My Wimbledon Lie

Serena Williams, arguably the greatest female professional tennis player ever, retired at this year’s US Open. She had an incredible career with 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era. For years, I shared a story that I tried to see Serena and her sister Venus compete in a doubles match at Wimbledon in 2000. I recently found a journal I kept from my summer in England, and it turns out that this was a complete lie. Basically, I’ve been a lying liar for well over a decade. This is the journal entry:

Monday, July 3, 2000

I first tried writing this entry last night but was too tired to get very far. I spent this past weekend in London. I really enjoyed the tour J gave us of London. We went to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Tower Hill Friday night. I also liked seeing the Tate Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Madam Tussaud’s, and Madam Tussaud’s Rock Circus. (I got a picture with the Spice Girls.) The Tate Modern was not as enjoyable since it was way too crowded, and I got lost and passed the same exhibit several times.

While I enjoyed all of this, the highlight of the weekend was going to Wimbledon. Several months ago, when I first knew I would be coming to England, I tried to find the dates for Wimbledon. I realized that it was going to take place the same time I was in England, but I didn’t think I’d be able to go. I’ve played tennis since junior high and possibly longer before that. Although I never had a favorite tennis player, I enjoy watching the major events. I have always had a great deal of respect for professional tennis players because of how much time and energy they put into their games and their ability to seemingly hit the ball wherever they want and at what speed.

Anyway, let’s write about this past weekend. After unsuccessfully trying to get a ½ price ticket for a show, we each had different opinions about what to do. J got a ticket for The Graduate with Kathleen Turner. E and JK wanted to check out a museum. L and I decided to try our luck and see if we could get into Wimbledon. By the time we arrived at Wimbledon, there was an extremely long queue (line). We had nothing planned for the rest of the day, so we decided to stay. We queued at Wimbledon (I have a sticker that says this) for three hours before finally reaching the ticket office. The seats for Centre Court, Court 1, and Court 2 were already sold out, which we figured because Agassi, Venus Williams, and Tim Henman were playing, and it was after 5:00PM. General admission tickets were only 4 pounds ($6) after 5. Nevertheless, we were in and very excited. To quote L, “you couldn’t rip the plastered smiles off of our faces!”

We walked around for a few minutes trying to fully comprehend that we were really at Wimbledon. Then, we tried to find the best matches available on the other courts. Court 3 was definitely the best because after a Men’s singles match, Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce were playing doubles, followed by Martina Navratilova in a mixed doubles match.

This is the lie. I really thought we hoped to see the Williams sisters, but it was actually Hingis and Pierce. Both were amazing players but definitely not in the same category as Venus and Serena.

We made our way to Court 3 and watched two Swedes, Thomas Johansson and Magnus Gustafsson. It was a very even match. The problem was it was a very even match. It ended up going 5 sets. Because of that, the other matches were moved to other courts. At one point, we left to go see Hingis and Pierce on Court 6. It was packed. We could barely see the court and kept getting bumped. After we got a few pictures, we went back to see the Swedes. After Johansson emerged victorious, we started waiting for Navratilova. One problem: the crew started taking down the net. On the scoreboard, we saw the score of her match, and it said Centre Court. We decided that we had nothing to lose, so let’s try to sneak in.

I should mention again that we were smiling the entire time and every few minutes would remind ourselves that we were in fact at Wimbledon. Anyway, the Southwest entrance (or a different entrance, not exactly sure) of Centre Court was right behind Court 3. We walked right in. There were no problems and no one checking tickets. I learned later that this double match had been postponed by darkness the night before and had just resumed. We only missed a game or two and the score was 6-4, 7-6, 9-9. I should mention that it was Jan Siemerink and Miriam Oremans against Martina Navratilova and Mahesh Bhupathi.

Lie #2. I thought Martina played with Leander Paes. I really am a lying liar!

Did I already write that I was seeing Navratilova, one of if not the best women’s tennis players ever? Did I mention that I was at Centre Court Wimbledon? It was incredible! We were at the Mecca of tennis. The match itself was also great. This was Marina’s return to Wimbledon after retiring five years before. (Sean’s note: You can definitely see Serena returning to play mixed doubles in a few years, right?) The crowd (including us) was pulling for her. Between each point, we heard many people yell some variation of “C’mon Martina.” At one point, someone yelled “C’mon Martina’s partner!” Martina and Mahesh ended up losing a thrilling third set, 18-16.

Wimbledon was definitely the highlight of the weekend, and it may be the highlight of my summer. L and I had an incredible time, and the queue was definitely worth the wait. I can’t wait to see the pictures, and I am still on a high from being there. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be at Wimbledon, and I was there.

22 years later, I still haven’t been to a tennis grand slam. Or since I’m a lying liar, maybe I can claim that I’ve been to Paris, New York, and Melbourne for all of the Grand Slam events!

I'm thinking now that since Venus had a singles match that day, maybe Venus and Serena were on one of the side courts practicing, and we tried to see them. No matter what happened, I can no longer blame Thomas Johansson and Magnus Gustafsson for causing me to miss watching the Williams sisters play in person.

2021-2022 Sheffield Wednesday Schedule

I've mentioned several times that I'm a fan of Sheffield Wednesday. I went to a game at Hillsborough Stadium when I spent the summer in England in 2000. Although the team had just been relegated from the Premier League to the English Football League Championship, I had a great time at the game. I didn't really follow Wednesday again until about 7-8 years ago, so even though the team went down to League One (the third division of English football/soccer) since my visit to Sheffield, I've only really known them in the championship division. Therefore, I'm sharing the 2021-2022 Sheffield Wednesday schedule with some notes about their opponents in League One. And by sharing notes, I'm really writing about my thoughts on the team names. My apologies in advance to any of the cities, towns, and clubs I write about below because I know nothing about them (as you will see very quickly).

First, here is your 2021-2022 Wednesday schedule:

So I could write about Wednesday having a busy February with 6 matches in three weeks or the team starting and finishing the season with 3 of 5 games on the road, but I want to focus on Wednesday's opponents. Enjoy!

* This was a LearnedLeague question and I got wrong this season: 

What is the surname shared by soccer legends named Jack and Bobby, who played for two decades from the 1950s to the 1970s for Leeds United and Manchester United (respectively), and were among the starting eleven on England's World Cup-winning team in 1966? The name is also that of an area of southeast London that has been home to a Premier League club as recently as 2007 (currently in League One).

The answer is Charlton. If not for this question, I would have figured that the team was named after former member of the Cincinnati Reds' Nasty Boys, Norm Charlton.

* Current Sheffield Wednesday Darren Moore manager served as the Doncaster Rovers' manager until March 1st. There might be some familiarity between Moore and Doncaster. Should be fun!

* Fleetwood Town is clearly a town dedicated to all things Fleetwood Mac. I hope to visit this magical place I hope, no, I expect that the team plays Fleetwood Mac songs non-stop before, during, and after games. The team is probably going to look at Darren Moore like Stevie Nicks stares at Lindsey Buckingham beginning around the 3:30 mark of this Silver Springs video.

* It will be nice to see familiar teams Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers who got relegated with Wednesday last season.

* I have no idea what a Morecambe is or how to pronounce it. Give me some credit for learning how to say Wycombe last season.

* Plymouth Argyle is clearly known for their socks.

* Wigan Athletic spelled their team name incorrectly.

* Oxford and Cambridge are likely the best known universities in England and arguably two of the most prestigious in the world. I don't really have anything else to add here except that it would be fun to go to away matches in these cities. Oh, I also visited Cambridge University when I did my summer abroad program. Just wanted to share that.

* I find it fascinating that there is a Wycombe Wanderers AND a Bolton Wanderers. That's a lot of wandering! As for Bolton, you never know what to expect. They could be a soft and cuddly team like Michael Bolton (why are he and Zooey Deschanel doing some type of celebrity dating game?) or evil like Ramsay Bolton of Game of Thrones.

* MK Dons is clearly named after the Jersey City, New Jersey musical group that was big in the early 90s.

* I attended the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2000 and know that Wimbledon is a residential area of London. Still, I picture soccer matches being played on the grounds with passes going from court to court.

* Gillingham is clearly an homage to the X-Files actress who also recently played Margaret Thatcher on The Crown.

* Someone clearly made up the team Accrington Stanley just to see if we're paying attention. That's not a real thing.

There are other teams like Portsmouth, Sunderland, Crewe Alexandra that I didn't mention because I have nothing witty to share. I'm sure that they as well as Burton Albion (probably a nice guy), Lincoln City, Ipswich Town, and Cheltenham Town are all nice, quaint places to visit. 

WAWAW!

Maria Sharapova and Sidney Crosby

Wimbledon starts in less than a week, and it appears that there may be a new player in the tournament: Sidney Crosby

With apologies to Milos Raonic, Genie Bouchard, and Denis Shapovalov, Crosby would easily be the most-famous Canadian player in the tournament. I have no idea why Sharapova and Crosby are together, but this is pretty cool since Wimbledon is an awesome place to visit.

By the way, if you want to go down a sad path, take a look at some of the comments to this tweet. (I really hope that Sharapova ignores this.)

- Looking gorgeous

- I and you on the beach!

- This is my fifth tweet and you are not responding. Love from Pakistan.

- Don't know if Sid and Maria are dating.. One thing for sure, they both have awesome legs!

Okay, this last one made me chuckle.

Photos from Maria Sharapova's Twitter account.

Summer of Sean: Wimbledon

Yes, it's the Summer of Sean. Oh, I don't mean the summer of 2015. This summer has consisted of my 4 year old getting his tonsils out and my one year old crawling everywhere and wanting to roam free even though he can't walk yet meaning that we can't let him crawl through the grocery store. Oh, I also have to work during this summer. No, the Summer of Sean occurred in 2000.



Fifteen years ago this summer, I served essentially as a chaperone on a trip to Israel (free trip!). Then, I spent six weeks in a study abroad program in Lancaster, England (relatively inexpensive trip!) with weekend trips to London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Paris and more. When I returned to the U.S., I visited Vegas, Charlotte, Montreal and Rhode Island. Yes, it truly was the summer of Sean.

I believe that I wrote a journal during part of the trip, so I hope to share some stories and pictures from my adventures over the next few weeks. Of course, I actually need to find this supposed journal. Wait, why are you questioning that this is summer filler? Trust me that this is more exciting than anything currently happening in my life especially now that my year of free paninis is over. I mean, do you really want to hear how terrible my Metro commute was yesterday?

For my first time trip down memory lane, I'm taking you to Wimbledon. A friend and I waited (queued) in line for more than two hours to purchase general admission into The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. The cost of admission into the grounds with the exception of the two main courts: 4 pounds or $6. What a cool event with live matches taking place on multiple courts. We decided to go to Court 3 since Venus & Serena Williams were scheduled to play a doubles match later in the day. Instead, Swedes Thomas Johansson and Magnus Gustafsson played a long 5-set match forcing the Williams match to relocate to another court. I saw Martina Hingis play doubles, and the ultimate highlight was getting into Centre Court to see Martina Navratilova. Since it seems like I already wrote about most of this story a few years ago, here are some pictures from Wimbledon 2000.

Frustrated Martina Hingis:

Martina Navratilova serving:

Martina Navratilova with Leander Paes:

Thomas Johansson and Magnus Gustafsson shake hands:

Food tent:

Some guy:

My Leander Paes Story

Since the Steelers looked pretty bad in losing their season debut against the Titans Sunday and the Pirates got swept by the Cardinals in St. Louis, I'm not in the mood to write about Pittsburgh sports today. Instead, I want to share my story about Leander Paes. There's a very good chance you have no idea who Leander Paes is. If I told you that Paes has won 14 tennis Grand Slam titles, you still may not know who he is. Paes along with Radek Stepanek earned the men's doubles title yesterday at the US Open.

Paes is the guy on the left. Oh, did I mention that Paes is 40 years old and that I saw him play even though I didn't realize this?

In the summer of 2000, I studied in Lancaster, England as part of my grad program. I had a very odd assignment to help Lancaster University's Management School determine how international students discovered the school through internet searches and to compare the school's website to other business schools in the UK. It had nothing to do with my graduate program, my supervisor took a 2-week holiday during my time there, and I spent most of my time conducting internet searches. Actually, this may have helped me become a blogger!

Anyway, on weekends, we traveled to places like London, Dublin, and Edinburgh. My first weekend coincided with Wimbledon, so since I knew I would be in London, I went with a friend to see this historic tournament. As it turned out, I was not alone. Shockingly, thousands of other people wanted to see Wimbledon on a nice summer Saturday. We waited in line (I'm sorry, "queued") for about 2.5 hours until we finally purchased general admission tickets for 4 pounds, or $6. This granted us full access to the grounds with the exception of the main two courts. My friend and I went to one of the outer courts where Serena & Venus Williams were scheduled to play a doubles match later in the afternoon. However, the all-Swedish match between Thomas Johansson (who later won the Australian Open) and Magnus Gustafsson lasted forever in a not terribly exciting 5 sets. We wandered around the grounds and saw Mary Pierce and Martina Hingis play doubles. We also saw the Williams sisters who got moved to a different court, but the crowd around them made it difficult to see. At the end of the day, Wimbledon opened up the main arena for everyone. That's where I saw Leander Paes.

Paes teamed with arguably the greatest women's tennis player of all-time, Martina Navratilova, in mixed doubles. Very few people were even aware of Paes. At one point, prior to his serve, someone yelled, "Go Martina's partner" which caused Paes to laugh. The match ended up getting suspended due to darkness, but I was and am proud to say that I saw Martina play at Wimbledon.

Probably ten years later, I discovered that Paes played with the Washington Kastles as part of World Team Tennis. While I still haven't attended a match, I receive e-mails from the Kastles constantly which includes updates about players at the Grand Slam tournaments. Therefore, I've rediscovered Paes after all these years.

Congratulations to Paes on yesterday's amazing achievement! Maybe I'll get to see him play for the Kastles or at the US Open next summer!

Message to the USTA (Take 2)

Dear United States Tennis Association,

My name is Sean, and I am a tennis fan. My father played in college and taught me how to play when I was young. I was a member of my high school tennis team, and although I have not touched my tennis racket in nearly a year, I enjoy following and watching the Grand Slam events.

Naturally, I watched Sunday’s Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. With the match tied at 6-6 in the fifth set, I thought to myself, I would love to see a tiebreaker right now. As the match continued with Roddick and Federer tied at 8-8, 11-11, and 14-14, I thought, this is terrible and lacking drama; I would much rather have seen the match end 30-60 minutes ago via a tiebreaker.

I hope that you can sense my sarcasm in the last paragraph. If the Federer-Roddick match took place at the US Open, it would have ended with a fifth set tiebreaker. The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament with this format. I mentioned my displeasure with the fifth set tiebreaker before, but maybe you weren’t reading my blog at that time. Based on Sunday’s exciting Wimbledon final, I think it’s time to reconsider how US Open matches conclude. Get rid of the fifth set tiebreaker (or third set on the women’s side) and follow the lead of your Grand Slam compatriots!

Sincerely,
Sean


P.S. The semi-final match between Elena Dementieva and Serena Williams that ended with an 8-6 final set was also lousy!