We have a guest writer in Karl-Petter from Sweden, who shares his first Wimbledon experience with us.
Getting there
Well, it didn’t start out that promising. When I came to Landvetter airport (Sweden, Gothenburg), I didn’t have the right passport papers. I didn’t think of England as not in the EU, so I thought I could go with my EU identity card. Didn’t happen. So I missed my flight and thought for a while that my trip to watch grass court magic had gone up in smoke.
I had tickets for the Number One Court on Saturday and this was Friday afternoon, obviously on the wrong side of the North Sea. But in the coming hours, I managed to get a provisional passport and a new flight after some struggles with different parties (the Police, airlines, etc.). I arrived at Heathrow around midnight, pretty much seven hours later than expected – and took a taxi all the way to Wimbledon. Pricey! But well worth it. I finally got to my Airbnb at Murfett Close some hour later, where some other tennis nerds were hanging out (sleeping).
Rainy but great
Saturday comes – and it’s amazing. Rainy, dodgy weather all day, but with our tickets to Court 1, it´s all good. Got to see Shelton-Shapovalov, that lefty slugfest, where it always felt like Shelton would make it through. What a serve! Constantly clocking 130+ mph, except when he puts that heavy kick in – and with a better mental game. And he did, in his third five-setter in as many rounds.
Then the big upset, Putinseva beating Swiatek, breaking Iga´s 21-match winning streak. Of course, the Wimbledon grass courts aren’t really the world number one’s cup of tea, with her loopy, heavy spin-based game. But in the first set, she made it happen and looked pretty awesome, often crushing Putinsevas’s second serve with down-the-line forehands. But Yulia, ranked 35, kept hanging on and started playing some serious grass-court tennis. She put everything in play, and also, she could hit through Iga with some great forehands and that lovely backhand stroke of hers. In the end, Iga looked chaotic, in shards, going out to the feisty Kazakh.
Elena’s Masterclass
Then the real display, one of the most clean-hitting matches I’ve seen, Rybakina beating the sort of “comebacking” Wozniacki (and former world number one, of course), 6-0, 6-1. You gasped and went “Aw” when Elena hit her perfect measured groundstrokes – and served those nine aces. During this match, we watched the action without the roof. The sun shining for some blazing moments …
On the schedule there should have been a mixed double coming up, Andy and Raducanu against Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai. But Emma suddenly withdrew. A bit sad. I wanted to see Andy, of course, one of the greats, and me being a big Federer fan, also a heavy nemesis to the Swiss.
Instead, Holger Rune, strode in. They moved his match with the French qualifier Quentin Halys from Court 18 to Court 1. And we got to see Rune turn that one around, winning a tight fourth set tiebreak and then had some smooth sailing in the fifth. Halys, well, you saw a bit of his big game, but he was spent; in the end, he was too tired and heavy on the feet.
The time of my life
So, to conclude, it was a bad start that turned around spectacularly. I was in a frenzy and big confusion at the airport in Gothenburg, Sweden, thinking I would miss it all. Fast-forward circa 24 hours, and I’m having the time of my life at Wimbledon, with tennis happening everywhere. I was such a happy camper. I even got to see Federer as he sat watching some sets of Shelton-Shapo some sections away. What a place to be for a tennis nerd!
PS. I also saw some lovely Musetti-tennis, on court 14 and against the up-setter Francisco Comesana (beat Rublev in the first round). Great stuff, getting so close to that beautiful game of his. DS.
