TENNIS GREATS: Simon and Kait were able to get nice and close to Australian tennis stars Lleyton Hewitt and Todd Woodbridge who were on hand to watch the Tomic match.
WITH our ticket issues of last week finally sorted, it was onto enjoying the spectacle that is the Olympic Games!
On Sunday (day 3hree), we went to Wimbledon, the home of tennis. Our original plan was to get tickets to the tennis as early in the week as possible – this meant more backcourt games that we could wander between and hopefully
Australian action!
Wimbledon is set in the middle of suburbia. After catching the train to Wimbledon station we walked up towards the lawn tennis club, with your typical two-storey English houses lining the road.
The suburb is quite leafy, making it hard to see the surrounds. After walking for about 20 minutes, all of a sudden – there’s Wimbledon! Two giant stadiums set in the middle of
suburbia.
Upon arrival, Kait pointed out that Wimbledon had kept its traditional green and purple theme colours, replacing the Lawn Tennis Club logo, with London 2012.
Throughout the day we saw a number of games featuring Radwanska (Polish chick who narrowly lost to Serena at the Wimbledon Champion-
ships), Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.
However, the highlight of the day was watching Bernard Tomic play on Court 18.
For those who have never had the opportunity to watch tennis live, it is a surreal experience, particularly on a backcourt. Due to rain delays, the second set in Tomic’s match didn’t start until 7pm.
This meant that there were only 50-ish people watching, including Lleyton Hewitt and Todd Woodbridge.
Sitting in the front row, we were quite literally right in the middle of the action! We could whisper suggestions in the service linesman’s ear and hear Tomic curse the wet ground (and himself) occasionally. Unfortunately, Tomic was soundly beaten, and to be honest, his effort levels were poor.
On day four we had the opportunity to watch the men’s hockey preliminaries during the day. It was my first chance to see hockey on a blue and pink pitch – interesting.
Both games were of high quality – fast, flowing and plenty of goal opportunities; a great advertisement for the sport of hockey. Love it! Kait and I can’t wait to be back again for the gold medal match – hopefully to watch Australia.
In the evening we passionately supported Natalie Cook/Tamsin Hinchley in the beach volleyball. The lively party atmosphere at Horse Guards Parade for the beach volleyball was a heap of fun. Music/dancing/crowd games between every point. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for the Aussies – squandering four match points in the second set.
Simon Massey and his wife Kait, of Tamworth, are providing a blog on their London Olympic Games experience.