Quiver to the Max!! - Womble from Wimbledon ...

We've so far been enjoying Rafan's wonderful reports from the O2. Well today she was also joined by our friend Womble, who's also found the time to tell of her adventures of the day. So here's her lovely report ...

Evening all.

Now, I thought I was a pretty fanatical Rafa fan, but I realise after today that I am a mere amateur. The degree of expert knowledge that goes into making the precise judgements needed to move from the practice court to the pier in the hope of a Rafa sighting is really impressive and obviously takes years to perfect. I would have been hopeless out there alone, but luckily I was ably supported by Rafan, Kim, Rathi, Judith and the obligatory solitary Murray fan. I am therefore now in possession of my very first Rafa autograph (plus one from Roger ... I know you were pleased to hear, Wooffie).

Due to the vagaries of the London Transport bus service this morning, I didn't get to the O2 until 10.45am so I missed Rafa's arrival on the 10.30am clipper. (As I said Rafan and the others are just so much better at all this than me and they had already spoken to Maymo and found out that Rafa was practicing at 11.00am). The witching hour approached and we were excitedly hanging around the practice court with cameras to the ready. Then a player appeared jumping from side to side like a boxer; it was .................................................................... the PoD.

Wouldn't you just know it ? The sense of disappointment was tangible. He was soon joined by his entourage plus Tipsy so we had a court full of Serbians for the first hour. A few pictures were taken to try cameras out, but not too many as we didn't want the PoD to think we were there for him.

Anyway, we hung around until 12.00pm (no sign of a dodgy Serbian shoulder, by the way) as my Rafa expert companions thought Rafa might be practicing on the arena court for the first hour, but might move outside later. Midday approached and another of the mighty top 8 appeared ....... it was Berdych .... drat. Five minutes of him was more than enough and so we all adjourned to Starbucks for restorative coffees and mince pies and were joined by Judith.

Over the next two hours or so we moved between the practice court and the pier hoping to see Rafa. We saw Andy M's hitting partner, but no sign of Britain's No. 1, who was apparently practicing with the Bryans (strange ?). At 2.00pm, we were waiting at the pier, a bus drew up and before I knew it, Roger was walking by. To be honest, he looked so ordinary without a headband, etc, if I was on my own, I don't think I would have reacted anywhere near fast enough, but luckily I had Rafan with me. She asked Roger nicely if he would sign. He turned towards me. I was holding my 2011 Wimbledon programme with a RAFA !! picture all ready. Panic !!!!! Fortunately, Rafan came to the rescue. "Find a Roger picture" she said to me so I rapidly flicked through and found one a few pages away. He signed - a proper signature. You can see the "Rog" bit very clearly. "Thank you very much", I said. "You're welcome" he said. He also said "thank you" and "goodbye". I have to say, Wooffie, whatever we think about his smugness, etc and I'm definitely with you on that one, he is a real gentleman.

To cut to the chase, Rafa wasn't on the 2.00pm clipper so we returned to the practice court to find that the next players on were Bupathi and Paes. Obviously, Rafa wasn't going to be out there today. We headed back to the pier for the 3.00pm clipper. It was almost certainly going to be my last chance to see Rafa up close this year and, yes, he was on the next bus. They were all there, in fact (including Costa, Benito, Uncle T, lovely Xisca and Rafa). Again, I was useless. I couldn't say anything, but Rafan had her magic pen ready and asked him to sign her DC paper from Cordoba, which he did with a flourish and then my Wimbledon programme. "Thank you" I just about managed to get out. "Perfect", he said (obviously, his word for the week). "What's perfect, Rafa ?", I wondered, but didn't dare ask.

That was the end of our tennis player sightings for the day so we headed off to North Greenwich tube station.

Today confirmed my long held belief that Rafa has the nicest fans. My special thanks to Rafan for helping me get both Roger's and Rafa's signatures. I'm pretty sure that left to my own devices, I would have managed to get neither. Anyway, I'm back at the O2 tomorrow with tickets for both sessions. VAMOS RAFA !!!!