Day 5 [3 Feb 09] – London

Decided to go to the tennis today since I was in Wimbledon. The public bus normally went pass the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, but due to the melting snow and ice, the bus was diverted and caused a long walk from the nearest diverted bus stop.

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Centre bus stop.

Initially wanted to take the 11.30am tour, but due to bus delays and diversion, only reached the tennis at 12.00pm, so I did the museum tour first then went for the tour at 1.30pm. The museum itself was very insightful with information about the birth of tennis, history of Wimbledon and past champions.

Billie Jean King quote.

Historical real tennis balls.

Lacoste designed championship winning racket of yesteryear.

After the museum, the 1.30pm grounds tour brought us around a few of the outer courts, broadcasting area, press conference area and court number one. The tour guide Andy seemed to love making fun about the lack of a British winner for Wimbledon since Fred Perry in the ’30s. I think the British public have accepted the reality that there will probably be no British winner for Wimbledon for the considerable future.

The snow over the previous two days caused all the courts to be covered in the most snow for 20 years, a really amazing sight.

One of the outer courts.

Another outer court.

Unlucky court number two.

Court number one, where the magic happens.

Even at one point of the tour, we managed to have a press conference with the worst tennis player in the world!

Interviewing the terrible jn82.

Funny picture from end of the day:

Link to all the pictures today available here.