The AELTC and People’s Monday, 9 July, 2001
It would be hard to think of another occasion where Wimbledon Park and the greatest tennis tournament in the World so fully complimented each other. When the tournament starts, cricket at the Wimbledon Club stops (but we continue to play tennis, thank goodness!), and play at the Golf Club stops. This is all in aid of providing space for parking and hospitality marquees during the Championships fortnight. A week after the tournament has finished, we are all back to normal.
But this year was special. The weather was absolutely ideal for the first ten days and then the rain came. It wasn’t the drenching deluge which one regularly experiences, but the intermittent type of misty rain. Perfect for walking, but awful for tennis. With grass courts, the necessity is to keep them dry.
As a result, the final for the Men’s Singles Championship was postponed from the Sunday, to the Monday, which meant that there were no corporate clients to take up the highly prized seats of Centre Court because everyone had gone back at work! The All England did the smart thing by offering 10,000 seats to the general public at £40 each. I have to tell you that a Men’s Final ticket would cost you thousands of pounds if you tried to buy one the day before the match, so this was an incredible opportunity for all of the dedicated tennis fans who happened to be in London at that time.
08:30 Monday morning and Wimbledon Park is filled to capacity with the longest conga line I have ever seen. By 10:00, the 10,000 prospective ticket holders were in the Park, and we started the walk to our destination, Centre Court.
The weather was perfect. At noon, Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter came on court and battle commenced. It didn’t end until three hours later and only after Goran had blown four match points and then with the crowd nearly in tears, finally took the last set 9-7.
The final score was 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7.
I have never been to a tennis match with so much emotion and so much spectacle. The mix between two wonderful champions fighting for the great prize, and a Centre Court filled with the wildest tennis enthusiast ever assembled, really produced an astonishing day.
For further information regarding the All England Lawn Tennis Club and their wonderful Tennis Museum (open through the year, but check times) and how to get tickets to the Championship, go to the following website: www.wimbledon.org
I hope you enjoy these many views of People’s Monday and that great match, and I do apologise for running out of film 30 minutes from the end!
Sim Comfort
