Watching Wimbledon Championships is the peak of experience for a tennis fan.  Watching Federer playing live at Wimbledon Centre Court is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  We checked off this bucket item this summer.

We checked in our Wimbledon airbnb two days before Wimbledon Championships began.  We quickly discovered our airbnb has been the house of Rafael Nadal in the past few years; this year, Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios lived a few houses down the block, right opposite to each other.   

Among the four tennis grand slams, Wimbledon is the tournament with the Queue for the die-hard tennis fans to queue up to get tickets.   For the other three grand slams, we can get tickets online with pricey but reasonable price tags.    For Wimbledon, the Queue is pretty much the only option for international travellers like us.

Our airbnb host kindly lent us high quality camping gears so we could tent at Wimbledon park overnight.  And we were lucky to know the weather was warm and sunny for the fortnight.

June 29
Even before the official Queue started, there were a hundred or so people setting up tents in the Wimbledon Park.   We chatted with a few die-hard fans who were super friendly, knowledgeable and excited to share their experiences over the years.  They were excited to see us when they ran into us in the Queue a few days after. From their intelligence, we decided to get into the Queue as early as possible.  

June 30
1pm, we got in the queue, two days before the Tuesday when Roger Federer was scheduled to play his first match.   We were in good company of many fanatic fans, from all over the world.  The queuing time was kind of bonding time with people from all over the world, and it was fun talking to folks from South Africa, Hungary, China and of course the locals.

3:45pm, we put up our tent in the park. We became neighbours to the same folks for the next two days and had a lot of social times.    

4:30pm, we got our Queue card and its number 805 was our priority in the Queue.  For any day, the first 500 got tickets for the match of their choices; the next 1000 got tickets to one of the three show courts.  To get the insurance to watch Roger Federer, we had to be in the first 500. In the park, there were people playing racket balls, there were food stalls, and accessible toilets.  It was pleasant and lively. The Queue was very well organised, and there were honorary Wimbledon stewards walking around, ready to answer our questions. We were not supposed to be away from the tent for more than 30 minutes, though the rules were not strictly enforced and we could still take some breaks here and there.   

5:45pm, we had take-out dinner and the evening was cool and comfortable.

8pm, we were tired, and went to bed early.  

July 1
4:15am, we were awakened around dawn, as many campers started making moves.

5:45am, we were all packed up, waiting to make a move.   The stewards separated the campers into two groups, with the first group for the matches of the day, and the second group for the matches of the day after.  We belonged to the latter group.   

7am, we moved our tents to a waiting area. 

9am, we settled in a new position.

12pm,  we got a new Queue card, with a new number 247.   We were elated as that guaranteed us to see the match of our choice.  The remaining day went by pretty quickly as we socialised with our neighbours, mostly fans of Roger Federer; and took short breaks to take shower and to get take-out.   

It was another warm, sunny and beautiful day in the park.    The evening-cool was again welcome, and we slept early.   

8pm,  just when we were dozing off, the Wimbledon steward checked each tent again to make sure all was inhabited with real tennis fans.

July 2, Centre Court
6am, we were awake and  start putting down the tent.  We checked in our camping gear in a nearby storage facilities set up for us, got breakfast from the food stalls. 

We were then split into groups for the different types of tickets, and each was given a wristband. The wristband remained the evidence of the Queue experience.   From the park to the ticket turnstile, it was about a mile and everyone was super-excited in this final mile. We got some tips from the more experienced that sections 101 to 103  would be among the best seating in the Centre Court. 

10:30am, grounds open and tickets at hand for section 103, 2nd row.   We entered the Wimbledon grounds, and we were overjoyed that a dream has come true.  The Wimbledon store is right after the entrance, and we bought a few items quickly.   The grounds were so very beautiful and immaculately groomed. We tried the famous strawberry and cream. The Wimbledon stewards were polite, happy, patient with our questions and they did such a good job to make us feel welcome. Time flew by pretty quickly as we wandered to watch players practice, watch matches on the outside courts or just pinched ourselves to believe that we finally made it. 

1pm, we were at our seat, ready for the order of play:

1. Kerber vs T. Maria
2. Federer vs L. Harris
3. Williams vs G. Gatto-Monticone

In the first match, Kerber won easy and quick.   The Federer match followed quickly. Federer received a super-warm welcome as he came on the court.   Most spectators were Federer’s fans. Before the first ball was played, I felt immensely how huge the expectations must be that Federer carried on his shoulder, and how his presence then victory brought happiness to the many fans in the Center Court and around the world.   Surprisingly, he lost the first set to the little known South African L. Harris, the collective sentiment in the stadium was hard to describe in words, but it felt like “how dare you to win a set against Federer?”. Federer won in 3 sets to 1.  The live experience was so much more magical than the watching-at-home experience.   

If Federer is lean and fit, Serena looks bulky but very intimidating on the court.  She looked super strong and looked heavier than Federer. The first set was no match, but the qualifier put up a fight in the second set.  Serena won in straight sets.  

The Centre Court experience was deeply satisfying.   

We strolled up to Aorangi Terrace, commonly known as Henman Hill was crowded with spectators who did not get the show court tickets.  It was beautiful with a gorgeous view of the Centre Court, the Big TV, and Court No. 1.  

The Wimbledon museum closes at 7:30pm and we missed the opening hours just by a few minutes.    I was determined to come back to the grounds and the museum another day.

My first day in Wimbledon grounds has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I wanted more of it.  

July 3
After the Centre court experience, I spent the day after to explore the Wimbledon Village and the Wimbledon downtown, had lunch at the Dog & Fox pub. 

We had a nice dinner at the SticksNSushi in Wimbledon where we saw Nick Kyrgios who was scheduled to have a big match against Rafael Nadal the next day. 

July 4

We went to Hyde Park in the morning.  

2pm, I was back to airbnb to watch some tennis matches online.

5pm, I went back to the Wimbledon Queue in the park.  

7:30pm, the stewards informed us the ground was full and they would soon close the park.  I was devastated. I ended up watching some matches from the big TV outside of Morrisons while my husband went to watch Tina Turner in London.

July 5
After the disappointment the day before, I learned that there were no short cut around the Queue and the better strategy was to honestly wait.   My husband went to Bath, while I went back to the Queue.  

9:30am, on my way back to the Queue, I ran into the whole Federer family – Mirka, Federer’s parents, and his kids (I saw both daughters, but I was so happy to see Mirka and could not remember if I saw both boys or just one of the two).   What struck me was how normal and how typical they are as a family, it was really good for their kids to live this way even their father is such a celebrity and is admired by tens of millions around the world. They seemed to be on the way playing some racket balls, and they were holding some sort of rackets, not tennis rackets though.  I said “hello”; both his mom and Mirka responded with a “hello” back.   

2pm, The Wimbledon museum deserves a visit.   The virtual reality movie provided memorable first hand experience of Wimbledon 2016.  The trophy looks magnificent.  

3:30pm, I was joined by an acquaintance from the Queue, to watch a few hours of tennis at the Henman Hill. We got in Court 12 to watch the mixed doubles of V. Williams and F. Tiafoe, it was a short match and we went back to Henman Hill.   When the 15-year old Coco won the match, the whole Henman Hill gave one of the loudest roars, as if we all won the biggest prize of our collective lives.  It was simply unbelievable how all of us love Cinderella storyline.

8:00pm, sunset was beautiful in Wimbledon. 

July 6 and beyond
My dream has come true this week in Wimbledon.  I am still elated with the memory watching Federer at Wimbledon Centre Court.  The Queue and the Centre Court are once-in-life-time experiences. Any tennis fans should go for it, at least once.  

I was gutted that Federer missed two championship points.  It would have been the best fairy tale if he had won the 2019 trophy.  Life is never perfect,  nothing could take away the cosy Queue experience, the magical Federer experience, his hard-earned win over Nadal, and . . .

Also check out this blog for more of this 2019 trip.

Watching Federer live at Wimbledon Center Court is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a tennis fan.    I hit this bucket list item this July and still feel elated by the experience.

Our family of four arrived in Europe, on different flights from three US cities, a week before the Wimbledon tournament.   We thoughtfully selected a few “easy” European cities near London to spare the week. 

As empty-nesters, my husband and I are always happy that our children join us in our trip.   The four of us visited the progressive Amsterdam as well as the beautiful Belgium cities of Ghent, Brussels and Bruges.  

In Amsterdam, we visited the historic Ann Frank house on the first day.  It is hard to not be wretched by what had happened to the family and the millions Jews during World World II.   Have we treated similar racial persecution in the modern world with indifference? The museum is very well organized and there has been visible effort to keep the house intact for all these years.  As if a way to lighten up our heart, there are tons of canal cruises just right outside of the museum. We did the canal cruise, tulip museum, cheese museum after before briefly strolled in the red light district. 

On the second day in Amsterdam, each of us went different routes – my daughter went to the arts museum, my son rented a bike to get out of the city while their parents thoroughly enjoyed the tourist-favorite Van Gogh Museum – four people three itineraries on the same day.   Is this the new definition of family travelling together?  

On the third day, we took the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Ghent in Belgium.  Going between countries in Europe is as simple as going between cities in the Bay Area.

Our airbnb in Ghent is a 15-minutes walk from the train station.  It fit perfectly the description of a (better) home away from home.  It is spacious, comfortable and beautiful, and we had the whole 3-story home with a fully equipped kitchen.  The thoughtful host provided all kinds of tips from restaurant to bakeries to groceries. She lives right across the street, and we could not ask for a more accessible host.  In the three days there, every morning I walked that few minutes to get freshly baked croissants and pastries, while watching the locals bike to school or work. I could almost reminisce what life could be like in the quiet town in the medieval times.  A good breakfast gave us the perfect fuel for our day-trips with Ghent as our base.   

We spent the next day in Brussels.  Brussels is among the most beautiful European cities and a city of significance for the EU establishment..  The Garden of Mont Des Arts is spectacular and the Grand Place is impressive with so many eye-catching architecture buildings. I would have loved to just sit  in a cafe at the Grand Place to appreciate the city but there are so many other cities worth visiting.    

Next day, we took the train to Bruges, a medieval town that is every single bit worth visiting.  We went up the 300+ staircase to the top of the Belfry Tower and truly appreciated the engineering work of the clock tower which informed the medieval inhabitants the time of the day and synchronized their schedule.   Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice lunch at the fairy tale like Market Square, then visited Basilica of the Holy Blood.  There could be so many photo-stops in Bruges, but I would remember very favorably the hour my children and I sipped hot chocolate together at the Old Chocolate House.

I enjoyed Amsterdam and Belgium cities, and would like to spend more time in these two countries.   My husband and I are ready to move on to Wimbledon.

Also my own blog for the once-in-a-lifetime Wimbledon experience, and this blog for more of this 2019 trip.