Hawkeye Slums It In The Queue (1st Day Of Wimbledon)

Saw the thread by bogbrush recollecting his day in the posh seats on center court and thought I would add one about my experience when starting the day without the luxury of tickets...

Needless to say. It started early and involves a lot of waiting on the grass of Wimbledon park. I came prepared with something to sit on, warm clothes, good company and most of all a copy of the order of play so that we could plan what we would like to see,

When we eventually got in headed straight to court 18 and the queue for the unreserved seating. This wasn't too long (about 15 minutes) and TBH it was fun as we had a lively debate with some other fans about the prospects of the top players.

Here we saw most of the last set of the Errani v Puig match. Errani really fighting to stay in with the last few games going to numerous deuces but she failed and the number 5 womens seed was out. Then Youzney v Robin Haase. Youzney playing some attractive all court tennis and surviving a scary slip on the pristine but slippery new grass. Then Almagro v I think it was "Zop" hadn't heard of him. Almagro really hits the ball hard especially the forehand and the serve. Lovely backhand that he appears to be able to hit anywhere. Whilst this was going on the Nadal v Darcis match started. Court 18 is near court 1 so we could see a scoreboard and hear the crowd. At the beginning of the match Nadal had some really difficult service games with numerous break points. Without looking at the score board it was possible to tell who won a point. Cheers when Darcis won and sort of sighs of disappointment when Nadal did. Lots on court 18 started watching the scoreboard and excitedly talking about how great it would be for Murray if Nadal went out  

We left before the end of this match as we had planned to try and get return tickets for court 1. This queue was about an hour long. By the time we got in just saw the last few games of the Nadal match   and maybe even a bit more   Was left traumatized and sad not just by the loss and injury but by the ugly braying crowd. Nadal was obviously inhibited in his movement and IMO Darcis's level of play was below that of Youzney and Haase. Also the Wimbledon crowd can be far worse than the French. Lot of braying idiots with no empathy that there might be a person underneath the player.

The atmosphere then shifted completely for the Hewitt v Wawrinka match. A lot of the braying idiots left. Hewitt brought so much positive energy. He really is such a fighter it was great to watch. Had his own little group of cheer leaders numbering about 10 who sang and cheered for him "We love you Leyton we do" etc but no disrespect for Wawrinka. It was a baseline battle and I was surprised and pleased that Leyton won. Watching him you can understand why he continues to play because it's obvious how much he enjoys not just the tennis but every aspect of being in a big arena. At the end he high fived all his support band and we speculated he invited them all down to the pub for a celebration drink. I was grateful to Leyton for cheering me up for a short while but now I'm  again...

I can definitely recommend visiting Wimbledon without a ticket. But it's probably advisable to avoid it on a day when one of your favorites goes out in such a sad and dramatic way.

Thanks Hawkeye, good write up.

Without wishing to open fresh wounds, was the crowd generally against Nadal or just a vocal minority?

Thanks Hawkey, nice write up.

Would love to watch Hewitt play in person.

Lots on court 18 started watching the scoreboard and excitedly talking about how great it would be for Murray if Nadal went out   

I'm sure you fitted in just fine there. 

Good article and sounds like you had a great time except of course for watching Nadal lose. I had it three years ago watching TMF lose to Berdbrain, and then followed a similar discussion about his back.

Great Hewitt match though, superior in drama to my day, so good one!

Nice writeup hawkeye, thanks. Always good to hear from people who are experiencing it live; on top of bogbrush's article, 606v2 has decent representation at Wimbledon this year! Have to confess that I'd never heard of Zopp either, incidentally...

That was a good read Hawkeye. 

Disappointed for you to see Rafa knocked out, but all crowds in the world like an upset and Wimbledon is not exempt from that. I remember watching Soderling v Rafa at FO and it might be the loudest crowd I've ever heard, cheering every Soderling winner as the finishing line approached.

Fact is that a lot of fans have a top 4 favourite, and the fans supporting the 'home boy' Andy will have been just as happy as some Roger and Novak fans. 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed your day in spite of the obvious disappointment.

I queued up as well, will do a post on it

Very good article HE, its sad that you couldn't watch much of your hero's match, but its still worth to watch every penny to watch Rafa in action.

Nice article HE. Shame to see Nadal go out.

@HE.. you should visit the hallowed grounds of SW19 more often. Nadal will have better days.

thanks for your article.

I am going for the next 2 days, grounds pass wed, court 1 thur. What time did you get into the queue and what time did you make it into the grounds?

The crowd did seem to want Rafa to lose (from TV). I think people want to have a story to tell to say they were there on a historic day rather than a forgettable one.

Yes HB, it was clear they did. Partly to see a bit of history I'm sure, partly from a British perspective, maybe partly from a Federer perspective, and partly because of the British love of an underdog. 

I don't think it has anything to do with Rafa's popularity.

HB - I got into the queue at 5am and I missed out by 200-300 on the show courts (was around 1800 on the ticket numbers).
I got into wimbledon at 10;05am, the whole grounds were open from 10;30 and play started at 11.30.

Aren't there 500 tickets x 4 show courts = 2,000.
Ah just checking on the site looks like court 3 is not available to the queue.
So you mean there were 1,500 tickets available 500 x 3 show courts.
And you were 1,800 in the queue.

I think there comes a point in an underdog story where the underdog goes too far that you don't want them to lose as it would almost seem overly cruel.

Henman Bill - I was queue card no. 7245, having arrived at Queue around 8am - I got into the grounds at 1pm.  Talked to others who got in at 12:30pm having joined queue at 7:45am.  Probably worth joining queue for 7:30am if you can.

It would appear that tomorrow (Weds), due to it being Fed/Murray's half of draw, there will be more people queuing up - you'll get more people in the ground passes queue who've just missed out on the showcourt tickets.  However, once inside the grounds you may be OK getting around to the outer courts you want to see, as there are likely to be a fair few people with ground passes sitting down on 'Henman Hill' to watch the centre court matches.

Henman Bill wrote:thanks for your article.

I am going for the next 2 days, grounds pass wed, court 1 thur. What time did you get into the queue and what time did you make it into the grounds?

I'm doing the same, only I'm going for ground pass this Friday, and have tickets for QF day next week. Thanks for the info MrInvisible and LS, I'm planning on queuing at around 5am on Friday if I can stick it.

Which injury was it hawkeye? Injury of the "oh, this guy is really on fire, must not let them think i'm in good shape"?

Funny that when Murray is touching his leg you are quick to point out how unsporting it looks
Surely the 2 time Wimbledon champion could handle a 29 year old journeyman

HM Murdoch. The majority of the crowd were cheering for Nadal to lose. As I said they were doing this from the start of the match so not only because they sniffed an upset. Still can't make sense of it.

Henman Bill. Sorry this info might be a bit late but I've only just got back to this thread. I didn't note the time so can only give estimate. Got to the queue at about 7.30 (queue ticket no. 6110) and got in the grounds just after 12. I reckon Monday might have been an unusually busy day? Hope you have good time. Maybe you can tell us about it?

laverfan. I try and visit every year. This time I think I'll need a bit of time to recover...

hawkeye wrote:HM Murdoch. The majority of the crowd were cheering for Nadal to lose. As I said they were doing this from the start of the match so not only because they sniffed an upset. Still can't make sense of it.

...

I would never cheer an error, whoever made it in whatever circumstances. I could be mightily relieved at watching an error, but that's not the same thing.

However, I'm partisan in that I would cheer almost any player against Nadal in almost any circumstances. I can't think of a match in the last few years in which Nadal has played that I have not wanted him to lose. I don't want him injured, I take no pleasure in him being away from the tour, and I recognise that the tour has missed him when away as one of its most important and successful members, but I've never missed him personally. I have huge respect for his talent and his never-say-die attitude and the fact that he's won on every surface. However, I don't like his on court presence. I think that on court in play he is an unsporting and ungracious presence - in substantial contrast to the fact that after a match he is a gracious and sporting loser and a gracious winner, but I am chiefly interested in what I see during a match, and I don't like it. Also, if truth be told, it does not help that he's got a hex on my preferred player Federer. However, even if Rafa was my preferred player I'd find his on-court antics a constant embarrassment as well as troubling because it pushes the envelope for umpires who need to deal with lesser lights.

I would therefore be cheering for him to lose, but not at his errors, nor by being pleased if he appeared injured.

How would you comport yourself if Murray were playing;, or what if Djokovic was playing a match with Nadal facing the winner in the next round?

It's a largely British crowd and of course there would have been a feeling that Nadal losing would give a considerable boost to Murray's chances of reaching the final - Madrid behaved in very much the same way to Djokovic I believe. There is also the traditional native sport of supporting the underdog!

Hope the crowd were cheering winners rather than errors - I hate to hear the latter.

Glad you saw some good matches hawkeye, but shame that you had to be there to see Rafa go out - hope next year is better luck.

time please. Thank you for those kind thoughts. I now have two very opposite memories of my favorite players at Wimbledon. I saw Federer win the trophy in 2009 and Nadal go out in the first round this year...

I'm still thinking about the crowd and am not really sure what to make of it.

hawkeye wrote:laverfan. I try and visit every year. This time I think I'll need a bit of time to recover...

Please do not take 7+ months off to recover, though. I will miss you sorely, if you do.

Surprised to hear that about the British crowd, they have a reputation for being fair and they love Nadal. Anyhow crowd mentality is different to individual and I guess it would only take a few people to maybe have a much bigger impact. I agree that it's not good to cheer errors, I remember the Murray Gasquet match where the crowd semi cheered a fault when Gasquet was serving for it.

I'm surprised at the naivety on these boards. A plucky no-hoper takes on one of the legends of the games and starts to dominate him

What's the crowd suppose to do, boo?

I'd wager that they'd be similar if it was Andy. Brits love routing for an underdog, to think it of something sinister against Nadal is nonsense

The crowd were behind Federer at the beginning last night and there were groans as he missed opportunities (and lines!) but by the end of the match, Stakhovsky's play had won them over and they were cheering for him and gave him a rousing standing ovation.

Exactly the same!

Agreed, there's no way the Wimbledon crowd is anti-Nadal

time please wrote:The crowd were behind Federer at the beginning last night and there were groans as he missed opportunities (and lines!) but by the end of the match, Stakhovsky's play had won them over and they were cheering for him and gave him a rousing standing ovation.

Exactly the same!

No! That was my point. Right from the very beginning in the first few games the crowd was cheering for Nadal to lose. I only saw the Federer match on TV but I thought the crowd reaction was fair. Stakhovsky won his cheers.

banbrotam wrote:I'm surprised at the naivety on these boards. A plucky no-hoper takes on one of the legends of the games and starts to dominate him

What's the crowd suppose to do, boo?

I'd wager that they'd be similar if it was Andy. Brits love routing for an underdog, to think it of something sinister against Nadal is nonsense

They were cheering pretty loud for Stahkovsky yesterday albeit there was a huge contingent of Fed Fans in the crowd... the Brits do love the underdog. I dont really think it would have been Anti-Nadal HE he has too many fans in Britain.

Haddie-nuff. I know Rafa is popular in Britain that's one of the reasons I was shocked... the other is because I wouldn't have expected this sort of reaction for any well known player right from the start of a match. It must be a sort of mob mentality. I watched the Federer match on TV and IMO the crowd was fair. Did you read my description of the Hewitt/Wawrinka match? Because in that match Hewitt was the clear favorite but Wawrinka was treated fairly.

Also attended on Day 1

Saw Jankovic, Larcher De Brito, Mahut and sat on the hill for large amounts of the day. Must admit I've had better days at Wimbledon and I don't think the weather helped