Josephine
08-07-2017, 12:55
We were so lucky to have Centre Court tickets for yesterday. I was sure Andy would be on No 1 Court and had to wait until pretty late on Thursday to find out he was on Centre. Could not believe it. Had seen him on Centre Court once before - in 2009!
It was a very hot day but not as airless as the day before. We were lucky enough to be seated well back, so having the air conditioning blowing some air from the roof and an absolutely perfect view of the middle of court looking sideways. Saw some of Heather's match -she came close, but was a bit inconsistent. Watched first and third sets of Rafa - third set was great. By this time the bubbles had been opened so a dash to the loo after match (put it this way there was a big queue for the Gents! never mind the Ladies) meant we missed first 3 games of Andy's match!
Of course, the seats immediately in front of me which had been empty for the first 2 matches were filled up with young Brits, supporting Fabio - maybe one of them was of Italian heritage... Behind me a chap was also shouting for Fabio but he definitely had Italian connections - as he kept telling people. The match was a bit of a slow burner to start with and I was initially a bit upset because around me there was a lot less obvious support for Andy than there had been for Heather (from the same people). And certainly more support for Fabio than for Azarenka (that had rated around zero). So I, fuelled by bubbles, did start to clap very enthusiastically and shout for Andy. But to be fair Andy wasn't doing anything very spectacular out there and also after first set looked like it would be routine.
That changed and the crowd started to really get into it with all the ups and downs of the match. Andy's movement looked pretty bad in a couple of points and he did seem to be limping when he was walking. Fabio had quite a bit of support which was especially noisy after the point deduction for the obscenity. But gradually the support for Andy increased and the 4th set was amazing. Fortunately the annoying people in front left so I had a totally clear view and the crowd came alive - the tension during the set points, the shouts and joy at the break back, the holding on again and another break, then serving it out to love! Just amazing - I could not believe I was actually at one of those late evening thrillers watching Andy on Centre Court. When he won, we all stood up, clapped, cheered roared our heads off. This is the best description of the atmosphere during the last few games I could imagine from the Guardian:
'The electricity that rippled around the now dark arena could have lit up a town.'
Heather got great suppport, Rafa got ecstatic cheers, especially when he took his shirt off at the end (so humble). But I can confirm that the loudest cheer all day was for Andy winning and then leaving the court - deafening.
After all that needed a Pimms to calm down and have a think about the day, before heading home. Don't know how far Andy will go - he will need to improve and Rafa looked imperious - but I had the best time at one of his classic Murraycoasters and astonishing fightbacks at Wimbledon!
It was a very hot day but not as airless as the day before. We were lucky enough to be seated well back, so having the air conditioning blowing some air from the roof and an absolutely perfect view of the middle of court looking sideways. Saw some of Heather's match -she came close, but was a bit inconsistent. Watched first and third sets of Rafa - third set was great. By this time the bubbles had been opened so a dash to the loo after match (put it this way there was a big queue for the Gents! never mind the Ladies) meant we missed first 3 games of Andy's match!
Of course, the seats immediately in front of me which had been empty for the first 2 matches were filled up with young Brits, supporting Fabio - maybe one of them was of Italian heritage... Behind me a chap was also shouting for Fabio but he definitely had Italian connections - as he kept telling people. The match was a bit of a slow burner to start with and I was initially a bit upset because around me there was a lot less obvious support for Andy than there had been for Heather (from the same people). And certainly more support for Fabio than for Azarenka (that had rated around zero). So I, fuelled by bubbles, did start to clap very enthusiastically and shout for Andy. But to be fair Andy wasn't doing anything very spectacular out there and also after first set looked like it would be routine.
That changed and the crowd started to really get into it with all the ups and downs of the match. Andy's movement looked pretty bad in a couple of points and he did seem to be limping when he was walking. Fabio had quite a bit of support which was especially noisy after the point deduction for the obscenity. But gradually the support for Andy increased and the 4th set was amazing. Fortunately the annoying people in front left so I had a totally clear view and the crowd came alive - the tension during the set points, the shouts and joy at the break back, the holding on again and another break, then serving it out to love! Just amazing - I could not believe I was actually at one of those late evening thrillers watching Andy on Centre Court. When he won, we all stood up, clapped, cheered roared our heads off. This is the best description of the atmosphere during the last few games I could imagine from the Guardian:
'The electricity that rippled around the now dark arena could have lit up a town.'
Heather got great suppport, Rafa got ecstatic cheers, especially when he took his shirt off at the end (so humble). But I can confirm that the loudest cheer all day was for Andy winning and then leaving the court - deafening.
After all that needed a Pimms to calm down and have a think about the day, before heading home. Don't know how far Andy will go - he will need to improve and Rafa looked imperious - but I had the best time at one of his classic Murraycoasters and astonishing fightbacks at Wimbledon!