Wimbledon finals

What can I say about Wimbledon? It was amazing! We had tickets for the women's singles finals, the men's doubles finals, and the women's doubles finals. So... we got to see the Williams Sisters play for the title. For those who don't know tennis (maybe my mom?), the Williams Sisters are Serena and Venus, both from the USA. They've been at the top of the championships all over the world for several years now. AMAZING players, both.

We rooted for Venus, she was the defending champion from last year. She is quite well spoken and gracious with the press. On the court, both she and Serena are great to watch. Since I don't have much time, I'm just going to add a whole string of pictures, then a few of my observations at the end...

A few things about Wimbledon:

-- The tickets cost A LOT for center court, finals play. We were in the nosebleed section, but our tix were the biggest splurge we've had over here in the way of an "event." To even get tickets, we had to register in a lottery several months ago. Then they sent us the opportunity to get tickets, listing what our possible option would be if we choose to purchase it. We decided to do it, knowing it would be on Brian's birthday, and knowing it would be our last hoorah.

-- The audience really IS THAT QUIET! You know how they show it on television and it looks like the crowd is just hushed and awed? Well, the crowd IS really hushed and awed. In fact, there was an elevator out in the hall, around the corner, quite a ways from where we were sitting. Every time the bell would ring for the doors to open, it was actually quite annoying -- too loud! Someone's cell phone rang and people were "shshhhing" the offender.

-- Amid all the quietness, there were the occasional cheers and yells "Gooo Venus!" or "Way to go, Serena!" These were usually followed by more shshhhing. One enthusiastic fan couldn't resist shouting out "Use the force, Serena!" Even the shshhhers had to laugh at that one.

-- I was just fascinated with the ball boys and ball girls. Wow!! For those who don't know tennis (mom again?), the ball boys are the ones who get the balls off the court after each play. They are SOOOO fast, and so discreet. They have quite a system of passing balls up and down the court without getting in the way. I wonder how old they are, and how they get that job?

-- They didn't have a screen showing the "close-up" shots of the players. I really wish they would have, because it would have been nice to see the players faces as they rallied back and forth. They did at least put the final ceremony on a screen, which was nice to see.

-- During the final ceremony, the commentator asked Venus "That must be hard for your family to have both of you in the finals at once. They must be torn as to who they should cheer for." Venus replied, "Yes, I'm sure it's very hard for them. But I like to think they're secretly hoping I'll win!" It was cute.

-- We got to see Nadal practicing for the men's final. He's pretty amazing. Brian got a picture of him, somewhere above. Did anybody catch that whole match? I know it was on Sunday, but it was quite the grand finale! We saw the last 10 minutes and were glued (except for Spencer who wished he was sleeping).

-- Our babysitting cost just 5 pounds less than one of our tickets. (And I already mentioned our tickets did NOT come cheap.) Ah, the price for living the good life for a day. We really enjoyed ourselves!