Wimbledon 2017 - Ladies Final

Today as an amazing day... our lovely boss Monica too us all (ten of us now) to Wimbledon for the Ladies Final... A fabulous experience .  There are quite a lot of photos (I took over 300) - so sit back and enjoy!  
Some of us met at Monica's for a quick breakfast and a car to take us to Wimbledon (part of the package she booked)
LtoR Shaun, Josh, Lesley and James

 the group outside waiting for the gates to open.
L (in the hat) Monica; just behind her,James, Phil, Lesley, Natasha and with her back to me, Kirsty

 as we went in, the security staff were walking the public with ground passes, through ...

 have never seen that before, so it was photo-worthy!

 we headed upstairs to our suite (we had a private room this year for our meal (one of the Skyview suites in case you want to book the experience next year!!)

past the roll of champions wall...

our table laid out ready

 view from our balcony, (yes, drizzle!)

 champagne tent was doing roaring business

 Josh Shaun and Phil

 Leslie, Natasha (mum and daughter, both new with us since last year) and Lesley

 flower arrangement o the table

 our menu (hopefully you can click to enlarge)

terrine, lamb, and peach melba, if you're interested..

 more views from the balcony

 Shaun and Josh enjoying pink champagne

had to snap this pic of Phil's selfie!

 canape time...

 I took this one of my crab canape, just love the expressions of Kirsty and Monica in the background!

 our waitress took a group one of us all...

as the finals start an hour later (2pm) than the normal show court games we had a bit of time before sitting down to our 4 course lunch... so some of us went for a wander - I've never had time to do this before..

back past the wall of champions.

 our ground passes included, gave us access all areas so we went (in the drizzle still!) around..

 this is the balcony where the champion comes out to show off their trophy

 Leslie and Josh... bit breezy!

 order of play... obviously finals day, so not a lot... but various invitational matches going on...

 an empty court..

we decided to head for court 2 where we watched 15 minutes or so of a match including Andrew Castle (former British no1) and Patrick McEnroe, brother of John, of course...

 we had to leave them to it, and headed back...

were we noticed the sign outside our room that we'd missed on the way in

my starter, the terrine  (very nice)

 this was the cannelloni of smoked cheese starter,

 and the lobster main (Leslie)

 my lamb main course

 Phil with a selection of wine colours!

 my Peach Melba dessert













(I mentioned 4 courses, the 4th was cheese, which was a group cheese board, but I'm not fond of cheese unless it's cheddar in a sandwich!)

 another obligatory group photo

and one that our hostess took with me included











It was time to head down to Centre Court (only one flight of stairs and along the concourse

where the Royal Box was filling up...
we had thought our tickets were right alongside, but in fact we were opposite.

 our seats were amazingly, all in a row,

we couldn't recognise many of the people in the Royal Box, apart from the Duke of Kent, president of the All England Club, and some former Women's champions...
no doubt all the famous celebs will be wanting to go to the supposedly more glamorous Men's Final on Sunday (which is now today as I write this!)

 Venus and Garbine walking onto Court with their traditional Finalists flowers...

 nope still not sure who you are!  this is the ONLY downside of being there, you don't get introduced to the Royal Box people!  (although replays of some points would be good too!)

 Venus's very recognisable Mum!

 Play!!  (at last you think, so many photos already and we've only just got to the match!)

 a gaggle of press photographers.. I really only took this as we were trying to workout who the people in the boxes behind them were... nope, not sure!

 the team taking advantage of the Pimms....

 Garbine Muguruza making a winning start...

 a rapt Centre Court crowd...

 although Garbine's serves were not as powerful as Venus's, ("only" 96mph)  the first set was very close..

 First set to Muguruza.....
we thought this could be a great final, they were very evenly matched in this set...

 however, Garbine upped her game, or maybe Venus crumbled under the pressure... or...

 a challenge at match point....

 Muguruza is the Champion!

 a hug from Venus...

the crowd leapt to it's feet... (I was trying to juggle phone camera and camera at this point but soon gave that up!

 the loneliest seat in the place!  Poor Venus...

 ballboys line the court for the presentation ceremony..

 the Duke of Kent comes to present the trophies...

first up, runner up Venus Williams...

 and new champion, Garbine Muguruza

 Venus being interviewed by Sue Barker on tv

 former ITV newsreader Trevor McDonald, a big tennis fan (right edge of the picture)

 Sue leaves court, Garbine can parade the trophy...

first to the press..

then the spectators

 Venus failing to hide her disappointment..

 a wave to the crowd....


we headed back to our suite..

 where Afternoon Tea had been laid out...

however, I wasn't really hungry yet, so Leslie and I headed back to court, as the Men's Doubles final was about to start... little did we know how long this one would last, if the singles was over in a flash...

 must admit, I don't know any of these players though!

 but Doubles is usually so exciting,

 the Royal Box was obviously still having tea...

 ouch... took one for the team..

 I put the shorter length lens back on to get all 4 players in together...

after a little while I slipped back to the suite for a loo break

 and got Kirsty to take some pics of me

 hadn't needed the hat, but the scarf was needed, it was a little cool now..

 tea had been consumed (I did have a little, still not very hungry)

 back to the tennis...

 however, I was now quite chilly so headed back to the Suite where we watched the rest of the Doubles.. so no more action pictures... finally won by Kubot and Melo, 13-11 in the final set after they had to shut the roof for poor light.    what a game!

 sun setting over London from the balcony..

I said no more action pictures... not quite accurate.. a challenge had been laid down between Phil and Josh  - a "plank" challenge...

 and Monica decided to join in too, being super fit..

 my core strength would definitely not be up to this one!

 but it was finally time to go home... the Skyview Suite was closing (the Women's Doubles were just starting, under the roof on Centre Court, at 9 am... but we were heading home...

well some of us were, (Lesley and myself) the rest seemed to still have energy for drinks down in Wimbledon Village...

 Leslie waiting for the lift...

 me, waiting for the lift!

 Kirsty and Monica...

a setting sun over an emptying Wimbledon

 somebody still has room for Pimms...

 oops, I wasn't supposed to include this one, sorry Kirsty, don't know how that happened!)

in the car, heading home..

you may have spotted in the photo of Kirsty and Monica, they were sporting bags...

the hospitality package included a free Wimbledon towel, for each of us, and a £25 Karen Millen gift voucher..
here are mine, with my souvenir programme and my tickets,  at home after a long and exhausting day...




a HUGE thank you from me, on behalf of all of your team, to Monica, for once again treating us so lavishly for this wonderful day out.

a HUGE thank you too, to our Suite "staff",  hostess Rosie and Suite Manager Sian, who looked after us so well (what goes on in the Suite, stays in the Suite...)  catering to our every (liquid) need all day.  You were amazing.