Wimbledon 2013

What can I say? Wimbledon is the hallowed ground of lawn tennis (as they call it there). It is officially the All England Lawn Tennis Club (or AELTC). It was very easy to get there on the tube from London with District Line direction Wimbledon. Get off at Southfields stop and walk through the quaint town of Wimbledon until you get to the grounds. It is around a mile walk. Admire the spacious family homes on the way. I hear that Wimbledon players rent them out during the Championship for themselves, their family and their team.

Book a blue badge tour online through the Wimbledon website. Admission to the museum is included. The cost is 22 GBP. Well worth it.

Andy Murray is the talk of the town here. I have a feeling there will soon be a statue of him next to Fred Perry's as you walk in. Fred Perry was the other great Wimbledon champ from the UK many years ago. England has long waited for their next champion. Now everyone can celebrate Murray's Wimbledon victory this year as a long time coming.

In fact everywhere you go there is evidence of Murray. On the pillars outside the courts you see lists of the 2013 brackets and scores. Also in Center Court the scores are posted for a full year on the scoreboard lest anyone forget! Don't forget about the "Wall of Fame" with a listing of all Wimbledon champs over the years.

The tour showed us Court #1 and #18 (site of longest tennis match in history there with American John Isner in 2010) as well as Centre Court and Henman Hill. The latter is the viewing point of important matches on a big screen for outdoor spectators. We see this hill on tv broadcasts of the finals. Henman was a British tennis player (important to England but unknown in the US). They also now refer to the hill as "Murray's Mount". It is possible that Henham's memory will be replaced by Murray's.

Some interesting facts about the grounds. Courts 1,2, 3 and Center Court are only used during the Wimbledon Championships and are reserved for the most notable players/matches. They remain unused the rest of the year. They are reseeded once a year right after the finals. Center Court was reseeded in July. There are a total of 19 courts. All of them are reseeded once a year following the reseeding of the courts 1,2,3 and Center Court. Center Court holds 15,000 spectators. Court #1 holds 12,000. The others hold fewer. I think #18 holds 800 (location of Isner's longest match - 11 hours over 3 days!). 

Not all the courts have seats for spectators. They are more for club members to play on. You buy a membership to play there. Just remember to wear your whites!

While they are reseeding, the grounds crew puts up a pole with kite looking like a huge bird of prey. This is supposed to scare off the pigeons. It did not seem to be working at Center Court. There were loads of pigeons on the grass. Below is a picture of Center Court with the scary bird. If you take a good look at that picture you can also see the Royal Box, the BBC tv announcers box next to the Royal box and the 2 rows of seats for the players' families and teams above the scoreboard.

During dark days on Center Court is an enclosed glass pavilion called Center 360. From here you have a great view of the court. Below is a photo.

Inside the press building we saw the interview room for the winner (and loser) of the finals. The press are invited by the players. It is an exclusive invitation. A 10 minute interview only about tennis. Both winner and loser appear one at a time. There is a separate small room  only for interviews by the BBC tv and the hometown press of the players.

The museum is interesting. There is a free audio guide. There is a lot of information on the history of tennis and history of Wimbledon, plus some trophies. Here is a photo of my favorite player's uniform from 2010. Go Rafa !

I would recommend a visit here. Plan to spend a whole afternoon to take it all in.

Oh, and a plug for the gift shop too. Right on!