Wednesday 3rd July: Weather: 12°C to 19°C: Overcast with misty rain andSunny patches
Walking: 11k circuit walk to Hammersmith Bridge, Walk extra 10k Parsons Green/ Southfields return
Time: 6.30am to 8.30am
Accommodation: 14a Wyfold Rd Fulham
Morning walk Hammersmith Bridge
Robbie and Jan Centre Court
Court 8 delayed by rain
Jordan Thomson Court 8
Medvedev in action Centre Court
Naomi Osaka in action Centre Court
Robbie in Red cap fiming Sinner
Ian home to see Berrettini & Sinner
Highlight today was firstly a walk along the Thames pathway, before heading off to the Wimbledon tennis with Robbie. The best match of the day was Sinner defeating Berrettini in a 4 set thriller that went until 1030pm.
Ian and I are up early as today Robbie and I are doing centre Court, whilst Ian is going to queue for a ground pass. Having scored 4 days of Wimbledon passes, we shared the double passes between us so Wednesday it’s Robbie and me at Centre Court, Thursday Robbie and Ian at Court 2, Thursday is Robbie and Ian at Court 2 again, and Sunday, Ian and me at centre Court. That’s loads of Wimbledon time for all of us, but Ian wanted to also queue today for a ground pass, so he needed to be there well before 9.30am to ensure a ticket.
At 6.30am, I walk the 1.4k with Ian down to Parson’s Green Underground District Line, then I continue on to the Thames Path to do a few k before heading off to Wimbledon. Down to the river, it’s busy with dog walkers, cyclists and runners, and I walk the 5k to Hammersmith bridge - the first Suspension bridge in England built in 1827, and one of the oldest in the world. It’s closed to vehicles and only open to foot traffic because it’s in a state of disrepair. I’m back at 8.30am, and Ian rings to say he’s in the queue and has been given a Queue Number of 6001 - so he’ll get one of the 10,000 ground passes issued, it’s just a wait now to get in.
Robbie and I make sandwiches and walk back down to Parson’s Green Underground District Line and pile onto an already packed train. There’s two stations before Southfields where everyone alights to walk the 1.3k down to the Wimbledon entrance. Which way? Just follow the crowd. We pass a bakery and Robbie decides he’d like an apple strudel but has to settle for 3 x almond croissants.
We enter by Gate 5 and in 10 minutes we’re through security and wandering over to Court 8 to see Jordan Thomson from Australia play Brendan Nakashima. It’s really cold and starting to rain, and the covers go on an come off a few times before play starts late at 12.30pm. Ian arrives, and is glad to sit in the seat we saved him behind a brick wall with a good view of the court. He’s was wet and cold in the queue and couldn’t believe it would be so cold having just come from the heatwave of 37°C in Croatia. We have coffee made from our thermos with one of Robbie’s special croissants. Yum! Thomson plays terribly, blamimg his coach, amd loses in 3 sets. Robbie and I head off to watch Medvedev play Alexandre Muller from France who has just one the first set, but Medvedev rallies and wins in 4 sets. We have our lunch at 3.30pm.
Next is Naomi Osaka, who never looked like winning against the American Emma Navarro, daughter of billionaire Business man Ben Navarro, founder of the Sherman Financial Group. Osaka was simply not quick around the court, both players hitting the ball hard.
Ian watches Lulu Sun from New Zealand win in 3 sets to advance to the 3rd round. He then catches the train home to watch the Sinner/Berrettini match on TV.
Robbie and I watch the Sinner/Berretini match on centre court and it’s top class tennis with Sinner winning the first two sets in tie breakers. It’s 8pm and we have another sandwich, tossing up whether to follow Ian home. But the third set is a turn around with Berretini winning 6-2 and so we decide to stay to see the finish. We’re glad we did, as the 4th set was nail biting with the raucous croud now swelled in numbers when the doors were opened to the ground pass ticket holders who flooded in to fill the many empty seats which people vacated when it looked like Sinner would be an easy winner.
The match finishes at 10.30pm and we follow the streams of people heading back to Southfields station. The train is waiting and we’re crammed in tighter than sardines in a tin for the 10 minute trip back to Parsons Green. There’s still 1.3k to walk back to our apartment, and we’re home at 11.30pm to celebrate a wonderful day with a cup of tea - too late for dinner and a beer!