Anyone for a spot of tennis?
If an alien were to land in Wimbledon (come on, it could happen) then they might think that Earth people were obsessed with staying up all night and forming themselves into long, snaking lines that move at a snail’s pace. For one fortnight every summer, they’d be pretty right for the Wimbledon queue is an institution in its own right. Leave the grounds late in the evening and you’ll see people already camped out for the next day, trying to take advantage of the tickets that go on sale each morning on the gate, first come, first served. The people who camp out have a camaraderie of their own but if you’re thinking of doing it this year yourselves, don’t bother bringing any kind of gazebo, because security guards will take it off you, for some unknown reason. A total of 500 Centre Court tickets, 500 Court No 1 tickets and 500 Court No 2 tickets are available each morning on the gate, together with thousands of ground passes, which gain you entry to any of the other courts.
If you have not been successful in the Wimbledon Ballot, which is open to anyone through the official website, and if you can’t get any through your local tennis club, then there is one, relatively unknown way to get tickets, including Centre Court, for each day’s play. On the evening before each day’s play, several hundred Centre Court and Court No 3 tickets are reserved for purchase online, through Ticketmaster, at face value. The tickets generally go on sale at 8pm the night before, and the massive advantage to doing it this way is that you will know the order of play already and also have a better idea of the weather. Top tip is to get on there a few minutes before the tickets are on sale and keep pressing refresh. Persistence pays.
The official Wimbledon twitter feed is @Wimbledon, through which you’ll get all the information about results, order of play and general news, including late-changing ticket information. @LiveAtWimbledon is the interactive service provided by the Championships, which will give you an overview of what the players, coaches and media are talking about. And for a bit of fun, try @pseudofed, which is a brilliant spoof of Roger Federer or @GBTennisJourno, which takes the mickey out of the sport. And if you want it straight from the horse’s mouth, then some of the top player Twitter feeds include @Andy_Murray, @serenawilliams, @laurarobson5 and @djokernole (Novak Djokovic).
On the internet, wimbledon.com is the official site, with live scores, results and interviews. Other top sites during the Championships include thetennisspace.com and the always interesting blog on Sports Illustrated.
Formerly Henman Hill, the large mound of earth situated outside Court No 1 is where people who can’t get tickets to the show courts gather to watch the giant TV screen. It may seem as if you could get the same experience watching in the comfort of your own home but you (probably) don’t have a Pimm’s van stationed seconds away to attend to your needs.
Having lost in the final last year, Andy Murray must have a great chance to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the title (expect to hear that line at least 10 times per day). The Scot is in good form, winning the warm-up event at London’s Queen’s Club and with that monkey off his back after winning the US Open last September and the experience of winning the Olympics at Wimbledon last summer, he should be more relaxed this time. But you can never write off Roger Federer on grass, as the Swiss showed last year when he won his seventh title. Rafa Nadal is fit and fresh from winning his eighth French Open title and world No 1 Novak Djokovic is hungry for a second Wimbledon crown. It’ll be one of those four. .
On the women’s side, Serena Williams (pictured) is a big favourite to win her sixth Wimbledon title, having won the French Open earlier this month. Maria Sharapova will add glamour and has the steel to win again and Victoria Azarenka is itching to get her hands on the trophy. Outside the top three, 2011 champion Petra Kvitova is a danger.
You’re not going to impress many people by telling them about the longest match in the history of the Championships because the clash between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in 2010 (11 hours, five minutes) was plastered over every TV, radio, newspaper and media outlet known to man. But if you really want to come across as an encyclopaedia of tennis (without being a swot) then try this one. The last ambidextrous man — yes, there have been more than one — to play in the Championships was Luke Jensen, who played with his brother, Murphy, in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Nicknamed Cool Hand Luke, Jensen could serve with either hand, which was a big advantage. The brothers were more than a novelty act, too, winning the French Open together in 1993.
What’s that, you want another one? OK. It’s pretty rare that an eventual champion wins the title having had to face a match point at some stage in the Championships. In the men’s singles, it hasn’t happened since 1960 when Neale Fraser beat Eddie Buchholz in the quarter-finals, having saved five match points in an epic fourth set before the American retired with the score at 15 games all. It’s only happened twice in the women’s event since 1935, both come in the past decade. In 2005, Venus Williams saved a match point before beating Lindsay Davenport in the final and in 2009, Serena Williams saved a match point against Elena Dementieva of Russia in the semi-final, before going on to win the title.
You can’t go to a tournament these days without the Caroline and Rory show. To her credit, Wozniacki achieved her fame before she met Rory – she was No 1 long before him – and though her star has faded on the court, at least, having Rory in the crowd, dodgy sunglasses and all, adds entertainment value.
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