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Location: Blogs ATG Vintage Watches |
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| Posted by: ATG |
18/07/2007 08:01 |
Did you know Wimbledon has a Love Affair with
Rolex?
So
a couple of weeks before Friday Finals day at Wimbledon our tickets for
No.1 Court arrived, wow! Two years in a row we had gone into a draw
from the Lawn Tennis Association my wife's tennis club affiliated
National organisation and two years straight we had had No.1 Court
seats on Finals day. No standing in line, no paying enormous sums just
a letter in the post with our whole day out sorted for
£80.
Now I am a football and baseball man so apart
from a good day out I could kind of take it or leave it but my wife
played tennis professionally in the US, she was at college in Florida
and at one stage she was to 5 US college and considered a prospect.
Unfortunately years of pounding courts got to her knee and she had to
retire, which was when at her weakest I pounced. No sorry wrong story.
Anyway the day out is for her and this is my diary of a day at
Wimbledon this year.
So dinner and bed at a friend's
house the night before then off down to SW19 which is the post code/zip
of London's borough of Wimbledon. Things kicked off at noon so we got
to Wimbledon village early so we could have a nice breakfast and then
walk down to the event. Well Wimbledon village had certainly changed,
no little cafes and shops anymore, just another modern high street like
any other.
So believe it or not after a breakfast at
a well known department store we starting walking down to the
tournament. We went the wrong way and I stopped a street sweeper for
directions he said, go back on yourself (oops!) and it is about a 45
minute walk. So I set my Sub bezel and we set stride for a long
yomp!
Well he must have meant 45 minutes pushing a
cart as after about 10 minutes we started to see stream of people, I
passed a Bamford and Sons shop which still had some of the collection
of Monacos I supplied to them in the window. Ahh! The days of sitting
with 6 Monacos, 10 Navitimers 806 and 15 861 Speedmasters on my desk.
Heady days!
Anyway I came across this Rolex shop on
the way!
Still not sure about the new range so I
didn't pop in but as Wimbledon is 'the Rolex' tournament as you will
see later on I was sure I could spot some
there...
You
don't see this sign very often but you do at
Wimbledon
Good job I was wearing my Submariner
5513
My Wife Jo! Outside No.1
Court
So
taking our seats we had a look at the sky - didn't look
promising.
Even less promising was the battle
going on between Marcos Baghdatis and Novak Djokovic
To begin
with it was very exciting and they were hitting some great baseline
shots but only really winning points on un forced errors or back of the
court drop shots so after a while Jo and I decided to go for a walk
around the site.
We
went looking for the seeding and fixtures board and I checked my watch
with Mr. Rolex up there and realised I hadn't checked the street
sweepers timing so it may have been a 45 minute walk after
all..Lol!
Walking around of the
outside smaller courts you forget just how small Wimbledon is and as
everything is painted dark green and there are shrubs everywhere you
could be forgiven that you were at a private house with a few
courts.
We cam cross Illie Nastasi playing doubles
with Stan Smith against the Vijay brothers wow what a blast from the
past and you are so close to them too! Alas the tennis was
pretty pedestrian but Stan Smith shone and he must be the
oldest.
In the age of hi tech materials and
breathable clothing it was nice to see Stan playing in a
solid gold Rolex Datejust, they just weren't moving fast enough to
injure themselves and I am afraid Nastasi looked about 200
years old.
So thinking we should head back I
checked the time from the ever
present Rolex clock on the tower and we decided we should go back.
You can't rejoin your set until the
change ends for a break but Wimbledon do provide little TVs so you
don't miss anything while you wait. Nice Touch I
thought.
Well it wasn't looking
good, the two sluggers were heading for 5 sets which was a bummer as we
had to get back to Bristol before 10 and there was still Roddick's game
and Justin Enan playing after.... Well we watched an hour maybe of them
still bashing each other and reckoned we should go for a walk around
again, grab a glass of refreshment and some strawberries and come back
for the mid 5th set show down.
I put Jo in line to get the
coffee and then made my excuses and shot of to the bathroom, by way of
the Wimbledon shop were I managed to buy Jo a Charm bracelet from Links
of London they had done a deal with Wimbledon and supplied cool charms
like a tennis ball, racket and a copy of the silver Winners plate so i
thought she might like that. She puts up with a lot with me online so
much so I owed her something nice!
We ended up on Henman hill
and miraculously the coffee had turned into almost a pint of Pimms
(that's my girl) which was nice.
We watched the game from here and hen the time of the
Roddick game was announced we checked the Rolex clock on the wall next
to the screen and wandered back to see Djokovic take the
win.
We got out our sandwiches
and watched Roddick and the Gasquet warm
up.
Gasquet seemed to be yet another of these Robot
youths who need a towel every 5 minutes and spend their whole time
getting returns as opposed to challenging the other player.
I saw Roddick the previous year go out to Andy Murray and felt sorry
for him as he looks like a straight shooter and he is one of the few
guys that smiles and looks to be enjoying himself.
We watched some truly good tennis (phew not all wasted) and when
Roddick was 2 sets up and 4-2 up and Gasquet was finished we decided to go as we had a
140 mile drive to pick up the kids and home.
I spent a minute on the way
out looking for the Belgium guy who offered me £80 for the tickets for
the Enan game we wouldn't see but because of that 5 hours of heavy
weight punching lots of people were going and he must have gotten some
others.
I checked Mr. Rolex one
more time on the way out and thought back over the day, no barking from
the Russian girl this year, Roddick through, seeing the new kid on the
block Djokovic, although he is a bit of a
whinger!
Passing out by the exit gate (where because
of the terrorist alerts huge concrete blocks had been positioned-NOTE:
They had only been there 24 hours and Wimbledon had painted them dark
green. Lol!) we spotted Roger Fedderer on the press balcony having an
interview, we passed on by and handed our tickets in to be used for the
charities that get these tickets late in the evening so they can come
in for free and look at the catch up games. That is a very nice thought
!
Anyway Wimbledon is a good
day out, it isn't cheap but it is so small you can have a good wander
around and see really good tennis on outside courts all over and you
are within
touching distance the whole time. There are not big crowds as it is
controlled and it is quite intermate. Go for the whole day and you will
really enjoy it...it isn't as commercial as it could be and there isn't
any advertising at all as even Rolex are part of the established
furniture of the SW 19
Club!
Regards
Alistair
PS: When we got home we discovered that French Guy had beaten Roddick so my man had gone out again early. A shame as with these new younger faster and fitter players I fear that a pro tennis players career will be even shorter.
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Re: Wimbledon 2007 - Rolex in SW19 |
By T.R. on
21/07/2007 03:51 |
Now I see.. buy the wife some sweet charms, and then ... another classic Rolex! Nice write up... one of my fantasy trips is a day or two roaming the courts. And, of course, a ball signed by Nastasie, Johnnie Mac, and Stan the man.
I must confess... thank goodness the Russian chick went down early... hot, si senor... but all that grunting. Dude. Foul! Foot foul! something!
Although pulling for the underdog, Nadal... you have to give Federer his due. Class act, fine champion, and shows such respect... as is due.
One question... did anyone else refer to their watch as Mr. Rolex? :)
Roddick will come alive in NYC.
But now....who will win the Open Tournament???... watching it all weekend! How cool would it be to see Nicky have that one moment left in time. He's a cool dude... met him at Colonial in Ft. Worth Tx once. You just have to like a dude who acts like just a dude. He was gripping his own putter. Too cool. |
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Re: Wimbledon 2007 - Rolex in SW19 |
By Euro Tailors on
06/04/2008 11:29 |
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Re: Wimbledon 2007 - Rolex in SW19 |
By ATG on
06/04/2008 12:29 |
| Thanks for the irritating tip! |
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