For someone that hasn’t played tennis in a year and a half, I’ve done pretty well at the Grand Slams this year. In Australia, I watched Novak Djokovic defeat Stan Wawrinka in an epic 5-setter that took over 5 hours to finish (and also conveniently finished only 5 hours before my flight home to Brisbane). He went on to win the tournament.
At Roland Garros, I bought tickets for the main stadium (Court Philippe Chatrier) in hopes of seeing Rafa Nadal play — and I did. He gave all of us a huge scare by losing the first and nearly losing the second in a tiebreak before he stormed back to win in 4 sets. He went on to win the tournament — his eighth(!!) French Open.
At Wimbledon, I didn’t have the gear to camp out in the queue and get Centre Court or Court 1 tickets, so I knew I wouldn’t get to see Andy Murray play firsthand. However, I did find him warming up for his second round match while I was wandering the outside courts that my grounds pass (secured by my 6am arrival in the queue) allowed me access to.
The crowd around Court 9 was so deep that many people were shooed on by security, but I managed to squeeze in and get a look at the man who would soon become Britain’s most celebrated athlete. And yes, Ivan Lendl (his coach) seemed just as grumpy in person as he does on TV — although he cracked a smile every now and then!
Here are a few other photos of Andy warming up (and one that shows just how crowded Henman Hill/Murray Mount was later in the day for his actual match):
