Long Shots Do Pay-Off

Center Court

Un-freaking-believable!!!! I don't know what to say. (Wait, yeah I do.) We made it into Wimbledon. From what I heard it was a pretty wild feat considering who was playing today. Being the quarterfinal, the top four tennis players in the world were up today. Rafeal Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray. I know of Nadal and Federer. That is the extent of my knowledge of tennis, but this place was surreal. We took the forty minute train ride, arrived their at 8am and waited in the queue (line). *not sure why they didn't just say that* I was number 3,513. However, after standing around for 3 & 1/2 hours our line began moving. The doors to let us in opened an hour earlier. After much reassurance that we would get in, I was still extremely skeptical. We walked in line for about 40 minutes before reaching the ticket gate.

Que, there are five of these lines!!!

In all, I think it would be an understatement that the line was two miles long. Wimbledon, which I was unaware of, is a town just outside of London, that for all intent and purposes, is this event. The complex is massive and acts as a tennis club, restaurants, event center, golf course, you name it. It was described to me by our British 'tour guide' as "very posh." Ya think? He said that it costs tens of thousands of pounds a year to be a member, and you don't even get a ticket to this event. Curiosity struck me when I first learned of the possibility of going, so I checked the website. Tickets are thousands of pounds. No way did I think we were getting in for 17 quid. No way. But we did and it was astounding. There are two major courts, center court with the square stands and court one with the round. Nadal played in court one and Federer in center court.



Screen

On the back side of center court is an enormous screen where people can watch the match of the day on a hill.

When I saw it, I thought of a movie theater at Pine Knob. In all, there is approximately 15 courts at Wimbledon. Because the tickets are thousands of pounds to get into the big matches, we went to one of the smaller courts.

 We watched a men's doubles match which was pretty entertaining. *I'm not sure I would watch it on t.v., but entertaining in person.*

Roger Federer

 We did however get to sneak into center court and get pictures of the Federer match. It was insane in there.



Rafael Nadal

Also, we did get to see Nadal warm-up on a small court which was really cool. I was about 30 feet from him and let me tell you, the chicks love this guy. For a minute I thought I was at a rock concert. The "I love you Rafael's" coming from the girls and the "Please stop pushing's" from the security guards was surreal. Who'd a thunk, a tennis player? I took some video of his warm-up.

In all, the whole experience was amazing. From the crowd to the size to the sounds and sights, was just astonishing. Looking back at it now, I still can't believe I was there. I never in my life thought or said to myself, "man I want to go to Wimbledon" but know I think and will say "man I want to go BACK to Wimbledon."

Center Court Judges Chair

Enjoy the pictures of Wimbledon through Flikr by clicking on the photo gadget under the about me section. Until next time...