The Flying Kiwi: The Wimbledon Experience Part Two

So, as I mentioned in my previous blog, because I worked last weekend I was given the day off yesterday (Wednesday) to go to Wimbledon for men's quarter-finals day. Needless to say, I was pretty excited at the prospect of seeing Nadal!

I had wanted to queue overnight, but having no tent and the prospect of rain falling (the day before there had been huge thunderstorms) I chose not to. Instead, I got up nice and early (5.20AM) to catch the bus to the station. Upon getting there I, unlike everyone else, decided to walk to the club instead of taking a taxi. Next time when I queue that early in the morning I'll be taking at taxi! I got to the queue about 6.50AM and was 2,039th in the queue. Because of that I had no expectations of getting onto any of the show courts (I wasn't that fussed about Centre Court due to the fact that Nadal was playing on Court 1). However, to my immense surprise, upon arriving at the ticket booths I was informed that there were (restricted) tickets still avaliable for Court 1! Needless to say I took it - the chance to see Nadal was something I was NEVER going to turn down :P

After getting myself something to eat (over-priced pizza) and drink (over-priced Pimms) and enjoying the sun I headed to my restricted seat on Court No.1. Turns out the restricted seat wasn't that restricted, only not being able to see a fraction of the court - still able to see the players when serving/receiving.

The first match up on court was Djokovic vs Tomic (the 18-year-old from Australia). Before play began people had been saying that they'd expect Tomic to test Djokovic, but in the first set that didn't happen - it was all Djokovic. However, in the 2nd Tomic really stepped up his intensity, and Djokovic lost his - playing a poor game where he served two double-faults. Over the next two sets, the two players were much more evenly matched, but it was Djokovic's experience that pulled him through in the end.

Next up was the match of the day for me: Nadal vs Fish (the No.1 American men's player). Typical opinion was that Nadal would win in straight sets - Fish never having won against Nadal. And it looked to be the case when Nadal broke Fish in his opening game of the first set, as well as in the second, racing to a 2-0 lead (well, 'racing' is a relative term - Nadal rarely plays a quick match). However, in the 3rd Fish started serving much better and the two were evenly matched until Fish broke Nadal to take the 3rd 7-5 and draw the match to a fourth. However, Nadal showed just why he is the current world No.1 and why it is so hard to beat him over five sets, winning in the fourth.

I enjoyed every moment of the day. There were little things that stood out for me - Djokovic applauding Tomic on a superb point (I always like to see players giving their opponents credit), Nadal's uncle and mother applauding Fish on points, having it come up on the big screen that Tsonga bet Federer, seeing Nadal change his shirt three times and listening to the crowd watching the big screen TV on Murray Mound. Can't wait for Sunday where I'll be queuing for a spot on Murray Mound to (hopefully see) Nadal in the final (provided that he beats Murray tomorrow in the semis).