’s disgust – he believes if he pays for a seat he’s sitting on it!)
Spot the am.commer
My memory is fading already so I can’t remember exactly when this started but I decided to see if I could spot any of my fellow am.commers in the crowd. Now I only really knew what Sally, Jambon, Linda, Dave & Fiona looked like so knowing generally where they were all sitting I started having a look around.
It took me a while but I eventually found Dave & Fiona! I tried to get their attention but failed miserably so sent a PM to Dave via the website, which basically said ‘we can see you!’
Cue lots of slightly confused looks, so I sent another message giving more detailed information about how they could find us....... It worked in the end and no doubt a photo of me and Rob will find its way into their blog in due course.
I did then try to find Sally and Jambon and despite knowing location I failed miserably to find them....
Quote from Davech which I just had to save:
'So you didn't manage to find a photo where I didn't have my camera stuck to my face, then. And the one where I'm fiddling with the camera doesn't count.
Can't believe you missed those 3 seconds...'
Followed by: 'What 3 secs?!'
I seem to have lost the ladies match but never mind :(
Once again link to photobucket for remaining piccys:
http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn9/Lizzim_photo/Wimbledon%20Celebration/
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