Championship Time at Wimbledon

Last week brought us a couple of tennis days at the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon.

We were entertaining guests on centre court for two days of quarter finals,

both women's and men's. The order of play was set,

and so was the roof over centre court due to the threat of rainy weather the first day we were there.

Our first match was a make-up between the Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro and the spunky Spaniard, David Ferrar, who came out on top.

Then the ladies' competition began, with Serena Williams

up against the six foot Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Serena was unbelievably strong and it was thrilling

to cheer on such a passionate American competitor. Her spirit was contagious!

The second ladies match of the day saw Angelique Kerber edge out fellow German Sabine Lisicki in a close match.

The second day, the umpires were more optimistic and left the roof open which is preferred by most players,

however, at one point, it began to sprinkle, and the precision and speed of the team who covered the court was a fascinating show in itself.

The roof reopened after awhile, and I was struck looking out over the spectators at how brightly dressed everyone was. In a city where black and beige rule as the colors of choice when picking out clothing, it was refreshing to see so much color.

And speaking of fashion, how about this fashion parade of judges all decked out in their official Ralph Lauren attire?

The first match of the day saw Federer handily beat Mikhail Youzhny in three sets.

He was in excellent form which foreshadowed his magnificent performance later at the finals.

The big match of the day for the locals, however, was the meeting between Ferrer 

and Andy Murray, the home crowd's favorite.

Hopes for the homegrown boy to make the finals were flamed with Andy's win over Ferrer.

Enhancing our experience was our own suite where we enjoyed drinks, lunch,

and later tea. Of course, we had to add a US flag to the centerpiece on July 4th in honor of America's birthday.

Watching a lot of tennis can really make you hungry, and

we were not disappointed by the offerings. How about these Wimbledon colored macarons?

And no visit to Wimbledon would be complete without the traditional strawberries and cream.

Of course, part of the sport is checking out who is sitting in the Royal Box each day. We were not disappointed on the day of Andy Murray's match when Kate and William

the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

came out to cheer Britain's own Andy Murray.

There was also some tennis royalty visiting that day, as well. Steffi Graf and André Agassi. They sure added some class to the occasion.

As the sun began to set over the London skyline, we enjoyed a final look from our suite and reminded ourselves how fortunate we were to be a part of such a time-honored event.

Wimbledon--home of lawn tennis and the oldest tennis championship in the world.

Wimbledon Flowers

One more short posting on Wimbledon while I'm watching the Williams sisters play in the finals. This time I'm back in the U.S. watching it on TV and enjoying all the comments you get along the way. When you watch it live, there are no commentaries, and it was interesting to me how hushed the crowd would get every time the player stepped up to serve. How proper!

I was really impressed with the color scheme of Wimbledon. All purple and green. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the flowers that we saw along the way. The good news for this Fourth of July morning is that we are going to have an American win the women's finals----now just which one will it be?

Wimbledon

Today we were fortunate to have been invited to go to Wimbledon as the guests of one of Mike's colleagues. Our tickets were for center court to see the women's semi-finals.

We were VERY lucky that our seats were in the shade. Opposite us, the spectators looked so miserable in the full sun. It was in the high 80's again today.

From our window at lunch you could get a peek at some of the grounds and the other dozen or so tennis courts that make up the Wimbledon facility.

Here's the infamous roof that was constructed this past year to protect the court and players in case of rain. In Houston, we close the roofs on our baseball and football stadiums when the temperatures are this warm, but here that doesn't seem to be considered.

The first match was between Serena Williams and a Russian gal named Elena Dementieva. Serena has made quite an impression this week coming on to court with a short white trench coat over her tennis outfit. Perhaps you can see it in this pre-game shot.

The match was intensely played and very competitive. They were equally talented and played their hearts out.

Throughout the match, the crowds seemed to favor Elena, but you can rest assured that I was cheering on Serena, a fellow American.

Look at the muscles on Elena. She was quite the competitor. She won the first set after a tie breaker game, lost the second set to Serena 7-5....

and challenged Serena to the final point that Serena was able to save. They were neck to neck in the 2 hour, 49 minutes match--the longest women's semifinal at Wimbledon in at least 40 years. Here Serena celebrated her hard fought victory. The question remained who would she play in the finals on Saturday?

Between matches, we had time to look around. At Royal Ascot, everyone is watching the women's hats, but today I couldn't help noticing the men's hats. This gentleman was directly in front of me with his straw hat, and then I began to look around....

and discovered it was the most popular hat of the day.

This gentleman added a matching band around his.

Before the next match, we just had time for a spot of tea

and some strawberries and cream which are a Wimbledon tradition.

We had seen Venus practicing earlier and knew she would be a fierce competitor.

Sure enough, she dominated her opponent, Dinara Safina, a Russian who was ranked and seeded number 1, with sets of 6-1 and 6-0

to beat her in only 51 minutes with hardly breaking a sweat. This sets up a rematch between the two sisters in a Fourth of July final. How American is that? Venus is hoping to become the first woman to win 3 Wimbledons in a row since Steffi Graf. The world will be watching to see if she can.