Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Championships, Wimbledon {London}

My husband and I had the amazing opportunity to attend Finals Weekend at the Wimbledon Championships in London. We'd been trying the entire tournament, but somehow, magically, we were able to purchase lottery tickets for Centre Court on Saturday the 8th.  We were able to see the Ladies' Final, the Gentlemen's Doubles Final, and the Ladies' Doubles Final.  It was particularly amazing to see Serena Williams win her 5th Wimbledon Championship, and she and her sister Venus Williams won the Ladies' Doubles Final for the 5th time as well. 

I must admit that I'm not the biggest tennis fan, but I had always dreamed of going to eat strawberries and cream and people watch. And not only did I thoroughly enjoy the latter, but our day at Wimbledon was one of the most amazing sport events I've ever attended.  It was right up there with attending the 2007 World Series in Colorado (Go Red Sox!). The atmosphere was electric! And you could quite literally hear a pin drop when the players would get ready to serve.  Incredible.

Did you know that when you have seats to Centre Court you get to stay for every match played there that day? We left our flat for Wimbledon at 12:00 pm and didn't return to central London until just after midnight. It was a long, but amazing day of tennis. 



















Ladies' Final


 Rain Delay

 Watching for celebrities- can you see Charles Barkley? And Serena wins her 5th title!


Gentlemen's Doubles Final


Rain delay that led to closing the roof, eventually




Victory!



P.S. Yes, that is me thoroughly enjoying the strawberries and cream. Kind of a dorky picture, I know, but I had to put it in there.  As you can see from the pictures, the crowd got a little sparse towards the end of the evening.  It was quite a pity, because so many people left after each match. It was a full house for the Ladies' Final, and the more and more people left as the evening wore on.  It's such a pity that they don't let in any of the 6,000 people in who allowed on the grounds each day in addition to Centre Court ticket holders.  They have to sit in the rain on the lawn and watch the big screen... there would have been room for all of them in the end!  We were happy to move closer and closer to the court, and as you can see, by the end we had some pretty amazing seats! 

7 comments:

Anna said...

I saw Kyle's comment about this and now your pictures...ahhh! Can you sense my jealousy across the Atlantic? I played tennis in high school. I love it. Love love love it.

Kelli Burton said...

love the pics Les! what an adventure.

I toured the courts during my study abroad days, the grass was long and they had electric fences around it to keep the animals from sneaking in at night and ruining everything!

Katie said...

Les, I have some questions for you, but I don't have your email address, about some art galleries in NYC, will you email me?
katiejohale@gmail.com

Thanks! Katie (Tobler) Hale

stacey said...

awesome pictures...made me feel like i was there! what an awesome experience. i'm only a little bit jealous. ok maybe a lot :)

Hawkins Family said...

I just wanted to add my jealousy comment to the list!:-) I played in high school and it is a dream prime to go to Wimbledon and/or The US Open. We need to come visit you guys and go to the US Open one of these years. What a summer to be in London! When do you guys head back to NYC?

Hawkins Family said...

I just wanted to add my jealousy comment to the list!:-) I played in high school and it is a dream prime to go to Wimbledon and/or The US Open. We need to come visit you guys and go to the US Open one of these years. What a summer to be in London! When do you guys head back to NYC?

Hawkins Family said...

I just wanted to add my jealousy comment to the list!:-) I played in high school and it is a dream prime to go to Wimbledon and/or The US Open. We need to come visit you guys and go to the US Open one of these years. What a summer to be in London! When do you guys head back to NYC?