Wimbledon

How fortunate I have been so far as I continue to explore this wonderful city. My experiences got better as Viv and I headed to the 2009 Wimbledon Tennis Championships on Thursday. I have a friend who is a college tennis coach for a prominent Chicago college, and he was kind enough to get me tickets to this years games. It was a hot and sunny day, perfect for a day of lawn tennis. Viv took a half day (very rare) and met me at the courts.

Wimbledon is about a 20 minute tube ride away. The grounds sit right on the River Thames. Wimbledon itself is a huge tennis site. Besides the famous, centre court, there are plenty of other courts, something like 15, some with stadium seating, some with sideline seating, all with grass courts. I have never played nor seen a grass court before, and had totally forgotten that its part of the magic to Wimbledon.

Viv and I watch many matches; a men's match, a mixed doubles match, a junior women's and men's singles match, and the level of their play was amazing. I played tennis in high school and just two years of college, and was so in awe of the level that they played. The juniors were spectacular, just to think they are 15, 16 years old and serving at 115mph was jaw-dropping. Just as interesting as the players, were the ball fetchers (I don't know what they are really called, anyone?) Basically there are these young kids, 9-13 years old who's only job is to retrieve the ball and hand the players tennis balls and their towels when asked..and they do it with military precision. They were like little soldiers on the court. And something else I had not expected but seen on television, were the judges. Every court had a head judge, who sat on top of a high chair overlooking the entire court, announcing the score and making sure the game was played by the rules. Along with the head judge, there were 8 other judges on every court. A judge at basically every line, watching like a hawk, ready to call a ball out. It makes you wonder how a player could ever dispute a call, with so many judges, although each judge had different jobs. There was a base line judge, a judge who watched the serving players foot to make sure he did not serve over the line, and a judge for every other area of the court...and they all wore khaki pants/skirt, a polo top, and a cute paperboy hat, with matching polo treks (that's London talk for sneakers)..and yes, when I say polo, I mean Ralph Lauren was the official wardrobe for the judges, and ball fetchers.

Wimbledon would not be complete without Pimms and strawberry's with cream. And yes, we did both of these. Pimms, delish! It taste like a bubby fruit salad in your mouth. The strawberry's were sweet and the cream cold. Viv and I had lunch at the courtyard. We sat in teak lawn chairs, eating parma ham and mellon with a bottle of white wine...life is good! All around the grounds they were serving anything but carnival food. You would be hard pressed to find something to drink besides champagne, pimms, wine or Evian water. Food choices included duck, prawns, roasted chicken and parma ham. It really was a wonderful and amazing day. Viv and I both left Wimbledon so happy to have been able to attend. It's most certainly English lawn tennis at its best!