My experience at Wimbledon 2013

I’m studying in London at the moment, so I was really looking forward to getting a chance to watch wimbledon live. Having recently won the French Open, I thought there was a good chance I would get to watch my favourite player as well. But it wasn’t to be. Rafa crashed out in the 2nd round, much like the previous year. I was really upset to be honest.

But, wimbledon is still a great tournament and I didn’t want to miss it for anything. So last minute, I tried to get my hands on any tickets I could get. I was able to get a ticket for centre court – Ladies Quarterfinals. Li Na vs Aga Radwanska and Kvitova vs Flipkens. I must confess that I hadn’t followed much of the WTA except maybe finals of grand slams. But I think Aga is cute and a tactical player. It was a very close match and I was glad she won! The next match kept alternating between amazing forehand winners by both players and then just as many unforced errors. No matter which match you watch though, being at centre court, Wimbledon is a grand experience. The atmosphere is classy. It was an amazing feeling to be a part of this beautiful venue. Some pictures are attached:

I loved the experience. So much so that I returned the same night to join the queue at Wimbledon Park at 1 a.m in the morning for a chance to watch the Men’s quarterfinals. My queue card number was 1013. There would be 500 Centre court and 500 court no. 1 tickets on sale the next day so I was really depressed that I wouldn’t make it, but the people there reassured me that many get kicked out of the queue for not adhering to the rules (you cannot leave the queue for more than half an hour at any given point.) I should’ve known better and got myself a tent but I tried to be brave and instead got drenched as it started pouring that night. This meant that I ended up staying up all night, but it was all worth it. By the time we got access the grounds it was about 10 a.m. So I spent a total of 9 hours in the queue but eventually got my hands on tickets for court no. 1. As soon as we entered the grounds at exactly 10:30 (which is a ceremony in itself), I had the chance to watch the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic practice on one of the outside courts. He’s not my favourite player but it felt crazy to be able to watch the top tennis player in the world from up close. He was literally just a few feet away.

With the quarterfinals starting only at 1 p.m., I had to the chance to watch some other matches going on at the non-show courts. Of course, I got myself some strawberry and cream as is the tradition at wimbledon and it was delicious. I had amazing seats at Court No.1. I couldn’t believe that I was actually watching the mens quarterfinals from the third row. The match itself lived up to it’s hype, though I felt Berdych gave away the match to the world No. 1. The match was much closer than what the score seems to represent.

Overall, the wimbledon experience is something I will never forget and I hope to return some day and watch the champions play.

Twitter: @HeardInTown