Part of the sadness/annoyance of my family not coming to visit a few weeks ago was having to cancel all the tickets and reservations that I had made for them. Doesn't get much more depressing that that. One of said reservations was for a tour of Wimbledon, site of my favorite Grand Slam tennis tournament. So I took matters into my own hands and decided that the best medicine would be to use as many of the tickets as I could, and I knew Wimbledon was not to be missed. So a few weeks ago, my roommate Kelly, her boyfriend Dan, and I all went to Wimbledon for the day.
The tennis lover in me was absolutely in heaven all day; I couldn't stop snapping pictures. And it just made me want to grab my racket and play. I am definitely going to have to get out on the tennis court again when I get home. And lots of friends at ND play as well, so there are going to have to be some matches when we get back to school next year (this means you, Nick and Sarah. Chris and I are going to make a comeback.) And Dan Crupi was a tennis star in high school (see? I remembered!) and Dan Masterton plays too, so hopefully I will be on the court a lot in the fall! And of course I'm looking forward to some doubles matches with my family this summer as well. You can see how anxious I am to get back on the court...but back to Wimbledon now.
It was so surreal to actually be at Wimbledon; I've seen it on TV for so many years that I couldn't believe I was actually walking around there. And yes, it is as green as it l
ooks on TV. We got to see Centre Court and Court No. 1 and sit in the stands in both. I basically just looked around in awe at Centre Court. It blew my mind that I was at the site of such amazing tennis history, where legends like Pete Sampras, John MacEnroe, the Williams sisters, Billie Jean King, Lindsay Davenport, Roger Federer, and my personal favorite, Andy Roddick (maybe he hasn't reached legend status quite yet...), have played. And we sat in the press seats for that portion of the tour, which was pretty cool for the journalism nerd in me. It is going to be so much fun to watch the tournament this year and to be able to say that I've been there. We got to walk around the grounds and see the other courts, Henman Hill (or Murray Mount, as it is known these days), and hear our tour guide's little anecdotes about various Wimbledon Championships. The view of London from Henman Hill was so cool--you could just make out the London Eye. And then in the opposite dire
ction is the adorable village of Wimbledon, which we spent a bit too much time walking through because of a GoogleMaps epic fail that led me to taking us to the wrong Tube station...whoops. At least it was a pretty neighborhood.We also got to go inside some of the buildings and saw the interview room for the BBC where the champion does their post-match interview. They even had this little silver plate that looked like the Venus Rosewater Dish that the women's champion receives, so people could sit in the chair and pretend to hold the
trophy. Which of course, I did. So this semester I won Wimbledon. And Dan (who also played tennis in high school) and I won the mixed doubles' championship as well. We're just that talented.The exhibits in the Museum were amazing too. There was a lot of the history of tennis and the Championships, because it was the world's first tennis tournament. It actually first started because they needed money to buy a new roller-thingy to flatten out the grass to keep the courts in good enough condition to play. And there was
this cool exhibit where a John MacEnroe hologram takes you on a tour of the men's locker room. There was also tons of memorabilia from past Wimbledons: dresses, shirts, shorts, and shoes worn by past players and champions. Maria Sharapova's sneakers with her name stitched into the back in 14 karat gold (a little excessive if you ask me...), Andy Roddick's sneakers from last year's epic final, several of Venus and Serena's dresses from their many Wimbledon finals. And of course the trophies themselves. The champions actually don't get to keep the trophies, which belong to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association. They get their own smaller replicas and then their names are engraved on the trophies. If I won Wimbledon, I'd be bummed that I didn't get to keep the actual trophy, but as a visitor to the museum, I was pretty pleased that they were there for me to see!The quote above the entrance to Centre Court from the locker rooms (which we sadly didn't get to see) is by Rudyard Kipling, and I found it really thought provoking:
"If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same."
It's from a Rudyard Kipling poem about becoming a man (I'll forgive him the sexism...he was of his time period) and just really struck me as an interesting and inspirational idea. Both for the players going out onto Centre Court and little old me, reading the replica on the wall in the Wimbledon Museum. It seems like a good reminder to remain calm and true to yourself, no matter what comes your way, whether it was good or bad. Which was a nice reminder for me on a day that I was a little disappointed that my family wasn't there with me. Especially since I was still lucky enough to be in the company of good friends.
I should also mention the gift shop. Because it was basically a tennis player's dream. Balls, visors, hats, skirts, shirts, bags, rackets, posters, towels, you name it and they make it with a Wimbledon logo on it. I talked myself down from buying the 30-pound tennis skirt (even though it was so cute, with its little baby-blue accents...) and ended up buying a poster for my room for next year.
Definitely an unforgettable, tennis-y day. Here's the link for photos if you want to see more: http://www.
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