A day at Wimbledon 2013!
I managed to get some tickets to Wimbledon in the public ballot this year (yay!)
Only court 1 but as everyone knows Wimbledon is one of my happy places :)
My former boss (actually her friend) got tickets for the same day and unfortunately couldn't use them (they did also get tickets for Centre Court for the Friday). So, I took them off her hands and invited Jennifer and Rob's mum to join us on our day out.
Our plan was to leave home at 8 allowing plenty of time to get to Wimbledon to have a wander around. We were meeting Jennifer there as she was catching the train down from Sheffield.
We collected mum and got diesel and were on our way. Then the car started making an odd noise....and we discovered we had a bolt in one of the tyres :(
So, we headed back home and changed cars....luckily we hadn't gone too far but this did add about 40 mins in total to our journey!
The rest of our journey went smoothly (and we may have driven a little faster than originally planned) and we arrived at Wimbledon at around 11.
We parked in the car park across the road and headed into the grounds.
We grabbed some food as an early lunch whilst waiting for Jennifer.
We then met up with Jennifer and took a wander around the grounds (we had already managed to buy some used Wimbledon tennis balls). All of the outside courts were jam packed so we found a seat for a while.
I was originally planning on trying to watch Hewitt/Knowles in their match on court 7 but on arrival it was a little busy (absolutely packed!)
I did manage a photo (which is pretty good considering it was taken whilst holding my iphone above my head!)
We then headed to Court 1 to find our seats (we had row ZA which I was pretty sure was the back row - it was!)
The back row does give you a handy place to pop your bags though!
So, first up was Serena Williams vs Caroline Garcia.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of Serena and I expected an easy match for her. But Garcia came out prepared and managed to stick with Serena for a while. Then the break came and the first set was over!
The second set was a little easier as Serena got into her stride.
A short while later and it was over.
Now, Rob and his mum were also in the back row....but in a different section of the court. So here's their view :)
Next up: Richard Gasquet vs Go Soeda
The first set went by really quickly - Soeda seemed nervous or something and promptly lost the set 6-0.
Early in the 2nd though Gasquet seemed to get bored, or maybe Soeda got past his nerves and it was a little more competitive.
Gasquet did eventually come through though and won it 6-3.
In the 3rd set Soeda properly woke up....! It was much more competitive and ended up going to a tie break which Soeda won!
At the beginning of the 4th it seemed to have started raining lightly, although play continued. I decided to go grab something to eat as if it continued to rain then it would get really busy!
It did eventually start raining properly and play was suspended on all courts. I checked my live score app and discovered that Gasquet had managed to win the match in the 4th set 6-3 before the rain stopped play!
We went and found seats and waited to see if the rain would stop. They did eventually close the roof on centre but there was no hope of getting a resale ticket with the rain :(
There were regular updates about the weather but at 7pm this was the picture:
So, Jennifer headed back to Sheffield by train and we went to the car park to get the car. Took us about 30 mins to get out of the car park and then off home. Stopped at Fleet services for a muffin and a coffee :)
And as a little update - I got my tyre repaired the next day for only £16.80....so not too bad!
Only court 1 but as everyone knows Wimbledon is one of my happy places :)
My former boss (actually her friend) got tickets for the same day and unfortunately couldn't use them (they did also get tickets for Centre Court for the Friday). So, I took them off her hands and invited Jennifer and Rob's mum to join us on our day out.
Our plan was to leave home at 8 allowing plenty of time to get to Wimbledon to have a wander around. We were meeting Jennifer there as she was catching the train down from Sheffield.
We collected mum and got diesel and were on our way. Then the car started making an odd noise....and we discovered we had a bolt in one of the tyres :(
So, we headed back home and changed cars....luckily we hadn't gone too far but this did add about 40 mins in total to our journey!
The rest of our journey went smoothly (and we may have driven a little faster than originally planned) and we arrived at Wimbledon at around 11.
We parked in the car park across the road and headed into the grounds.
We grabbed some food as an early lunch whilst waiting for Jennifer.
We then met up with Jennifer and took a wander around the grounds (we had already managed to buy some used Wimbledon tennis balls). All of the outside courts were jam packed so we found a seat for a while.
I was originally planning on trying to watch Hewitt/Knowles in their match on court 7 but on arrival it was a little busy (absolutely packed!)
I did manage a photo (which is pretty good considering it was taken whilst holding my iphone above my head!)
We then headed to Court 1 to find our seats (we had row ZA which I was pretty sure was the back row - it was!)
The back row does give you a handy place to pop your bags though!
 |
| The view from our seats! |
So, first up was Serena Williams vs Caroline Garcia.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of Serena and I expected an easy match for her. But Garcia came out prepared and managed to stick with Serena for a while. Then the break came and the first set was over!
The second set was a little easier as Serena got into her stride.
A short while later and it was over.
Now, Rob and his mum were also in the back row....but in a different section of the court. So here's their view :)
Next up: Richard Gasquet vs Go Soeda
The first set went by really quickly - Soeda seemed nervous or something and promptly lost the set 6-0.
Early in the 2nd though Gasquet seemed to get bored, or maybe Soeda got past his nerves and it was a little more competitive.
Gasquet did eventually come through though and won it 6-3.
In the 3rd set Soeda properly woke up....! It was much more competitive and ended up going to a tie break which Soeda won!
At the beginning of the 4th it seemed to have started raining lightly, although play continued. I decided to go grab something to eat as if it continued to rain then it would get really busy!
It did eventually start raining properly and play was suspended on all courts. I checked my live score app and discovered that Gasquet had managed to win the match in the 4th set 6-3 before the rain stopped play!
We went and found seats and waited to see if the rain would stop. They did eventually close the roof on centre but there was no hope of getting a resale ticket with the rain :(
 |
| Hoping for the rain to stop! |
So, Jennifer headed back to Sheffield by train and we went to the car park to get the car. Took us about 30 mins to get out of the car park and then off home. Stopped at Fleet services for a muffin and a coffee :)
And as a little update - I got my tyre repaired the next day for only £16.80....so not too bad!
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