Unbelievably it has been over a year since my last visit to Wimbledon. This time around though Pepe was lucky enough to actually win tickets in the ballot (the second time in three years) and even more luckily enough I got to go with him on this middle Saturday known as People’s day. I must admit it was a nice feeling to swoop by all of those people lining up to get on to the grounds and walk straight through the gates with our tickets. We got there some time after 11 and even though the grounds had opened up only at 10.30 pretty much all the non-reserved seatings had been taken and there were people everywhere.

Just like last year the weather was extremely pleasant if only a touch on the warm side. We had Court 1 tickets this year and although we were in the last row it actually turned out really well as we had the shade from the roof and the breeze from the area behind us so it was actually very comfortable. The matches weren’t all that exciting but I did get to see Amelie Mauresmo, this year’s No. 1 ladies seed, and this time I got to see Little Goran (Mario Ancic) in action instead of trying to see over peoples’ heads. Actually we first saw Amelie jogging past us as we walked to Wimbledon from Southfields. It was very amusing to see people turn around and point at her too late as she jogged by them. Actually I was just surprised that she decided to jog up on such a major stretch of road. We saw less tennis this year as to be honest as we were pretty comfortable in our seats but it was nice not to have to deal with the crowds.

At just before 4 o’clock many people actually left Wimbledon to go support England in their quarter-final match against Portugal. Not much to be said about that except I feel for the English going out the way they did. Much heartbreak which I can totally sympathise with. I also felt a bit sorry for the two players on the court at the time (Amelie against Aussie Nicole Pratt) as those still in their seats had their radios on and were alternately cheering and groaning as England lost the penalty shoot out. But back to the tennis – the first match we actually saw on court was Ivan Ljubičić (5) versus Dmitry Tursunov (27) and this match took ages. It probably didn’t help that part way through the match a lady up front collapsed and they had to halt play while she was treated and later taken from the court. It was nice to see that Ivan was doing all he could (providing drinks, ice etc.) to help out. Tursunov on the other hand chose to focus on reserving his energy. In the end Tursunov took the match in five long sets. Then it was Little Goran triumphing and then Amelie. Amelie is an AMAZING athlete – extremely fit she looked absolutely at home on the court and although Nicole did all she could unfortunately Amelie really was the superior player today.

In a wierd parallel to last year’s visit the tennis wasn’t completely over for the day (although Pepe and I were pretty worn out from sitting for seven hours. LOL) with some tennis still to be seen on Murray Fields or whatever they’re calling it these days with Andy Murray taking on Andy Roddick and although it would have been cool to go watch the match on the big screen I think the chances of finding a patch to sit on would have been nil.

Overall it was once again a great day. I wonder if I can make it three in a row next year ….

Ljubičić lending support	Little Goran ..	.. thanking the crowd
The ladies come on to court	Amelie	Nicole