Wimblestock- Queing for the 2001 Final

It was my goal to get to Wimbledon this year & a lifelong dream to see an Aussie in the final.

Yesterday I think that all the planets aligned for me, leading to a chain of events that I still can't believe.

In order for me to see Pat play in the final a lot of things had to
happen...

1) He had to get to the final (obviously) - and with 128 players in the draw that is a big ask

2) Tim Henman had to lose to stop the Henmania that had gripped the country

3) It had to rain on the last weekend for the match to be postponed (and before yesterday the final had NEVER been started on the Monday)

4) The powers that be had to decide that it would be a free-for-all with the tickets (we still had to pay, but you know what I mean - they didn't just hand them out to members or something)

5) I had to actually be in London to take advantage of this unlikely chain of events.

Well somehow that did all happen, so I went and joined the queue.

I'm sure you all knew I would be there - how could I NOT go if I was here in London, staying in Wimbledon and got the chance even if it did mean queueing all night. Apparently a whole heap of people had been in the queue on Sunday morning but had left when Tim Henman lost. If he had won I don't think I would have got in cause there was so many Poms in the queue when Tim was playing the last part of his semi against Goran on Sunday.

I was on my own because my flatmates had to go to work. They'd had a sickie last Monday to go to the tennis so they couldn't really do it 2 weeks in a row. But when I was on my way to the queue, I met up with a group of Fanatics and they welcomed me into their group. I'd never been to an event as part of the Fanatics before, but as most of you know I've always had fanatical tendencies (best demonstrated by my unexpected 73 Olympic swimming tickets last year). The guys had just come from Birmingham where they had seen the Aussies beat the Poms in the first cricket test.

They had tickets for the 5th day of the test which wasn't going to be played now, so they already had Monday off work. So anyway - the queue was fantastic!!! Heaps of people had tents and stuff, but most of us didn't sleep at all!!! The security guy told us that we were number 1315 in the queue and there was 10,000 tickets, so we knew we were going to get in with no problems and have a good seat. As it turned out we could have turned up the next morning and got in, but I think the queue was half the fun (well maybe not half...but I'm glad I was there). The queue went up the street and then snaked its way around a park and it was full of Aussies. People were letting off fireworks, lighting bonfires, playing footy, playing guitars (they called it Wimblestock), and of course there were more than a few beers drunk.

It felt like the longest day in history, but they let us in to buy tickets at about 10am, and then at about 10.30am it was like the running of the bulls to get a seat. They weren't reserved seats cause that would have been too hard to organise at the last minute, so we ran like the wind and ended up in row 4!!! woohooo!!!

Right from the beginning the atmosphere was awesome. It was not at all like your typical Wimbledom crowd full of rich people drinking Pimms and eating strawberries and cream - it was more like a football match. Everyone cheered as Jack Nicholson arrived and he really got into the atmosphere joining in with the wave and all. And then the Aussie cricket team arrived and you can imagine what sort of reception they got having thrashed the Poms in the first test (and the crowd was full of Aussies not Poms). I was taking some photos (as you do) and Glenn McGrath saw me and gave me the thumbs up.

John McEnroe came out into the crowd as well, and then Pat Cash came out and got a huge cheer. So before the tennis even started the crowd was really pumped up. And then Pat and Goran came out and everyone just went OFF.

There was actually quite a few Goran fans there as well so there was huge cheers after every single point no matter who won it. The English papers had encouraged all the Poms to support Goran. The headline was "Go Go Goran - cause somebody has to stop the Aussies winning everything" (of course referring to the Aussies thrashing the Poms in both cricket and rugby on the weekend). Pat came soooo close, but no-one would begrudge Goran winning - he thought it was his destiny and God was on his side and all.

The atmosphere was easily as good as at the olympics when Cathy Freeman won, or when Ian Thorpe touched out Gary Hall Jnr in the 4x100m relay, but the match went on for 3 hours instead of being all over in a few minutes, and of course we also had 15 hours of crowd bonding in the queue. To be honest nobody was that upset at the end. Of course we would have preferred Pat to win, but it was a great match, and everyone was still pinching themselves that we had actually seen a Wimbledon mens final. Goran wanted it so bloody badly that it was like a fairytale for him after having to beg for a wildcard to actually get into the tournament so everyone was really happy for him. It would have been a different story if Pete Sampras had beaten Pat again though I think. Michael was watching the match on tv at a pub and he said he saw me on tv about 3 times so he was glad he hadn't had a sickie cause he would have been found out for sure.

We hadn't been tired at all during the match when everyone was so pumped, but when it was all over we all sort of crashed - not because Pat had lost...but just because it was all over. We were all like zombies, but we decided to go to the pub for a few drinks anyway. I was so lucky that I had turned up at the queue when I had and met up with the group I did. They were pretty rowdy, and it was just heaps of fun. We had a few drinks and then decided it really was time to get some sleep.

But I got home and my flatmates called to say we were going to the pub in Wimbledon village for Pat's afterparty. They had been to Barcelona last year with the Fanatics so they had contacts, so off we went to have a few beers with the boys. I can't imagine that it could have been a bigger party if Pat had won. There was heaps of Aussie music playing, and with all the drinks on Pat it was bound to be a big night.

Even now after having a sleep, I am still trying to work out if yesterday actually happened or not. After seeing the olympics in my home city and now a Wimbledon final featuring an Aussie, I'm not sure I can top that.

For some reason I have a really sore throat...