Olympic Tennis Finals
August 6, 2012

I have to say that I am disappointed that only one person was honest enough to put their height & weight into that website and admit which athlete they came out as. Not even my sons … really disappointed. I am wondering whether anyone is even reading these blogs? Feel like I am talking to myself. I will put my disappointment behind me and write this blog anyway.

Sunday am I was off at 8:45am to ensure that I got to Wimbledon by 9:30am when they opened the gates. The tennis was only starting at 12pm but the hospitality started at 9:30am and so I had to get there at the start to ensure that I could entertain the clients. I was lazy and didn’t want to take the tube so I got a car to pick me up and take me there. Turned out to be a good decision because it was raining and as I went through security it started to rain really hard. I am pleased that they put a roof on Centre Court!

The hospitality included pastries & coffee at 9:30; champagne and canapes at 10:30 and then a 4-course lunch at 11:30. At 12pm they started with the ladies doubles final. The betting around the table was that the Williams sisters would win 6-1 6-2 or 6-1 6-0 or something similar. We finished lunch by about 12:45 and the Williams sisters had already won the first set and were well on the way to the second.We had great seats (on the service line about 12 rows up). I was amazed at how close we were to the court and how small the stadium really is. On TV you get the feeling that it is much bigger than it really is. It was like standing at the top of the stairs of our tennis court and watching someone play. The Williams sisters did win 6-4 6-4 and the match anticipated final of Federer v Murray was next up.

As it has stopped raining they opened the roof and it became quite hot sitting in the sun. Don’t worry – I had a hat to protect my bald spot and I cleverly had put on sunscreen before I left. As you all know the match turned out to be a major anti-climax as Federer played the worst I have ever seen him play and Murray played extremely well. He was hitting winners from all over the court and he had about 5 net touches which just dropped over the net (versus Federer who had none). The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible. In between points people were chanting “Andy, Andy, Andy” and when he won the place just went beserk. It was spine chilling. They did the medal ceremony immediately afterwards and I almost joined in with the singing of ‘God save the queen’ I was so moved. The crowd cheered them all around the stadium as they came around for their medal lap.

It was then time for afternoon tea. It was Wimbledon was that would be scones & clotted cream and strawberries. They offered tea – I went for a beer! Only Heineken is served as they are the official sponsors.

It was then back to the court to watch the mixed doubles with Andy Murray featuring again. He and his partner (Robson) got off to a cracking start and ran away with the first set. It looked like it would be another gold for Team GB. The atmosphere was almost more electric than the Murray v Federer game with the crowd chanting “Team GB; Team GB” to drown out the occasional “Belarus, Belarus” chant.  But the Belarus pair came back superbly and spoilt the party by taking the 2nd set and then winning the 3rd super-set as well and getting the silver medal. Murray still got Gold & Silver and would surely have taken that at the beginning of the day.

The medal ceremony for the ladies doubles was then done. I would not normally blog about this as it would have been pretty boring had it not been for the Czech pair’s footwear. Blue Boots! Or more precisely ‘Wellies’! Are you kidding me? What were the designers thinking?! The only thing I can think is that there were expecting a lot of rain in London and hence the choice of footwear.  Or maybe the Czechs do have a sense of humour and fun? Either way, if I was a Czech athlete I would rather refuse to wear those things and go bear foot.

Full day. Got back to the flat at after 8pm. Almost 12 hours entertaining clients. Tough day. The extent I go to for clients. One more event to go next Saturday for me. I probably will post a mid-week blog of items of interest and some more Olympic comments.

3 thoughts on “Olympic Tennis Finals

  1. Okay, I was trying to be humble – I am some what similar to Chad Le Clos!
    Truthfully can’t rember their names, but was similar to two eastern european men and a girl!

  2. I entered my height and weight and nobody came up as a match (a bit concerning). Had to wait for Bryan to come home from work to try it and, of course, it worked when he did it!!! I must admit, I am a bit ‘IT’ challenged. Also can’t remember the names of the persons I was most likened too, but do remember that the one was a tennis player and the other a gymnast. Was most relieved that it wasn’t weightlifting:)

  3. Hello Peter, we read every post. Treating you like a newspaper and not responding, sorry. We both immediately entered height and weight because we LOVE stuff like that. I am especially obsessed with surveys and stats. We didn’t post results because the disappointment at not coming out as Federer and Sharapova was too much to bear. I was a Team GB handball player, Paul was a female volleyball player! So we didn’t have much to brag about.

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