My tickets were for Court 1 on Sat 25th of June and even though I wouldn't see Andy play I was still excited about going back to Wimbly!
We stayed at a hotel in Cobham so that we wouldn't have a long drive in the morning. We stopped to pick up lunch and water on the way so that we could avoid paying Wimbledon prices!
We arrived at about 11.20 expecting the gates to already be open but as we parked in Car Park 6 (£25 for the day) we noticed long queues and wondered what had delayed the opening - we now believe it was connected to a planned protest!
Luckily by the time we had parked the car they seemed to have opened the gates and we got into the ground at around 12. We headed to Court 19 as I was hoping to catch a little bit of the Bryan Brothers match. We were too late though and there were no seats left!
We did pass Jamie Murray on our way to Ct 19 but I didn't realise until it was too late and I had nothing handy to get him to sign!
So after failing to get a seat for the Bryan Bros match we decided to go and find our seats on court 1. We had row S and the view was quite good.
After a short wait we had Rafa up first to complete his match against Muller.
The second set was really close but Rafa took it in the tiebreak and then Muller didn't have enough in the thrid as Rafa took it 6-0 - it was a little closer than the scoreline suggests but not that much!
I have lots more pics for the Rafa fans - but have not put them all here - they should be viewable from my album though:
http://s300.photobucket.com/albums/nn9/Lizzim_photo/Wimbledon%202011/
Serena was up next so we took the opportunity to go and see if we could buy some used Wimbledon balls. We got there and they had just started selling them so we joined the massive queue (not expecting to get any) and eventually we got to the front of the queue and got 2 cans! I really wanted to get some balls as they say '125th year' on them!
After that we decided to go to the practice courts and see who was around. After waiting a while we spotted Andy so thought we would try and get an autograph, but then he disappeared off somewhere (we later discovered it was the gym).
We decided to sit on a bench and see if he reappeared. We decided we would wait until Serena had won (she was already a set and a break up by this point) and then go back...........
Well Serena won as expected...and we were just about to leave when Dani appeared at the door to the gym! So we had to wait a bit longer, gradually all the guys walked out...followed by Andy! I had one of his old Fred Perry hats which I was hoping to get signed.......
There were a few other people waiting and Andy signed various bits and pieces for them, and then I asked him to sign my hat...which he did!
He then proceeded to take photos and sign autographs for loads of people - I just don't get the negative attitude people have towards Andy, everytime we have seen him at a tournament he has been so friendly towards his fans...!
Rob couldn't get a photo of Andy signing my hat but just to show how close we got.....
In fact in picture 2 you can just about see my hand holding my pen!
We went back to Court 1 and just missed the start of the match, so by the time we got back in Tomic was leading 3-0. He was playing really well but it was soon clear that Soderling was feeling unwell, and indeed he then had the trainer on for a medical timeout.
We went back to Court 1 and just missed the start of the match, so by the time we got back in Tomic was leading 3-0. He was playing really well but it was soon clear that Soderling was feeling unwell, and indeed he then had the trainer on for a medical timeout.
I don't know what Rob took this pic for but anyway:
I was really pleased to see Tomic beat Soderling - mainly for my last man standing entry but also cos I had hoped Hewitt could have won a couple of days earlier!
After the match finished they announced that they were moving a mixed doubles match to Ct 1.....Keothavong/Marray vs Seppi/Brianti(?)
We only watched the first 5 games before we left as we didn't want to get home too late...
