Wimbeldon has begun and we plan to see a couple of days of matches by purchasing a ground pass.  The weather on day one is not great but we have to go to the Indian Embassy to purchase visas for our 10 days there on the way home.  We purchase some more credit on our Oyster cards which allow us to travel on the undergropund and busses with a cheaper fare.  We arrive at the Embassy at 11.45am and just make the cut as the queue tickets are terminated at 12.  The waiting room is packed.  We have filled in the forms at home and as it is £10 cheaper for a UK passport holder to get a visa I have used mine and not the Australian one.  Wait 75 mins for our number to be called.  Hand over the fee and within 20 mins my passport is returned with the visa attatched.  The Australian passport takes 5 working days to process so we will have to call back to get Andrew's and will have to do this before we go to Ireland.  Back on the tube and this was the day that Australia was knocked out of the World Cup, not yesterday.

Tuesday we catch the tube to Southlands station to go to Wimbeldon.  Yesterday it rained most of the day and only about 45 mins of play happened so the ticket money was refunded.  Each year the station at Southlands decks out the platform to look like a tennis court with artificial turf etc.  There is a brisk uphill walk to the queuing area on a large paddock.  Numbered queue cards are issued to prevent queue jumping and it is all so very organised.  The day is overcast but warm.  Ground passes are about £18 I seem to remember and after about 2 hours we are in.  We put on sunscreen but I forget my chest and subsequently get a chest as red as any English robin!  Forewarned that the food is very pricey we bring our own, even strawberries.  Hundreds of Aussies around and I share the strawberries with some Aussies I am sitting next to.  Watching the Wayne Arthurs match we stand for ages waiting for a seat.  Wayne requires on court treatment to an injury and we find that we are stood right behind him.  Can smell the linement, hear the physio talking to him and feel confident that if the match is shown in Australia we will be in the pic as all the cameras are trained on him during the treatment!

Wednesday we leave earlier but dont get in much quicker.  We are queued with a delightful family from Boston and swap travel tips and adventures.  Very sunny today and I havent missed any skin with the sun cream.  One of the queue directors remembers my hat bedecked with badges from around the world and greets me cheerfully.  We have another good day of watching and decide that the Australian Open in Melbourne has much better seating for the crowd than Wimbledon, costs less than half of the Wimbeldon ticket and all the big names are there too.  At the end of the day all our food has been eaten and I get some noodles from the Wimbeldon venue.  £5.95 or $AU15 is not good value.  We enjoyed the experience of the famous tennis ground and are ready to begin touring the UK the next day.

It's Thursday evening...and I'm playing soccer on Oxford's playing fields.  This really feels like a dream...

If it didn't then, then it wouldn't for the next day and a half.  Mostly because I didn't get much sleep...but that still leaves the possibility of stumbling upon another dream.  It happened at 1:45 Friday morning.  I, along with 10 other people, boarded the Oxford Express, a bus service that takes travelers straight from London to Oxford...pretty much all 24 hours of the day.  We were on a quest to see the greatest tennis players...and for 2 weeks only, they resided at a little town southwest of London called Wimbledon.  I don't recall much of the way there, only that after the bus ride, we had to take two double decker buses to finally wind up in the middle-of-nowhere Wimbledon.  We didn't have a clue how to get there, so we asked the locals.  Finally, we arrived at The Queue.  I capitalize it because it is a big deal.  So big of a deal that they have Queue Cards each person gets letting them know just how much earlier they should've gotten up to be #1 in line....I mean queue.  I was #599 in one queue...x2 brings that to about 1200 people sitting outside the All England Lawn and Tennis Club at 5:30 in the morning.  Impressive.  Awe-inspiring.  Completely insane!

The line picked up around 8:30, security gave us the once over, and we were all let in by 10 am.  I immediately hurried over to Court No. 13, where I would witness one of the finest matches of the day.  David Nalbandian and Fernando Verdasco battle it out for 3 hours!  In only 3 sets!  Verdasco won...stomping on paper, yet edging in person, his way past Nalbandian  7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (11-9), 6-2.  After I saw great like Ferrero, Stepanek, Mauresmo, Clijsters play beautiful tennis.  The whole aura at tennis was special.  Strawberries and cream were the dessert of choice, tennis, the game of choice.  I've never seen such great displays of athleticism all in one place.  My grounds ticket cost £17, which gave me access to about...18 or so courts to watch tennis.  It was amazing.  However, I did get to go to Court No. 1 and watch Tommy Haas and Tomas Byrdych battle it out.  This ticket was £47, but luckily, I had some nice friends who let me join them for a little bit.  This atmosphere felt more like a televised match...a lot of hype and electrifying tennis right in front of me...me being from the 4th row. 

When it was all over (the tennis, I mean), I headed back to Oxford, having been a part of something special.  One weekend down, 5 more to go.  :)

If you're around London in late June/early July, you have to go to Wimbledon.  This is one of the few UK sporting events where you can simply walk up in line the day of the event and get tickets to see some amazing tennis.  I went on the 5th day which was mostly 3rd round action and saw greats like David Nalbandian, Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Haas, Tomas Berdych, James Blake, Roger Federer, and Lleyton Hewitt.  I bought a grounds pass for 17 pounds, and it was totally worth it. 

The All England Lawn and Tennis Club is situated in a nice part of southwest London, with a moderate tube ride from Central London.  The 'stewards' of Wimbledon were sooo friendly and helpful.  One generally felt appreciated for being there.  With 20 courts to choose from, you can see great tennis anywhere all day.  The crowded sections were, of course, the good matches/players, but you could easily go somewhere and sit down and watch some tennis being played right next to you. 

This was my first professional tennis experience and I strongly recommend it to anyone!