Taking a break from World Cup - thoughts and images from the 123rd edition of Wimbledon Tennis Tournament

Full disclosure and background…I knew 2018 Wimbledon was being played, but I haven’t watched any matches. I enjoy tennis and we used to watch it growing up. I remember as a child being in Mammoth Lakes with my family during the summer a young Boris Becker won his first Wimbledon. I also enjoy watching our Sonoma Academy tennis team compete an my son Ely and I enjoy hitting every so often. I have been to Wimbledon before (in 2012) when we took a group of Sonoma Academy students on an international trip. We visited the iconic venue and took a picture at Centre Court. Along with many of the sights London has to offer, Wimbledon was on the list.

Wmibledon Centre (Center) Court with Sonoma Academy group, 2012

On Thursday, the day after experiencing the England World Cup semifinal, I was watching another semifinal. This time, the venue was Wimbledon’s historic Centre (Center) Court. Instead of 30,000 fans on their feet yelling and screaming as they cheered the England team on, I was seated in the second row, along with 15,00 fans, quietly waiting to applaud at the appropriate times. No longer was I watching 22 players chasing and kicking a soccer ball, I was watching two players chasing and hitting the tennis ball.

Watching Serena Williams warmup for her semi-final!

With that in mind, here are some pictures from the day. It turns out my underground stop was just a few stops from Wimbledon and when I bumped into a father and his adult son attending the matches, I decided to pop on down and get a sense for the event, even though I didn’t have tickets. Fortunately, everything seemed to work out and I was able to experience live action on historic center court.

Wimbledon is an iconic event, but lives in the shadows of the World Cup every four years. It is an event which deserves it’s own stage and on a day after England lost and there were no World Cup games, you could almost sense relief from everyone in attendance that Wimbledon was once again the focal point of the conversation across the country.