Wimbledon Diary

Time of India

3 days ago

Asha Rai, Resident Editor of the Times of India, Bangalore, has been a journalist for over 30 years. Having started her career with the Economic Times she was amongst the first to capture the entrepreneurial energy unleashed by the tech sector in Bangalore in the 1990s. In the process, she captured, through her writings, the transformation of the city from a sleepy town to a bustling, global tech hub. She enjoys reading, travelling, movies and sports, especially football, but above all a good conversation over a coffee. LESS ... MORE
Why no India?
A Kazakh journalist making small talk in between games at the Centre Court casually asked me: How many Indians in the main draw? Zero, was my sad reply which drew a startled 'Oh' before he went on to reel off the names of the five Kazak players of whom I could only name check Elena Rybakina. The 2022 Wimbledon champion is Russia born but switched to Kazakhstan in 2018. Still. He then said, 'there are lots more playing in juniors next week.' He then wanted to know of Indian tennis: 'What happened?' What, indeed? AILTA?
Royal Box roll call
Wimbledon has perfected the art of packing the Royal Box with celebrities of all ilk. In fact, it merits a press release of its own. Sports and movie stars get the most attention. Day1, naturally, is full of British celebs. Sir David and his mum shared the front row with the former English football coach Gareth Southgate.
Later in the day royalty arrived in the form of Princess Beatrice and her mum. Day 2 has Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett, members of the British media establishment like the editors of Daily Telegraph and the Sun. A puzzling entry `Mr & Mrs Vim (Pooja),' CEO of Barclays, UK perhaps referred to Mysore-born C. S. Venkatakrishnan, who is, indeed, the CEO of the British bank and his wife.
The English & their Qs
The most interesting and admirable attendees are far removed from the royal box. It's those who queue up for hours and many overnight to get into the grounds. A process exacerbated by the relentless heat of 30 degrees plus beating down on them as they stand for hours in the meandering queue.
On Day 1, 10,000 queued up. This is because Wimbledon is one of the very few big sporting tournaments where you can buy premium tickets, albeit in limited numbers, on the day of play. Non-transferable and one per head, about 500 tickets are sold for what's dubbed as the `Show courts': Centre Court (excluding last four days), No.1 Court, and No.2 Court and then of course, ground tickets. People are allowed in till the 42,000 crowd limit is reached.
The Hill
Those with ground passes and without access to the show courts sit at Murray's Mound (the name changes depending on which British player is ascendent. It used to be Henman's Hill in the 1990s when the then British No. 1 made it to four semi-finals).
It's also called Raducanu Ridge after Emma, the former US Open winner who is the current No.1 British female player. Its proper name is the Aorangi terrace. The Maori roots of the terrace is another story, altogether.
On a giant screen flanked by equally large, mounted green gardens you can catch live action sitting under the Sun and drinking Pimms. A Wimbledon institution, it's a popular destination for picnics, too. Actually, Hill is an euphemism for a magnificently manicured, rising lawn. Made even more attractive by it being flanked by two famous bars: Pimms' on the Hill and Perfect Serve.
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