Chapter Eleven - "The Lawn Tennis Championships 2010, Wimbledon - Centre Court"

Wow! What a day! I'm totally enthused now, as I write this, just having got back from possibly the best day of tennis ever! There's a lot to tell, and I hope I can get my main thoughts down here, from this epic day.

Yes, today I'd be going to Wimbledon to watch the tennis. What's more I'd have a seat in Centre Court. A day like no other! The story unfolds...

I met my friend, Alessia, in town to buy food and water before we headed off to Wimbledon. The time was just after 9 o'clock, and gates opened at 10:30, meaning we had plenty of time to spare. My main worry of the day was about how we'd manage to get there and back, as I remembered how last year seemed like a nightmare which ended (I seem to recall) with me walking back to Wimbledon town centre in the dark! I was hoping not to have a repeat. On the bus journey I got a text message from Scott, helpfully saying "Good luck matey let me know if u get lost in putterz xx" - cheers mate, and thanks for your confidence.

Well, we arrived at the Championships without a hitch, and were shown into Gate 1 with our Centre Court tickets. I felt just like a VIP! After our bags were routinely searched, I bought a programme and then we wandered around in search of shade, and a place to sit until noon. It had just gone 10:30. After giving a quick tour of the AELTC (based on what I'd experienced last year) we decided to check who was playing. To kill more time we bought Pimms and strawberries. Initially I protested, saying that it was too early for alcohol, but eventually I gave in; afterall, how often is one at Wimbledon?

Before we knew it play on the outer courts was starting, and we had to find our seats in Centre. After hopelessly circling the outside of Centre Court twice we asked for directions and found ourselves heading towards the North Stand. The Official welcomed us, and showed us to our seats, a lot closer to the action than I'd originally anticipated. Fantastic! He then offered to take our photographs, getting Sue Barker in the background doing a televised interview! I sat down and prepared myself for the electric atmosphere, whilst my companion had a strawberries-and-cream-related-incident. But enough about that.

Llodra vs Roddick was our first match. I cheered for Roddick, while Alessia rooted for the underdog. The rivalry was on! What a great contest it was! The match was gripping, with some brilliant shots, so precisely aimed. In between the games and sets people would cheer "Come on Andy!" and I'd be compelled to repeat this with them. With the ever-increasing desire for the player to hear my individual encouragement I waited for the next quiet moment to shout "You can do it Andy!" which in fact, turned out to be the only such comment in the entire game. If you end up watching the match on iPlayer and you hear such a call, then it's me!! As time went on, with so many people calling out support for Andy and Michael, I was tempted to call "Come on Tim!" but I figured it might've been inappropriate, so I didn't. The next time I looked at the clock it was midafternoon. Where had all the time gone? Eventually Roddick was victorious, winning 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, and 6-7.

The next match was between Venus Williams and Makarova, so we stayed in our seats -who could possibly walk away now? Initially we both began cheering for Venus, but as the game progressed I saw how Makarova was improving and ended up supporting her. It would've been interesting to have seen what would have been said, had Venus gone out so early! Unfortunately it didn't come to that, and Venus walked away as winner, with 0-6, 4-6. The match went incredibly quickly, and at times I felt poor Makarova didn't stand a chance. Even so, what an opportunity to see it live on Centre Court!

The final match we watched on Centre was Djokovic vs Dent, and Alessia and I were both rooting for Novak, though for different reasons. Alessia took the stance of nationality, whereas I took the stance that he seemed to be playing better than the other bloke. To me, Dent appeared to come across as too hasty and headstrong, with a large proportion of his first serves going straight into the net. Djokovic appeared calmer, but towards the end seemed to be sliding everywhere, which I was concerned would lead to problems. However, Djokovic won, taking the game to 7-6, 6-1, 6-4.

At this point Alessia and I decided to stretch our legs and take a wander, seeing as we'd been sitting on Centre from around 12 o'clock. I'd just finished my salami and rolls, and the time was now approaching 7pm. It was a good opportunity to write the thank you card to Helen. No table could be found, so I rested on top of a pizza box, and tried to write as best I could... albeit at a fortyfive degree angle across the page. Then we wandered around the other courts and found a match that we originally thought was between Japanese and Italian players; proper competition! However, on closer observation we discovered that the names weren't the same as those publicised in the programme, which confused us! We watched for a bit, trying to blend in with the oriental crowd, before we headed back to Centre Court to watch some doubles, also being guaranteed a good seat and an unobscured view (something we were fighting for elsewhere). On returning to the court we realised that it wasn't one of the scheduled matches, so we left and tried to find the autograph stand we'd seen earlier. Alas, it had closed, but we still managed a quick browse in the shop - the same 'inferior' shop that I'd visited the previous year, not realising that the 'proper' (larger) shop was a short walk away. Anyway, I got a keyring.

We headed back to watch the ladies' doubles match on court 16, in which Tanasugarn and Date Krumm were playing (and lost), all the while hearing loud cheers coming from Court 18, and a doubles match between Nestor/Zimonjic and Marray/Murray - a match we'd tried to see, but were prevented from seeing due to unnumerably large crowds. We headed onto the hill to see what was going on on the big screen, but it was difficult to see due to the masses. An additional problem was Alessia's height, so I had to quote scores to her. I struggled to see, but before I knew it an uproar started in the crowd. I had no idea what was going on, but eventually play was postponed. But why? We began to head home.

After being told we could simply keep our tickets without scanning them back in, we left the grounds and headed up the hill with everyone else towards Wimbledon, and waited at a bus stop only to find when the bus came, that we were taken back down the hill! But no worries, we had plenty of time. As we travelled, Alessia recounted tales of her day to her family, and I chatted to Mum who informed me that the game I'd missed (Court 18) had been a continuation of the longest game in history - going to 59-59 in the fifth set. With such a high number I said I'd have trouble believing it until I actually saw it myself, but it certainly explained the crowds and all the hype. The only dampener of the day came when Alessia told me that she may not see me again after the summer, due to getting a job and all that. I hadn't fully appreciated the impact of this fact until now, but figured a Centre Court ticket to Wimbledon was one heck of a way to say goodbye! I'm glad she had a good time. I did too; a day to remember!

So here I am, sitting in my room typing this up - and it's taken well over an hour! I'm understandably tired, but I'll get round to putting up the photos on Facebook as soon as I can, after which I'll post a link on here.

What else can I say, but a very BIG thank you to those who made this day possible? Watching the tennis on Centre Court over the years won't be quite the same again!

I'm going to sleep well tonight...