My day out at SW19.

Perhaps the 1970 Beatles number one hit record, the "Long and Winding Road" was inspired by the long and arduous queue of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships... just a thought.
I embarked upon this journey in that serpentine estuary (at 5am on the opening day of the 127th edition of the Wimbledon Championships), weaving like a spider's web, in and out of the labyrinth of fencing that led to me to the mouth of the river and the holy grail of tennis tournaments; Wimbledon.

For five painstakingly slow hours I trundled forward at a snail's pace towards the front of the dreaded queue. Here I was flanked by three exuberant and boisterous Australian "fanatics" and one extremely garrulous New Yorker who seemed to have an opinion or story on just about everything; maybe I should not have pressed the snooze button at 4:30am, therefore avoiding this international sandwich and ticket number 1810.

Nevertheless my sleep deprived, Harry Enfield teenager mood did not linger long thanks to the intermittent reading of the beautifully written "Scoop" by Evelyn Waugh, (I can assure you he isn't a girl despite the name) the Two Towers audiobook and at last the promise of movement forwards in the queue over two hours later.

With my spirits rising, I was determined to enjoy the complete Wimbledon experience and that started by partaking in the tennis reflex game (20.4 seconds, not the best to be honest), followed by the serving speed machine where I posted a serve of 89mph, which I was fairly pleased with despite the fact the technique had been replaced with trying to hit the ball as hard as I could!

Finally however by 10:07am, to be precise, I paid the £20 ground pass fee and entered the hallowed turf of Wimbledon. I truly love this place. It is so very picturesque and idyllic. The sights, sounds and smells are unique. It's almost ineffable how much it means to me and only the weather could spoil my untouchable high, thankfully it did not.

After perusing the order of play for the day, I wrote down who I most wanted to see in terms of exciting, attacking tennis; I could not wait.

Before play started however I received my strawberries and cream voucher (courtesy of being an HSBC customer), raced down to the practice court to see Cilic, FEDERER!!!!! (for which I got the thumbs up from for cheering "ALLEZ"), Nadal and Monaco. From up close you really can appreciate and be in awe of their ball striking ability, it is phenomenal.

First on the agenda was Benoit Paire, a flamboyant, erratic, eccentric Frenchman, against Adrian Ungur (I'm a sucker for single handed backhands). Sitting touching distance from the impeccably cut grass of court 10, I loved every minute of this exciting 4 set encounter, allez Paire!
Next on court 3, I sampled some British talent with up and coming Kyle Edmund vs a Pole with as big a game as his 6'8 frame, Jerzy Janowicz. Unfortunately young Edmund, watched by Greg Rusedski and Leon Smith (GB Davis Cup Captain), was overwhelmed by JJ's unrelenting and frightening power in 3 sets, one of many Brits to go out again at the first hurdle.

After that I bumped into an old work colleague from last years Wimbledon and after a good catch up we watched Jo-Wilfred Tsonga vs David Goffin on court 2, a highly entertaining match with some superb shot making and attacking tennis, my favourite!

Digressing back to the complete Wimbledon experience, I spoke to Tsonga's coach Roger Rasheed about the Frenchman's tendency to occasionally hit a single handed backhand, spoke at length with umpire Jake Garner about how he became a top tennis umpire and got a high five from former tennis player Lindsay Davenport; a real mixed bag.

Dustin Brown

Then to my favourite player of the day on court 4, Dustin Brown. The easy going Jamaican style combined with German efficiency served up a real treat of just about everything! Drop shots, lobs, tweeners, serve and volley, power, guile, finesse, passion and a whole lot of dreadlocks! P.S. I got his autograph!

Darcis downs Nadal

Whilst all this was unfolding, on court 1 a huge potential shock was on the cards with Belgian journeyman Steve Darcis, ranked at 135, 29 years of age and possessing a single handed backhand; surely he didn't have a chance against Rafael Nadal. Tennis is a funny old game at times and for the last three games I viewed this stunning upset in front of a raucous Wimbledon crowd. Darcis take a bow!

Finally as my wonderful day drew to a close, I had the pleasure of watching the perennial second ranked Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka against the in-your-face, battle hardened warhorse Lleyton Hewitt, in a three set win for the veteran Aussie.

So that is about it. When I awoke at 4;58am I was a sleep deprived, irritable queuer and by 8;42pm I was the happiest 21-year-old in SW19; just brilliant.

Recommendations:
1) You may be wondering how on earth I was able to regularly make it onto the show courts with such ease. Well it certainly was not easy and through lack of effort, but I believe the term is "schmoozing". This is where I would be very polite and go to every single gangway entrance to the show court and try to sneak my way onto the court despite not having a ticket. This for me is the best part of the whole experience.
"Nothing in this world worth having comes easy" - Dr. Kelso. "That's goddamn right" - Red, Shawshank Redemption.

2) Sign up to HSBC so that you too can enjoy the luxury of a free bowl of strawberries and cream... delicieux!

3) I didn't get any pimms.... I should have got some pimms!

4) Bring a pen that works. I brought a pen.... but it didn't work; schoolboy error.

SW19 itself!

5) Bring a camera and not a phone that has low battery and not very many pixels!

6) Go to Wimbledon at least once in your lifetime, you won't regret it!