A Dream Comes True! June 23, 2014

Wimbledon

I cannot wait another second.  Explosions are going off inside my body that cannot be controlled.  If I don’t get this out of me I may burst into a million pieces. 
Monday we experienced Wimbledon.  I have decided it will be its own blog as it was something I never expected to experience.
We were told to get up and leave early but it just didn’t seem to work.  At around 8 AM we left for the train station in Lingfield.  We had to wait for a cheaper train that left at 9:18 AM.  It was a very fun ride because we could just calmly see the country side.  After about 10 or more stops we made it to Victoria station where we left the train and headed for the tube.  We took the tube to Southfield.  The minute you get off there the place is all decorated with Wimbledon tennis.  It was about a 10 minute walk up to the Wimbledon area.  We did not have tickets as we could find no way to buy one for under £1100, we said we would just get a ground pass.  To get a ground pass we had to stand in the Queue line.  They gave us a number and ushered us into a blocked off area of a golf course that was HUGE.  Line after line of people were waiting.  They were selling food and stuff and had lots of garbage bags and toilets.  (In England you ask for a toilet – not a restroom.)  I have no idea how many of these lines there were but they were about 2 football fields long.  Finally we got moved into a line to sit down.  They told us we would for sure get in but it would be about a 5 hour wait.  I think Brad would have left at that point but I was rock solid.

Brad purchasing train tickets.

 

Waiting for the train.

 

I am on my way to Wimbledon.

 

Off the tube at Southfield.

 

The queue ticket.  Glad we only had 9139 people in front of us.

They try to cheer you with queue in the sun badges.

Lines to the right.

Lines to the left.

The line in front of us.

The tents are camping out for Tuesday and Wednesday.
 

Brad knows how to stand in line.



After about 2 hours the lines started to move.   Finally our line moved as well and went up and through the first doors and into an area with a lot of activity.  There was a brass band playing and bless their hearts they moved right along with us for a very long time.  It was nice but a bit on the noisy side.   Then there was a tiny little court and Goran Ivanisevic was playing anyone that wanted to go up and then posed for pictures.  Little kids were going up and playing at it was great fun.  I went up close but didn’t join in the real festivities.  Then they had a place where you could try to knock over big shoes, tennis balls and strawberries.  Each one had a score on it and if you knocked over 100 points, you would be in a drawing for Wimbledon tickets for next year.  We were in line with a man from Australia, 2 women from England, a young guy from Israel and a younger smoker from Brazil.  The guy from Israel went up and got 110 points.  Brad went up and knocked down 70 points right off and then they told him he had to change form and he didn’t hit any on the last 2 shots.  Still he won a major award, a plastic sack type water bottle.  The line was moving rather nicely and every so often they had a screen.  I saw Sloan Stevens loose her last point and do her interview.  Then the Andy Murray match came over a loud speaker but other matches were on the screens.  This had taken about an hour.  Finally we could see the finish line and you-betcha – it stopped.  We finally sat down very aware we were in stinging nettle.  After another hour or so Andy Murray won and they opened the line again.  Nerves were tense as we approached.  Brad and I walked through and they said that was it.  Brad turned back and said but these two were ahead of us.  I couldn’t even breathe but the man said okay come on in and then they let the Israel and Brazil guys in also. 

Leaving the Queue -- we thought. 

 

Thought I would throw Federer a ball.

Brad with Nadal.

 

Me with Serena.

The brass band.  Wish Luke was there!

 

Goran was great with the kids. 

 

The screens we watched in the queue lines.

The tent where Brad tried for 100 points. 

Next we went into a big tent and went through just as intense of security check as any airport.  Finally we passed that and we were off to a very long walk up stairs, around trees and down again and finally someone was asking for money.  They had tickets to court 2 where Venus Williams was playing for £10 more but we just wanted to go see as much as we could.

 

Going up and over to get in.

We are in.  Here is the big score board. 

Is this for real?
 

The first court we saw was Nara from Japan.   Next to her was Anderson from South Africa.  We watched him play three games and win his match.  Then we went and sat down on the court we thought Cilic was playing on and we were one court off but had a nice 2^nd row seat so we watched Broady from England play Bagos from Hungry.  We watched one set and then headed off. 
It was now close to 5:00 and we hadn’t eaten since 7:30 AM and I was about starved. Choosing a line was near impossible but finally we settled on a sausage dog.  It was pure heaven; almost as good as being in the middle of Wimbledon.

 

Anderson

Brittany Broady

We saw 2 girls warming up that looked good so we sat down since we had 2 seats on the front row at center net.  I asked the man next to me who was playing.  Muguruza and Vandeweghe.  That was helpful as the score board was right in front of us.  So I asked him where they were from and he said he didn’t know and couldn’t pull up his internet but Muguruza had beaten Serena in the French Open and everyone was expecting big stuff from her. 
The match started and we were in awe.  Those 2 could hit that ball so dang hard and over and over the points went on.  The first game was about 10 deuces.  Vandeweghe won the first set.  We really cheered on Muguruza and she finally pulled off the second set.  Then the man leaves and a couple of women came and sat down.  I asked them if they knew anything about who these women were.  They informed me that Vandeweghe was American and Muguruza was from Spain.  My cheering pattern changed drastically for the 3^rd set and what a set it was.  Again the deuces went on and on.  1 all, 2 all, 3 all, 4 all, 5 all, Vandeweghe goes up 6-5.  Muguruza serves.  Vandeweghe has already had 4 match points but lost them all.  Then Vandeweghe  goes up 15-40 (you always say server score first)  so 2 more match points and she lost them both.  I am quite sure it went to 10 deuces before Muguruza double faulted match point.  What a match it had been. 
We jumped up and headed down to see Querrey and Klahn, both from America.  It was 5 all in the 4^th set when it started to rain. 

Cocoa Vandeweghe

 

 

Brad was really excited about the ball boys/girls. 

Every time they would go for a ball he would yell, "Get it Kramer!"

The rich look on.

 

Querrey and Klahn

We had been smart enough to bring an umbrella and we headed as fast as we could for the Southfield station.  Umbrella or not we were drenched before we got there.   We caught the right tube and headed for Victoria.  It took some doing but after about 8 tries we found the train to Lingfield – leaves at 9:23 on platform 19.  Soon we were headed home.  Talk about a frustration and a thrill.  I will never believe you have to queue for a solid 5 hours to get in but the major point is that we did get in.  We saw wonderful tennis; front row and center court.  A couple of complete foreigners had found their way into London and back to Wimbledon and had out lasted the queue.  A dream comes true!  Our lives were blessed!