Postcard from Timperley: Wednesday 10 July 2024 - Wimbledon (Europe Days 23 and 24)

Saturday, 13 July 2024

Wednesday 10 July 2024 - Wimbledon (Europe Days 23 and 24)

It's a half hour tram ride from Croydon to Wimbledon, where Sue had got tickets in the ballot for centre court.

We arrived fairly early and watched two boys called Henry and Petr in a second round match on a court where we were right next to the action (above).

Then we wandered around to 'The Hill', which was crowded and muddy.

We soon moved through the crowds and the immense queues for drinks and strawberries, to our positions in row Z on centre court.

A ladies quarter final saw a couple of eastern European ladies have a one sided contest lasting an hour. Unfortunately a man with a very long back restricted my (albeit distant) view.

The Royal Box was closer to the action.

The next match was supposed to feature Djokovic, but his opponent was injured so he was awarded a walkover.

Instead, we watched a mixed doubles match featuring Heather Watson (a Brit) who played well despite losing. (The man with the long back took a break.)

After that we revisited the lesser courts, now rather crowded, and watched some boys doubles, coincidentally featuring bow legged Petr, who despite being seeded in both the games we saw him play in, managed to lose again.

Then an exhibition match on another court drew our attention. It featured Greg Rusedski and Mark Woodforde and their female partners in a mixed doubles match that had its lighter moments. At one point a ball boy replaced Greg's partner, and another point caused the umpire a little difficulty as two balls were independently in play at the same time. Great fun!

By the end of that game we had been at Wimbledon for over ten hours, so it was time to get the tram back to Croydon.

Thursday was the last day of this holiday. We noted the view from our hotel room (below) before decamping to the car park (£32) and heading home via Sue's parents in Solihull and my mother in Eccleshall.