Rob McLean - Tennis heaven in SW19
Tennis heaven. Working at Wimbledon for two weeks and access pretty much all areas is just about as good as it gets.
After years of club ballots, begging contacts and the odd bit of queuing, it is a real privilege to be able to get onto any court.
While the seasoned hacks, who are working extremely hard, walk around with the world-weary expression of being at their umpteenth Wimbledon, it is very hard to be cool and wipe the grin of my face - kid in a sweet shop comes to mind.
Wimbledon has an underground floor which houses a variety of things such as the television, radio, canteens and also a link from the men's changing rooms leading to the Centre Court. On one of my many exploratory runs, I found myself in an area I wasn't supposed to be in, namely the men's locker rooms. At that moment Roger Federer passed me in the corridor.
It was also at this point that my look of being lost gave me away and one of the many security/Army guards said to me very quietly: ''Can I help you'' - a euphemism for ''who the hell are you I have never seen you before''.
Wimbledon is, of course, a magnet for celebrities and a number of people who are not interested in tennis but are there because it is a huge part of the social calendar.
In the space of 20 yards you can see the entire class system of this country. Unfortunately, many of the show courts were not full, which is probably due to the World Cup and long lunches. Attendances each day are down by about 4,000.
On the second day, I was standing in the press room watching the 'longest match' thinking it was about to end in the final set - it went on for another seven hours - when Nick Bollettieri, the legendary tennis coach who has been responsible for bringing so many Grand Slam champions into the game, stated chatting. At nearly 80 his enthusiasm for the game has not been dulled and he believes Britain's Laura Robson is definitely going to be a top 20 player.
When I saw Annabel Croft, the broadcaster and former British player, I was reminded of one of my first visits to Wimbledon in 1983. I was with a friend who was visiting from the United States and she must have thought she had hit the jackpot when I told her I had tickets for Wimbledon and in the evening for Bob Dylan at Wembley. We saw Croft lose to Chris Evert on the old No 1 court.
If you think this is all about name-dropping, it is almost impossible to avoid with the wall-to-wall celebs. Tony Bennett, the legendary singer was walking into the Centre Court and I saw David Walliams, of Little Britain fame with a much older woman who I assumed to be his mother.
Just as I arrived in the press centre, John McEnroe was walking out with shades on and I was tempted to remind him that we had played in a pro-am tournament, but he blanked me. Never mind.
Anyway all this is, of course, a sideshow to the main event and at this moment Murray is looking very good for the semi-finals, but then there is possibly Nadal. Whatever happens, work permitting, I should be able to watch the final on Centre Court and for that I would have probably worked for nothing.
Following last week's bit on the £5,000 ticket, I hear that some Centre Court tickets for Murray's matches are now exchanging hands for £20,000. For that money you could buy four houses in my wife's home town in New Zealand
Date published :
30 Jun 2010 - 11:29:02
