Well ... forgive my absence, but I was away in London town at the back end of last week as I had tickets for Wimbledon on Friday, and I'm still really behind on this blog, but I'll catch up. Anyhow, just to say what a fabulous day we day last Friday and below is the story of the day. Hope you enjoy the report ...
Prologue ...
I can barely believe it, but it has been 29 years since I last went to the All England Club to watch the matches at Wimbledon ... (I was, of course, only a child then :cough:), and I’d gone to watch John McEnroe who I was a massive fan of. So waking up on Friday morning with butterflies of excitement in my tummy was great, as all these years later I was going to watch only the second player that I’ve been a massive fan of ... Rafa. The similarity of events is strange ... I saw JMac on Number 1 court and that’s where Rafa was scheduled to play; the weather played its part back in 1982 as it did on Friday, in that rain meant that I was not able to see either match to completion. But just going to Wimbledon is a fantastic experience in itself, and with only having Court 1 tickets we were so lucky anyway to even be able to see Rafa play a competitive match on grass, regardless of whether it was just a set ... anyhow, so this is how mine and Rafan’s day panned out ...
Chapter 1 – Stranger on the Train ...
We headed off to Wimbledon station via the underground to Vauxhall and then caught the train down there. Not sure if you’re aware of The Metro, but its a free London newspaper that’s available at all Underground, Train and Bus stations, and knowing Rafan as we do ... she hastily gobbled up a copy just in case there were (a) any pictures of Rafa in it (there weren’t) or (b) any articles of Rafa in it (there weren’t). But it was only when I was on the train to Wimbers where I took the only carriage seat available (I played the age card ;) ) and Rafan chose to stand, that I noticed a couple of people reading The Metro, but their copy ... WAS ENCASED IN FULL BLACK AND WHITE EMPORIO ARMANI RAFA PUBLICITY PICTURES. So I tipped Rafan the wink, and immediately that look came across her that she just had to have it. So when we could finally sit together she said, “I’m going to ask that man for his copy and to swop it with mine”. So horrified, I said ... “If you dare, I am leaving you ...” To which she replied ... “I am”. So when the train stopped at Wimbledon Station, I got ready to alight and had that “I’m not with her” look about me as Rafan asked this complete stranger to swop his copy with hers. I think he took a bit of convincing that the papers inside were exactly the same, and I didn’t hang around long enough to hear whether or not she confessed to wanting that poster within an inch of her life ... but she went scurrying off the train with the paper in its Armani cover in her hot little hand. For us then to find the news-stands at Wimbledon Station being totally FULL of copies with their Armani cover ... so undeterred, Rafan picked up a further 173 copies ... ;)
Chapter 2 – Deliciano Feliciano ...
Thankfully I didn’t have to beg and plead with Rafan to think of my Old Lady tender calves and corns and insist upon taking the buses that are laid on to ferry spectators to the Club rather than walk up and down those interminable Wimbledon hills, as she suggested it herself. Perhaps she was getting wise and wished to avoid my incessant moan, moan, moaning ... Anyhow, whilst the bus driver didn’t know the way there (huh?), plenty on it did ... so she took their direction and eventually there we were ... heading through The All England Club’s pearly gates. “Yahoo”. We both looked at each other and decided that the first stop was ... yep, the toilet ... however, a quick (eyes left) gave us a breathtaking sight ... (OK, looking on to the Centre Court all painted in its Wimbledon green and encased in the infamous ivy with the eight grass courts resplendent before it was lovely to behold), but it wasn’t that sight that got us excited. Because there on Court 10 was none other than the gorgeous Feli practising before his 3rd round match with Andy Roddick. FELI !! so we walked as fast as our legs would take us to get a fantastic courtside view when we realised that even better ... he was practising with Marc!
Feli’s long, lithe legs took him faster up the path than the pathetic speed I could travel at, but he stopped again along the way for a photograph and I thought ... I’m going to do it, I’m going to ask him. However, I don’t move that quickly and dash, in an instant he was at a side door and gone. Sighs.
Chapter 3 – Hola! ... everybody!!
So we then made our way past Centre Court, and then past Heman Hill ... which looked pretty steep to me I have to say. I would need clamp ons to stop myself from rolling down it ... then past Number 1 Court and on our way to Aorangi Park which is where the bulk of the practice courts are, and Rafan deftly took us to Court 3. Although there is meshing to these practice courts and you don’t get the un-obscured view that we were lucky enough to have with Feli, its still just a sight to behold as there is a myriad of players there. So we took our positions courtside and it was just brilliant as because I’d missed Queens this year, I was still able to make the re-acquaintance with some lovely Rafa fans that we’d made friends with in Monte Carlo along with other fans and friends that Rafan knows, and so we had a good chatter about Rafa, tickets, their camping out experiences and the like. What a jolly lot of people we are. ;) Eventually though, little Rafa Maymo makes his way down the walkway that is above us, and as at Monte Carlo, he smiles and laughs as we all shout up and wave “Hola!” to him.
Then here he comes ... Rafa! All eyes forward and game face on as he marches off to the practice court. His practice partner on Friday was Rendy Lu, and when Rafa arrived on the court, Lu presented him with a caricature doll of himself which brought Rafa out in wide smiles and he shared the laughter with Uncle Toni who had followed behind him on to the court. And then the serious stuff started.
Lu came to our end of the court first, and boy did he know he’d been in a work out. Rafa was hitting HARD, and poor old Lu was being moved from side to side across the court, blowing and huffing in his wake. Rafa then asked to swop sides and so hurrah! he came down to the end of the court where we were all congregating. There was quite a bit of chat going on between him and Toni – its great to hear Rafa’s voice first hand – and Rafa continued with the hard work out and some practice with his serve and work with his overheads, until Rafa said “two more” ... and then that was it.
During practice we had some good old fun with Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer. We were all there to support Rafa – obviously - and I’d dressed in red and Rafan was wearing her red “Vamos Rafa” t-shirt, and other girls had dressed in the red and gold of Spain and there were a few flags around. But when members of the Armada appeared – first Tommy – there was a chorus of “Hola! Tommy!” and he just looked down on us and laughed his head off and waved. When he came back from practice ... there he was again, waiting for our attention – which he duly got - so he rewarded the Holas! with more big smiles and waves. Then little Daveed came on by, so the cries were, “Daveed! Daveed!” and he looked down on us, smiled, seem to shake his head at us lot of nutters, waved and then went on.
But when Rafa left the court and came by the walkway above us, we were all standing there in reverent silence until one of us (me) started to clap, and then Rafa got the chorus of “Good Luck, Rafa”, “Buena Suerte” and he smiled and acknowledged us with a raise of his arm ... and then he was gone. :swoon: Have just remembered that Rafa’s little cousins came up to him when he left the court, and he gave them a playful pat on the head and ruffle of the hair. Cue masses of “aaaaaaahhs” from us dipsy middle-aged women. Then two little kids in school uniforms were brought to Rafa (for whatever reason), and he posed for a photograph with them, and gave them a pat and a ruffle too. We were all aaaaaaaaaaahed out by then. :child envy:
Chapter 4 – “Look! there’s so-and-so ... and there’s so-and-so ... “
Just going into Wimbledon and going to the practice courts is almost worth the money in itself because I just could not believe the number of players we saw. It started on our trek to Court 3 because making his way down was my new Andy Roddick ... this time sweaty from his practice, but he was signing as he went on his way, so good for him, and on the same walkway, I recognised Zimonic. Next to Rafa’s practice court was Francesca Schiavone, grunting away, and she was then replaced by another lady player (who I’ve forgotten, sorry, but it might have been Azarenka). Richard Gasquet walked right on by past me, as did Olivier Mahut and Sam Stosur. On the walkway above we saw Tommy and Daveed, as I’ve mentioned, along with another of my :squeezes: Mikhail Youzhny. Venus Williams diva’d her way past without a look or a glance, unlike Mr Williams who joined in with the fun of us and smiled and waved away. We also saw the fragrant Ana Ivanovic, and lovely, shy Juan Martin Del Potro went quietly past with no entourage, just himself, as he was to practice on the far court to Rafa’s. Rafa acknowledged him with a few words as he passed, and JMDP went quietly to his court and is in the background of a number of my Rafa pictures. We also saw Ivan Ljubicic, Gael Monfils, Tomas Berdych and Andy Murray came past and seemed rather bemused as a gaggle of women all dressed in Spain’s colours shouted out “Good Luck Andy!!”. Hehe, but that boy needs a shave. Not a bad haul, I think you will agree.
Chapter 5 – Wimmin’s tennis ... gah!!
So after practice, we made our way to Court 1 for an afternoon of actual tennis. First up was Maria Sharapova against the British girl, Laura Watson. Laura had already made a cracking start when we arrived, but Maria (screeching her head off, urgh!!) made the break back and took it to a tie-break. Unashamedly, Rafan was NOT cheering for our British girl, as she wanted blummin’ wimmin’s tennis OFF and Rafa ON. Tut. ;) So Sharapova took the first set and was racing away with the second (to the joy of Rafan), but then plucky little Laura had a break back and lost the match in the second by a respectable 6-3 scoreline.
Next up was Venus Williams against Maria Jose Martinez Sanches. Luckily for Venus, she’d read the script and to the delight of Rafan, she raced through the first set 6-0 and took the second and the match as easily. So this was it ... he was coming!!!!
Chapter 6 – Rafatime!!
By the time Rafa came on court, it is safe to say we were half frozen to death. We were towards the back of Number 1 court, which has some open vortex so that the wind that had got up was swirling round us at some pace. Rafan was sitting there in her hoodie with the hood firmly up and knotted into place under her chin ... she looked like ET. Below us, one woman had detached the hood from her coat and had that firmly placed on her head, also knotted under her chin, whilst her and her companion huddled under her coat. My pathetic rain coat was used to try and keep both Rafan and I warm, but the cold mustn’t affect the Bold and the Beautiful as this Hooray Henry sitting below us with his equally high maintenance girlfriend, stopped to beckon to her as he left his seat to obviously get something ... yep ... he’d forgotten to take his sunglasses. Jerk!!
But it was with a rousing cheer that we clapped Rafa on court, looking fabulous in his Wimbledon Whites as he started his usual pre-match routine. OK, we only got to see a set of tennis, but the match was very poised as Rafa couldn’t get a read on Gilles Muller’s serve and never even got to deuce. Thankfully for him, his own serve was working OK, until at 5-6 down, it became a bit yikesy as he was 0-30 down, but he managed to win the game and take it to a breaker. I can’t remember now when Rafa had had his fall, but he’d asked the umpire for the trainer at the end of the set.
So the tie-break took on pretty much the pattern of the whole match as it was really rather even, only Muller then delivered a double fault to give Rafa the set point which he took on his own serve. The trainer then came on court, which is always bad to see, but worse sometimes when you have no commentary to surmise what is going on. Rafa had already treated us by taking his top off, but when speaking to the trainer, its obvious he needed treatment on an area that might have called for shorts removal , as a bare-chested Rafa then jogged off court. (Bless you for that, Rafa.)
However, it turned out that that blessed sight was the last we were to have of Rafa, as the rains came heavily down and the cover placed across the court, and at 7 pm, the announcement came that rain had been suspended for the day. Boo!
So we left the court and of course, went in completely the wrong direction to catch the bus back into Wimbledon Village, which meant more aimless trekking and cue more from me, until we finally reached our designated bus stop. It was funny when we reached the Village, as we saw Lovely Mo, Lars Graf and the little umpire who had been doing Rafa’s match all walking along still dressed in their 1930’s Wimbledon outfits and looking quintessentially dapper.
So that was it ... our Wimbledon adventure.
Epilogue ...
I was introduced to watching tennis because of Wimbledon, because back in the day, it was the only tennis that ever got televised. So I’ve grown up with it, and love it ... and it has changed beyond all recognition from when I first went all those 29 years ago, but its still one of the best day’s out you could ever have. Sure, because of the ballot its hard even to get tickets, and you have no control over what day or what court you are eventually offered. So I just count myself very lucky to have been offered the first week, because there are still so many players there, and luckier even for it to be Friday, because chances were that as Champion, Rafa would be playing that day. But for him to then be scheduled off Centre Court and to Number 1 for which we had tickets was just a dream come true. It truly doesn’t matter that we were only able to see one set, because I’ve seen Rafa play at Wimbledon now, and being able to watch a full practice along with that of Feli’s plus all the other players we saw was more than enough to be grateful for. I know I am biased, but its the best tournament in the world, and again I’ve been lucky in that I have managed to get Olympic tickets for next year, but I do so hope that I can go to the tournament proper again with its old fashioned look and its old fashioned ways because is really is THE BEST!!
The End.
Prologue ...
I can barely believe it, but it has been 29 years since I last went to the All England Club to watch the matches at Wimbledon ... (I was, of course, only a child then :cough:), and I’d gone to watch John McEnroe who I was a massive fan of. So waking up on Friday morning with butterflies of excitement in my tummy was great, as all these years later I was going to watch only the second player that I’ve been a massive fan of ... Rafa. The similarity of events is strange ... I saw JMac on Number 1 court and that’s where Rafa was scheduled to play; the weather played its part back in 1982 as it did on Friday, in that rain meant that I was not able to see either match to completion. But just going to Wimbledon is a fantastic experience in itself, and with only having Court 1 tickets we were so lucky anyway to even be able to see Rafa play a competitive match on grass, regardless of whether it was just a set ... anyhow, so this is how mine and Rafan’s day panned out ...
Chapter 1 – Stranger on the Train ...
We headed off to Wimbledon station via the underground to Vauxhall and then caught the train down there. Not sure if you’re aware of The Metro, but its a free London newspaper that’s available at all Underground, Train and Bus stations, and knowing Rafan as we do ... she hastily gobbled up a copy just in case there were (a) any pictures of Rafa in it (there weren’t) or (b) any articles of Rafa in it (there weren’t). But it was only when I was on the train to Wimbers where I took the only carriage seat available (I played the age card ;) ) and Rafan chose to stand, that I noticed a couple of people reading The Metro, but their copy ... WAS ENCASED IN FULL BLACK AND WHITE EMPORIO ARMANI RAFA PUBLICITY PICTURES. So I tipped Rafan the wink, and immediately that look came across her that she just had to have it. So when we could finally sit together she said, “I’m going to ask that man for his copy and to swop it with mine”. So horrified, I said ... “If you dare, I am leaving you ...” To which she replied ... “I am”. So when the train stopped at Wimbledon Station, I got ready to alight and had that “I’m not with her” look about me as Rafan asked this complete stranger to swop his copy with hers. I think he took a bit of convincing that the papers inside were exactly the same, and I didn’t hang around long enough to hear whether or not she confessed to wanting that poster within an inch of her life ... but she went scurrying off the train with the paper in its Armani cover in her hot little hand. For us then to find the news-stands at Wimbledon Station being totally FULL of copies with their Armani cover ... so undeterred, Rafan picked up a further 173 copies ... ;)
Chapter 2 – Deliciano Feliciano ...
Thankfully I didn’t have to beg and plead with Rafan to think of my Old Lady tender calves and corns and insist upon taking the buses that are laid on to ferry spectators to the Club rather than walk up and down those interminable Wimbledon hills, as she suggested it herself. Perhaps she was getting wise and wished to avoid my incessant moan, moan, moaning ... Anyhow, whilst the bus driver didn’t know the way there (huh?), plenty on it did ... so she took their direction and eventually there we were ... heading through The All England Club’s pearly gates. “Yahoo”. We both looked at each other and decided that the first stop was ... yep, the toilet ... however, a quick (eyes left) gave us a breathtaking sight ... (OK, looking on to the Centre Court all painted in its Wimbledon green and encased in the infamous ivy with the eight grass courts resplendent before it was lovely to behold), but it wasn’t that sight that got us excited. Because there on Court 10 was none other than the gorgeous Feli practising before his 3rd round match with Andy Roddick. FELI !! so we walked as fast as our legs would take us to get a fantastic courtside view when we realised that even better ... he was practising with Marc!
Feli’s long, lithe legs took him faster up the path than the pathetic speed I could travel at, but he stopped again along the way for a photograph and I thought ... I’m going to do it, I’m going to ask him. However, I don’t move that quickly and dash, in an instant he was at a side door and gone. Sighs.
Chapter 3 – Hola! ... everybody!!
So we then made our way past Centre Court, and then past Heman Hill ... which looked pretty steep to me I have to say. I would need clamp ons to stop myself from rolling down it ... then past Number 1 Court and on our way to Aorangi Park which is where the bulk of the practice courts are, and Rafan deftly took us to Court 3. Although there is meshing to these practice courts and you don’t get the un-obscured view that we were lucky enough to have with Feli, its still just a sight to behold as there is a myriad of players there. So we took our positions courtside and it was just brilliant as because I’d missed Queens this year, I was still able to make the re-acquaintance with some lovely Rafa fans that we’d made friends with in Monte Carlo along with other fans and friends that Rafan knows, and so we had a good chatter about Rafa, tickets, their camping out experiences and the like. What a jolly lot of people we are. ;) Eventually though, little Rafa Maymo makes his way down the walkway that is above us, and as at Monte Carlo, he smiles and laughs as we all shout up and wave “Hola!” to him.
Then here he comes ... Rafa! All eyes forward and game face on as he marches off to the practice court. His practice partner on Friday was Rendy Lu, and when Rafa arrived on the court, Lu presented him with a caricature doll of himself which brought Rafa out in wide smiles and he shared the laughter with Uncle Toni who had followed behind him on to the court. And then the serious stuff started.
Lu came to our end of the court first, and boy did he know he’d been in a work out. Rafa was hitting HARD, and poor old Lu was being moved from side to side across the court, blowing and huffing in his wake. Rafa then asked to swop sides and so hurrah! he came down to the end of the court where we were all congregating. There was quite a bit of chat going on between him and Toni – its great to hear Rafa’s voice first hand – and Rafa continued with the hard work out and some practice with his serve and work with his overheads, until Rafa said “two more” ... and then that was it.
During practice we had some good old fun with Tommy Robredo and David Ferrer. We were all there to support Rafa – obviously - and I’d dressed in red and Rafan was wearing her red “Vamos Rafa” t-shirt, and other girls had dressed in the red and gold of Spain and there were a few flags around. But when members of the Armada appeared – first Tommy – there was a chorus of “Hola! Tommy!” and he just looked down on us and laughed his head off and waved. When he came back from practice ... there he was again, waiting for our attention – which he duly got - so he rewarded the Holas! with more big smiles and waves. Then little Daveed came on by, so the cries were, “Daveed! Daveed!” and he looked down on us, smiled, seem to shake his head at us lot of nutters, waved and then went on.
But when Rafa left the court and came by the walkway above us, we were all standing there in reverent silence until one of us (me) started to clap, and then Rafa got the chorus of “Good Luck, Rafa”, “Buena Suerte” and he smiled and acknowledged us with a raise of his arm ... and then he was gone. :swoon: Have just remembered that Rafa’s little cousins came up to him when he left the court, and he gave them a playful pat on the head and ruffle of the hair. Cue masses of “aaaaaaahhs” from us dipsy middle-aged women. Then two little kids in school uniforms were brought to Rafa (for whatever reason), and he posed for a photograph with them, and gave them a pat and a ruffle too. We were all aaaaaaaaaaahed out by then. :child envy:
Chapter 4 – “Look! there’s so-and-so ... and there’s so-and-so ... “
Just going into Wimbledon and going to the practice courts is almost worth the money in itself because I just could not believe the number of players we saw. It started on our trek to Court 3 because making his way down was my new
The End.
(Go the Links part of the blog to the left to see my Rafa and Feli pics ...)
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