Tennis, Anyone?

Ironically, the All England Club was the sight of our Fourth of July festivities a few days ago.  However, there was nothing even remotely American about our day as we attended the Men's Quarter-Finals of the Wimbledon Championships.

As I'm preparing to watch the Men's Final in just a short hour from now, I discover that the prize for the winner of the Men's Singles is £1,150,000 (about 1,780,000 U.S. dollars).  Guess what the prize money was when Wimbledon began 

in 1877?  The answer is at the end of this blog.  

It was an all-day affair in Wimbledon and we met at 10:30 in the morning.  

Meeting friends and our hosts for the day, Debi (with her American flag!) and Mike, made it lots of fun and memorable.  Carl, a co-worker of Mike's at Endeavor and his wife, Carol stand to the right of Mike and Debi (middle).

We were escorted to a private room for a spectacular lunch.

The centerpiece was beautiful...

and sporty!  Now, on to the real reason we were here...

 The first match:  Here's Roger Federer as he handily beat a Russian opponent,  MikhailYouzhny.  Federer makes it look so easy.

Note the players are all wearing white - another tradition at Wimbledon.

But the more exciting match was the battle between the home-town boy and crowd favorite, Andy Murray, and Spain's, David Ferrer.  Britain hasn't had a men's winner at Wimbledon since 1936 when Fred Perry reigned that year so you can just imagine the excitement - and the tremendous amount of pressure on Andy Murray.  This match went to four sets and Andy Murray was the victor but...

not without a couple of short rain delays.  Even though Centre Court has a roof, they prefer to keep it open, if they predict it's going to be a short delay.  

Nothing like a tennis match in England - bring out the brollies!

In between matches, back to our dining room for the age-old tradition at Wimbledon of Strawberries and Cream.  Also on the platter were amazing scones served with clotted cream and jam.  Yummy!

There were some celebrities in the Royal Box like a couple of my tennis favorites, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.  Another famous couple sat next to them...

The Duchess and Duke of Cambridge were enjoying the match as well.

And so, a toast to a wonderful and unforgettable day at Wimbledon.  Now, signing off to watch the finals - Roger Federer vs. Andy Murray.

Oh, the answer to the question I posed above is £10!