40 before 40: The Championships Wimbledon

Since coming to England in 2001, I have dreamed of watching The Championships one day. However, people told me that it's difficult to get tickets. They said that it's either I pay a ridiculous amount of money or queue up really early in the morning. I left it at that as I was not willing to do either at that time. But then last year I realised that I am almost 40 and have been in England for almost 15 years, so I might as well do something about going to Wimbledon. I told myself that this is going to be just a one off experience so whatever amount of money and queueing  would absolutely be worth it. So I was prepared to queue this year, but then I must have done something right because heaven sent someone to make my dream come true.

You have no idea how happy I was when J asked me if I wanted to go to Wimbledon.  All of a sudden, it became unreal. I couldn't believe that I was finally going to watch tennis- live! Not that I know much about tennis. I understand the rules and that (in fact, I also play a bit of tennis), but I don't think I know the sport well enough to be able to give an analysis. So sorry to disappoint you, but what you will read here is all about my experience at The Championships.

We arrived in SW19 just after 11am. The match didn't start until 1pm. We were quite early so we had time to go around, to have a quick lunch and of course to take a mandatory Centre Court photo. 

I got more than what I was hoping for and I have Mr and Mrs P to thank for it. 

Mrs P told me that eating strawberries at The Championships is a tradition. As much as I wanted to follow the tradition, a bowl of 10 strawberries cost £2.50.

We were lucky to be seated 7 rows from the ground. Apart from the lady with quite a big white hat in front of me, the view from my seat was good.

Have I told you that Maria Sharapova is my girl crush? To see her play tennis in person is really a dream come true.

I have not really been following tennis religiously in the last couple of years so I am not quite familiar with a lot of the players anymore including  Coco Vandeweghe. I am glad that she was playing against Maria that day though because she played really well. She is good. 

Of course, it ain't Wimbledon without the rain. Just as the players were warming up, it poured. Not for long though. They were back after 10 minutes or so.

It was fascinating to finally hear Maria's grunts in person. She is quite loud. She also has some sort of mannerism when she is waiting for the ball to be served by her opponent. She makes a fist with her left hand and then she swings it twice, afterwards she gently flicks her thumb and then taps her thigh twice. I may not have described it properly because I may have used the wrong words, but  it was very interesting to watch. 

Sharapova won: 6-3, 6-7, 6-2

The second match was between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. I wasn't sure about how Serena played. On the first set, she looked like she was not into the game. She was slow and didn't look comfortable. But as I said, I have not watched much tennis recently so I am probably talking rubbish.

Anyway, she bounced back on the second set and she played better since.

Williams won: 3-6,6-2, 6-3

I absolutely enjoyed my first Wimbledon experience. I called it the Grunting Games as there were loads of grunting in both matches. Maria did all the grunting on the first match. On the second match, Victoria started grunting with a goat-like sound. At one point she sounded like she was having an orgasm. Then Serena returned the grunting. So really, when Victoria made a "wa-ah" sound. Serena would be like "wah-ah-uh". People burst into laughter. But seriously, it was funny.

We left SW19 at almost 7pm. It felt like a long day, but well worth it. 

Ah, I am so grateful that I was able to watch two very good tennis matches. I will forever be thankful to Mr and Mrs P and of course to J for the opportunity. And I am glad that this happened now because I know that I was with the right person that day.

tintin x