Ace!

Our household has been incredibly lucky this year, securing not only rare-as-hens' teeth Glastonbury tickets but also getting drawn in the Wimbledon ballot! So the first Wednesday of the tournament saw Stu, Anthony, Amanda and ourselves comfortably situated alongside Court 9, waiting for the first match, a Ladies Singles where an Australian was guaranteed to win! Because they were both Aussies!

We were literally courtside - sitting on wooden benches, no more than 2 metres from the side lines of the court - and loving it. The whole tournament is just a huge collection of traditions, and nowhere is this more obvious than the outside courts, where the score is still kept by sliding metal numbers into position! We were enjoying soaking it all in (including some very pleasant sunshine) when who should wander onto the court for a warm-up but World No. 8, tennis-playing cyborg Serena Williams!


She hit up for about an hour while we admired her powerful technique and marvelled at the size of her ... backhand ;-)

Next up were the Aussie girls, Nicole Pratt and Casey Dellacqua, who managed to get a set-and-a-bit completed before we got to experience another three Wimbledon traditions in quick succession: Rain, the swift and orderly application of covers, and the rain delay.


The rain came and went all day, but we got to see about 6 hours of really great tennis, including seeing eventual Men's Singles Champion Roger Federer disposing of Juan Martin Del Potro, and the aforementioned cyborg terminate gutsy Aussie Alicia Molik on Court 1:


And of course we couldn't leave without indulging in that other famous Wimbledon tradition, enjoying some strawberries and cream!