Wimbledon 22/09/10
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| The entrance to Wimbledon Clubroom |
Today dad and I went to Wimbledon. We caught the train and was met by Mr Nick Brown. He drove us in his car and we entered the club from the rear entrance. For the next hour and a bit we walked around the club and its amazing grounds.
It was a special private tour and you will find out how special soon! I got to enter the changing rooms where all the worlds greatest players change. I even stood next to the locker used by by Nan-nan’s favourite player, Roger Federer.
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| Federer's Locker |
The grounds are in an amazing condition. There are teams of maintenance people constantly working away. Nick took me to court 2 and it was amazing to see. In total there are 50 tennis courts and I bet all players would like to play on court 1 but this is reserved for matches like the Wimbledon finals. The club is set on about 33 acres of land and out of 52 weeks of the year is only played about 8 weeks of the year. Two of those weeks are for the Wimbledon tournament.
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| From #2 Court back to Clubhouse |
The rest of the time it is closed for play apart from the hard and clay courts. They can afford to do this because Wimbledon makes the club $160 - 180 million pound. Thats about three hundred and eighty one million New Zealand dollars.
After looking around the three of us sat on the balcony of the clubhouse and had lunch. This area is closed to members of the club during Wimbledon as it becomes a private area for the queen and royal family plus any of their guests. During lunch the general manager of Wimbledon came and introduced himself to me. He gave me a book about Wimbledon 2010. It’s special because it was only released 3 days earlier and would not be in NZ yet.
After lunch Dad and I walked down the winners corridor and through some doors out onto Court 1 where the finals are played. This was special for me because very few people get to go court-side. In fact Nick Brown who is one of the 364 club members has only been there once. He was surprised at being able to take us there but the general manager said it was okay.
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| The Royal Box |
To become a member of Wimbledon you either have to win the competition, represent England or play in the Davis Cup tournament. Nick played in the Davis Cup and is a coach and talent developer for the club and had only been on court 1 once before. He told us that we were very lucky to be there and that very very few people had the privilege.
Dad took a picture of me on the court and also next to the box where the Royal Family sit. The roof on the number 1 court takes 22 minutes to close as they have to allow the court and area to climatise first or else the grass court will sweat making it no good to play on.
Other highlights of this visit included standing next to the winners trophy cabinet for the Wimbledon competition. These are the actual trophies, the winners receive a smaller trophy to take away. The Woman's one is a plate and there is not much room left on it to engrave names so they will probably make a base to mount it on to provide more space.
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| Winners board |
Note the name of Nadal already on the board.
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| Wimbledon Mens Trophy |
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| Wimbledon Woman's Plate |
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| The Winners Media Platform |
Nadal sat where I am sitting when he won Wimbeldon 2010 a couple of weeks ago.
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| Nick Brown and I Courtside at Wimbledon Centre Court |
Nick was the first Briton to beat a seeded player at Wimbledon since John Lloyd beat Eliot Teltscher in 1985.
Nick's career-high rankings were World No. 145 in singles and No. 42 in doubles.
Since permanently retiring from competitive tennis, he now coaches and develops up coming players.Thanks for the tour Nick, I had a great day. Mitch
AND FINALLY THE WINNERS WALK, JUST CLICK THE ARROW
Mitch you were so lucky!!! Nannan wil be jealous. You look really happy.
ReplyDeleteI did have a good time. It was cool going where other people havent.
ReplyDelete