Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Champions Locker Room...well I wish


This goes against my policy of spacing out updates…but you only go to Wimbledon once….
Stephen and I trekked all the way from Clerkenwell to Wimbledon in London today.  Before I continue, a point of information here, I’m a tennis enthusiast to say the least.  This is like the holy grail of tennis for me.  I saw the opportunity to go, and took it.  The tour was almost 2 hours it seemed.  Our tour guide was a “blue button” guide of London.  This means she’s qualified to give tours pretty much anywhere.  We got to go into Centre Court, Court No. 1 and the press conference room (as the pictures below clearly show).  She wanted to show us the locker room but there were club members in there so we couldn’t go.  I got up close and personal with the Men’s and Women’s Singles Championship trophies.  I got to walk along the edge of the now legendary Court No. 19, home of the longest match in tennis history (record set last year at The Championships in the first round!!).  I took somewhere in the ballpark of 140 pictures today alone.  Stephen took just as many – probably more because of his healthy enthusiasm with Roger Federer.  I got a an up close and personal look at the draw from last year.
Mens and Womens draw

I was really pumped when we got to go into the press room, I got to sit in the chair Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and so many others sat at after their matches.  It was amazing.  
"Yeah, I made a couple of mistakes out there, but really, what can you do when you throw everything and the kitchen sink at the guy and he throws the bathtub right back at you?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Roddick...sir...yes...si..I know I'm way in the back..yea..just one...just one question...okay..right.....times up, okay then..."

It was at this point the tour guide outlined the published requirements for membership.  You need four referrals from current members.  There are only 374 full members at a time, so you can only become a member if someone dies.  The only other way to become a member is to actually win The Championship.  It’s probably one of the more exclusive clubs one can be a part of.  For 27,000 pounds you can block a seat off for yourself for a 5 year period at Centre Court or Court No. 1.  That’s an insane amount of money (apparently used by businesses as a bonus or something like that).  We went on the club terrace to look out to where the new Court No. 3 was going in too.  
Court No. 2 is like in a sunken pit at the edge of the property...
Right beyond it you can see the rim of Court No. 2, a sunken bowl-like arena that sits 4,000 people (another fun fact, Centre Court sits 15,000.  The exhibition match played to debut the new retractable roof sold-out in 15 minutes online).  Also, it’s apparently close to impossible to get tickets to Wimbledon unless you “know someone who knows someone.”  There’s a “ballot” (lotto) system you enter in the September prior to The Championships for the chance to buy two tickets for one day of the tournament.  Which segways right into the next stop on our tour, Henman Hill.  This grassy slope outside Court No. 1 seats up to 7,000 or something like that at the height of the Wimbledon fortnight.  The Queen, who obviously has tickets every year actually came last year.  She’s apparently a horse person much more than a tennis person.  It was her first visit to Wimbledon since she took the Throne.
Centre Court....getting a tan

The Closest I'll ever get to the Champions trophies for the Women (dish) and Men (cup)
It doesn't look like much now, but man that grass was greeeen when the Queen visited.

Some of the top men and women greeted her on this green and had a light lunch with her afterwords.  She watched Britian’s own Andy Murray defeat Jarkko Niemenan.  Although the club no longer requires players to bow to acknowledge royalty, both Murray and Niemenan did before and after the match.  I thought it was brilliant.  We also saw the player entrance, where all the competitors arrive and get checked-in to compete.  Afterwords, we went to the Centre Court café and got some hot drinks before our trip back to Clerkenwell. 
Biggest...and best tasting cup of hot chocolate I've ever had that wasn't made by my own mother..sooo much whipped cream
When we found this sign we were less lost than before...which was pretty darn lost...we found Wimbledon Park seconds before we actually broke down and asked a dowdy-looking British community watchman for directions

Not actually the scoreboard, but a conveniently placed cover that just so happened to have the score of last years' final on it

Another shot of Center Court getting tanned....because one thing you learn quickly is that there is nooo sun here

The Legendary Court No. 18 where the longest match in tennis history took place over three days at the beginning of last years' Championships.

It was all in all an amazing trip, and I’m really glad we managed to get down there.  I'm working on a Picasa Web album, a program powered by Google and pretty reliable as people have told me.  After I get some more pictures up I'll share the link here.
Until next time,

Stay tuned...

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