Raining day at Wimbledon

The Wimbledon championship has just ended. Let me share my experience of going to Wimbledon on a rainy day. I didn’t watch much of the game. In fact, it was so little game played, we have got a refund! The ground was still packed, and I still had a great day out!

We applied for the ballot a year ago and bought them through clearance earlier this year. You could buy debenture tickets transfers or the ground tickets on the day by queuing. They are very reasonably priced. Ground ticket starts at £20, which allows you sit anywhere on court 3-18.

Our phones were too old we couldn’t download the tickets app. So we had to collect the tickets at the window. Fortunately, there was no queue for collecting tickets. The queue in the photo is for admission.

The gates open at 10 o’clock, the first match starts at 11am. After go through security (check their website, there’s a long list of what is not allowed), you can see today’s matches on a big screen. Each day’s matches are determined by the results of the previous day as Wimbledon championship is an elimination system, if players win, they go to the next round, if they lose, they are out.

Soon after we went in, it started to rain, matches were postponed. We have to wait till afternoon when the matches at the Central Court and No. 1 Court starts. Those are the only two courts have roofs. If your tickets are not for one of those courts, you can watch them on the big screens.

There are 18 courts at Wimbledon, no No.13.

There are several restaurants and bars inside the venue, ranging from food counter to fine dining, serving pizza, stir fry as well as seafood. You can also order a picnic basket in advance and collect on the day. I just remembered there were Mapo Tofu on the menu. The price was also quite reasonable. A pizza was £13-£15. 

Drinks were more expensive. Apart from Champagne, Pimms is a must have at Wimbledon, which is a fruit liquor that tastes like cola, mixed with fresh cucumber, strawberries and lemon slices when serving. It brings summer in a glass and a hole in your pocket. At nearly £10 per glass, it always filled with ice, not much of the actual drink.    

When it’s raining, the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is a good place to spend your time. The museum is located at the basement of the gift shop. The exhibition started with the history of tennis and croquet, then talked about the history of rackets, then the outfit, finally the venue itself. 

I hear you question: croquet? What does it have to do with tennis? Ah, that’s why you need to visit the museum 😛.  Wimbledon was originally a croquet club. It was played on the lawn. Later it became a croquet tennis club. Now it is the All England Tennis and Croquet Club. They are the organizers of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. (There are also croquet lawns at Wimbledon)