Pimms and Tennis: An afternoon at Wimbledon

Every since I was little, I can remember spending at least part of my summer vacation watching Wimbledon tennis. I honestly had no idea how it all worked, but for some reason, I was fascinated by the game.

It had been on my bucket list to someday go to an actual Wimbledon match, but to be honest, I never really thought it would happen.

However, cue my luck this summer by being in London for the first week of the tournament. Never in my crazy dreams did I think I would be able to get tickets, but I studied up and as the folks say, "Will. Way."

As I was researching how to get tickets to Wimbledon (thank you Google). I quickly learned that it's not easy...but it's also not impossible to get cheap day of tickets. Since I work everyday till 5:30, waking up before the sun to stand in the morning line wouldn't not be possible. And the weekend was shot since I'd have to be out of town. I resorted to the late evening line. Everyday, after 5pm, the general admission gates are reopened and tickets are resold. Basically, it is a one for one ticket. If one person leaves the park, one person who has been standing in line can rebuy that tickets for 18 pounds. This ticket gets you into the park only, not into any of the main courts....but who cares, you're in the vicinity right??!

I figured I'd give it a shot. When I arrived to the line, it didn't look that bad. Until I realized it was actually the second half of the line. The first half started in a field a few yards away. And it was like nothing I had ever seen been before. There were about 10 different lines, numbered K1-10 and it just kept growing. Hope seemed lost at that point, but I had made it that far, so might as well at least enjoy the sunny field.

It's so hard to tell if you'll ever get in because it all depends on whether or not there are any matches people are wanting to stay for. I imagine the male matches are busier and the ones that feature British players.

You have to be in the park by 7:30...and I arrived around 6:00. Fingers crossed.

Thankfully, once the line started moving, it went pretty quick. I probably waited in line for about an hour and got pretty excited once I made it to that second line.

By 7:00pm, I was IN. It was so cool to be in that environment. There are small courts all over the place and the entire park is a buzz. Massive screens are set up, so people can see matches.

There is also the opportunity to buy single court tickets for 5-10 pounds. Same idea as the general admission ticket. One person leaves and the court can resell the ticket at a discount. And what's even cooler, all the proceeds go to charity.

I ended up grabbing a ticket to a court 2 match...with the awesome Venus Williams. It was so cool to see her in person!