We awoke to discover the unthinkable had happened, England
had beaten Mexico in the cauldron of the Azteca stadium in Mexico City -
amazing! Breakfast was extremely quiet, maybe many had been up most of the
night watching the match or were taking to opportunity to watch the repeat programme
on the BBC in their rooms.
After breakfast we set off on the trip to Wimbledon. We caught the bus to
Hammersmith and then took the tube to Southfields along with loads more tennis
fans. It is a 15-minute walk to the ground; we produced our tickets and ID and
were in. It was a hot day and we were given a fan at the underground
station. Imagine our surprise when it was confiscated at baggage check,
apparently because it had advertising on it! The petty Wimbledon authorities
never change!
Our tickets were for Centre Court so we took the chance to poke our heads into
Number One Court for a quick photo. We then got a drink - beer for G and a
refillable Evian for £5 for E which seemed good value. G enjoyed his beer and a
chat with strangers sharing the long table whilst E went on the search for the
shop. The shop was rammed and the queue to pay was crazy, but the queue moved
quickly.
We had arranged to meet Lisa who was between commitments and it was great to
have a catch up and a sit in the shade under the rose arches.
First match on Centre was Italy's Jasmine Paolini v Alexandra Eala of the
Philippines. In addition to watching the match, E enjoyed celebrity
spotting in the Royal Box and saw the Duchess of Gloucester, illie Jean
King, David Harewood, Ncuti Gatwa, James Norton and Roger Federer. We also
spotted Pippa and Carol Middleton enjoying hospitality and, later on,
Sheffield's Roger Taylor (the former tennis player not the Duran Duran or Queen
drummers!) and Sir Lenny Henry. After a slow start Eala managed to win
the second set but was eventually beaten. A player to watch out for in future
perhaps?
Next up was Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria against GB's Arthur Fery. Thinking that
Fery didn't stand a chance, we popped out for a cream tea only to find that Fery
had won the first set so we returned to the court. The atmosphere was
unbelievable and growing ever louder as Fery progressed and incredibly he won
the 5-setter in the tie break. We were so lucky to experience a GB victory and what
was his debut appearance on Centre Court.
By now it was 8.30pm and the roof went on Centre Court. The final match was
Zverev v Lehecka of the Czech Republic. We stayed until Zverev had won the
first set and then set off on the longish journey back. It turned out that they
only played a little more before pausing the match overnight at 3-3 in the
second set.
We picked up a meal deal on the way to the station and had a midnight (well 11pm) feast in the room whilst watching Today at Wimbledon.
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