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Day 1 (for us) - we arrive in the queue around 9 AM each day. |
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Only 9,873 people in front of me in line - yet it would only take about 3+ hours to get in (the matches start at noon each day). |
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A stop at court 18 to watch Fernando Gonzalez of Chili (ranked 10th) v. Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia. |
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Gonzalez won in straight sets 7-5, 7-5, 6-3. Gonzalez won a gold medal in doubles in the 2004 olymipics in Athens, and a silver medal in the Bejiing olympics last year losing to Rafael Nadal. |
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Next to Court 12 to watch backcourt warrior David Ferrer of Spain (ranked 16) v. Kevin Kim of USA. Go America! |
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Although not ranked, Kevin played hard and won the third set. But Ferrer would prevail 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. |
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Now to Count 4 to watch Radek Stepanek (ranked 23) of Czech Republic v. Alejandro Falla of Columbia. |
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Stepanek prepares to serve a winner. |
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Stepanek up at the net. |
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Falla would lose to Stepanek 6-4, 6-4, 6-1. |
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As we walked by Court 11, we saw the last set of this 5 set match. There is no tiebraker in the 5th set, so they kept playing to 11-9 win of Cuevas of Uruguay over Rochus of Belgium (neither ranked). |
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Now in Show Court No 2 to watch Gilles Simon of France (ranked 8th) v. Bobby Renolds - go USA! |
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The 24 year-old frenchman beat Rafael Nadal last year in Madrid, along with wins over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. |
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Frs. MacLean and I take a break between games on Court 2. |
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My favorite photo of Wimbeldon - Reynolds stretches to return this serve of Simon. But noticed that the ball has already sailed past! |
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Simon wins 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. |
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Queueing up for day 2. I'm only number 8,029 in line. |
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The Order of play for Day 2 - probably eaiser to just buy a program. |
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An engaging 25 year old, Verdasco won the Davis Cup for Spain in Argentina last Decemeber. |
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Verdasco is probably most remembered for his 5-hour 5-set semi-final match again Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open. In the end he lost with only one point less than Nadal. |
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Some photos of his opponent, Krstof Vliegen. |
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Trivia question: how tall is the grass on Wimbeldon's grass courts? |
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8 millimeters. |
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It turns out to be quite a match, with no breaks and each of the first 3 sets going to tie breakers, and Vliegen winning the second set. |
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A little move from that match to watch the Bryan brothers from USA play Doubles: Bob & Mike are last year's champions and ranked number 1. |
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We can peer over the wall to see the two brothers play Vemic (Serbian) and Zverev (German). |
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The brothers win 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 - but unfortunately will lose in the finals this year. |
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Now back to the Verdasco match in its 4th set, Verdasco up 4-3. |
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Verdasco will be the first towin a break over Vliegen and win 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. |
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We stop to have our Strawberries and Cream on the hillside terrace, which also provides a big screen to watch Centre Court. |
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By why watch from outside, when you can go into Centre Court (with its new retractable roof - but no rain while we were there). |
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We're here to cheer on Sam Querrey of USA v. Marin Cilic of Croatia, ranked 11th. |
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Although unranked Sam won the first set so we knew it would be a good match. |
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Cilic, age 20, is a rising star (and tall 6'6") with a huge serve. Note here his last serve was 141 mph!!! |
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Sam does his best to return the serves of Cilic, who reached the 4th round of Wimbeldon last year. |
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Cilic prevails only after Sam Querrey took him to 5 sets: 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. |
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Three priests leaving another exciting day at Wimbeldon - what a sight. |
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Our third day in the queue, which was longer today due to the popularity of Andy Murray. |
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Back to court 3, to again watch Gilles Simon, this time v. Thiago Alves of Brazil. |
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The Frenchmen loses the first set 7-5. |
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But then he breaks Alves to win the second set 6-3. |
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Alves was doing well in the third set until he ran into the scoreboard - although not injured, it seemed to shake him up and Simon won the third set and the match. |
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A brief stop to view everyone's American favorites, the Williams sisters play doubles. (Venus is serving, Serena is up front.) |
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Venus is last year's singles champion (ranked 3rd in singles this year) and the two are last year's doubles champions (ranked 4th in doubles). |
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Serena Williams is two years younger at age 27 and ranked a spot higher at 2nd in singles - but Venus has more Olypic gold medals. |
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Waiting for the next match on Court 12, we got to watch a battle between two unranked Germans: Philipp Petzschner and Micha Zverev. |
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You can tell who is serving by the little dot next to their names on the scoreboard. |
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Wining the tiebraker of the 4th set really turned the tide for Petzschner, who then rolled over Zverez in the last set: 4-6, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-0. |
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We again like to watch the Chech Radek Stapanek (ranked 23), this time playing Potito Starace of Italy (unranked). |
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This is my only photo of Starace, the rest are of the winner Stepanek - trying to capture what one of his serves looks like. |
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The terrace, where all eyes are on the bigscreen to watch Andy Murray play on Centre Court. | |
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No chance of getting tickets for that, so we went to Court 1 to again watch Fernando Gonzalez of Chili (#10) v. Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. |
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Gonzalez lost the first set, but went on to win the next 3 and take the match. |
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Our last match, we caught the end of an unranked doubles match with Americans Robert Kendrick & Sam Querrey. |
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They played two Austrians, Julian Knowle & Jurgen Melzer. |
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Unfortunately we got to see Sam lose twice, first in singles on Centre Court, and now here in doubles. |
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Frs. MacLean and I leave with smiles on our faces, but sad because its our last day of Wibeldon. |
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Four videos for your viewing pleasure. Here David Ferrer of Spain hits a winner against Kevin Kim. |
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Video: Kevin Kim gets one hits past him. |
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Video: The final point and the Bryan brothers win. |
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Longer Video: Fernado Verdasco of Spain celebrates his win over Kristof Vliegen. |
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