I wanted to get this post up as soon as humanely possible before it became kind of redundant since nobody will really care about day four of Wimbledon come next week when we get to the end of The Championships, hence why it’s going up quite late in the evening. Also, what a photo to start off my post! Sure it’s no snazzy blog photography but it’s Novak Djokovic! I still can’t believe it.
So if you follow me on Twitter, you will have seen that yesterday I was lucky enough to go to Wimbledon with a Centre Court ticket to see my two faves, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, playing. You also will have seen that when the order of play for day four was announced, Wawrinka’s (and Kyrgios’) match had been postponed until today, day five. To say I was gutted is an understatement. To say I am even more gutted now that it is day five and Wawrinka has played and lost, being knocked out of Wimbledon on only the second round, is even more of an understatement. Nevertheless, I had an amazing day at Wimbledon yesterday and I wanted to share it on here!
After I picked up my ticket and we were all let into the Wimbledon grounds, I bought myself a programme and headed to the practice courts. My plan had been to go there in hopes that Wawrinka would be practicing so that I could still get to see him playing, albeit not on court in a real match. Wawrinka didn’t come to practice as far as I’m aware, but I did end up seeing and briefly meeting Richard Gasquet, John McEnroe, Nick Kyrgios and Kei Nishikori (who I saw play on Centre Court later that day) and got to watch the latter two practice.
Since I had to wake up at 5:40AM to go to Wimbledon, and had only had a little chocolate croissant for breakfast, I ended up being pretty hungry around midday so I headed to get some food, then after I stopped at a few of the smaller courts on the grounds to see some matches for a few minutes. I wanted to go back to the practice courts, however, just to try and see Wawrinka. I went to the lower practice courts and found out that Federer, Murray and Djokovic had all come earlier on, and Wawrinka hadn’t at all, then decided to stop at the upper practice courts on my way back to the rest of the grounds to see if anybody I recognised was there. I couldn’t see over the people standing so asked a woman who it even was practising, to which she replied Djokovic. I honestly thought she was joking; no way could the world number one be practicing about a metre away from where I was standing, if that? I got closer and saw that it was Djokovic, and he was playing with Berdych as they both practised. I managed to get to the front of the couple rows of people standing to watch, and getting to see Djokovic play so close in front of me was unreal, one of those pinch me moments. Boris Becker was also there, of course, and the whole lot of them ended up playing a game where they threw balls over the net and tried to hit the other balls. Everyone started assuming that Djokovic would walk past and meet everyone when he finished practising, but he got held up by cameras and interviewers for what felt like ages. After waiting with everyone for a while, I went back down to the lower practice courts because it seemed like Djokovic would instead be going down that way, and he did! He stopped for everyone who was there, his number one title and many Grand Slam wins not affecting his humbleness, and he made sure everyone was happy and got what they wanted (pretty much just a selfie with him) before he went off. I still can’t believe I met Djokovic, what an unreal Wimbledon experience!
I decided to head to Centre Court afterwards, and watched Nishikori play and defeat Benneteau in four sets. I was super high up in my seat on Centre, which gave me a perfect view of the court, although I was so high up that I was covered by a slanting roof and it was really dark up there which was the only thing that annoyed me about my seat. Next time you watch a Centre Court match on TV, look up at the part of the crowd where a dark coloured semi-roof slants down from the top of the court. It looks as though there is nothing past what you can see underneath it but, in reality, it goes back far with lots more rows hidden when on TV. That’s where I was, with the perfect view and dark surroundings. If that little roof wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have been able to fault it whatsoever.
After Nishikori’s win, it was time to watch my favourite tennis player ever ever ever playing in person for the first time in my life, and it definitely won’t be the last! Watching Andy Murray playing Centre Court at Wimbledon was another pinch me moment, and was something I will never forget. It was a real dream come true, just seeing Murray for the first time was enough, as was being on Centre Court for the first time, but the two first times being combined with each other made the whole experience even more special than I could have ever imagined.
Murray was broken by his opponent, Lu, in the very first game of the match, and Lu then held his serve for the second game. The match started off 2-0 and that was not the start I wanted from my first ever in-person Murray match. Of course, it was very early on in the game, and Murray went on to win that set 6-3. He won the match in straight sets, with the next two ending up being 6-2 6-1. The atmosphere on court for Murray was insane, I couldn’t begin to describe it. The cheers when he won a point, or a game. The even bigger cheers when he won each set and the massive cheers when he won the match. When he was down in a game, especially one he was serving, the crowd erupted in support. When he challenged, the crowd erupted in support for the ball to be in or out – whichever was in favour of Murray. In between play there would be the odd few people shouting out support for Murray. The pride of watching a British player on British soil was incredible, everyone on the court felt it and expressed it. I’ll never forget everyone’s reaction, including my own, to Murray winning the match.
I planned to watch Konta on Centre Court but first went to Court 18 where another Murray, Jamie, was playing doubles. The court was full up but I managed to get a seat at the front about ten minutes into the game and ended up staying for the first two sets before I left to go home. He played with Bruno Soares against fellow Brit Colin Fleming and Jonathan Erlich. Murray and Soares got the first set quickly, winning it 6-2, and everyone was sure they’d do it again in the second set to take the match but it ended up going to tiebreak. Not just any tiebreak either, one that went on for ages and meant I missed the train I planned to get. It was totally worth it, though, and there was a train twenty minutes after the one I planned to get that I managed to make anyway. The tiebreak ended up going to 11-9, with Fleming and Erlich winning it to make the match neck and neck, and making the third set the decider. I had to leave after the second set was over, though, but kept up with the score and was delighted to hear Murray and Soares won the second set 6-3 and won the whole match overall. I also saw Judy Murray opposite me to the other side of the court, watching Jamie and even cheering for him a couple times in her distinctive Scottish accent!
I had an extraordinary day at day four of Wimbledon 2016 yesterday, it was probably one of the best days of my life ever and I will definitely be going again next year.
♡
Yasmin
