Wimbledon’s Opening of Court One Celebrations
Even before the start of the celebrations of Wimbledon’s Court One’s new retractable roof on a damp afternoon, the heavens opened and down poured the rain which meant the roof remained closed throughout the celebrations as ticket holders arriving to take their seats and were not given a display of the roof’s engineering feat before proceedings started. The only time the roof opened was after celebrations finished but that was for only a few feet allowing enough the now blue sky to appear through the small gap in the roof.
Celebrations kicked off with a very entertaining doubles match between Jamie Murray partnering former Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivanisevic, always a source of amusement who were up against Aussis Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Cash both past Wimbledon champions. This was a match that had the audience in fits of laughter at their many incredibly funny antics players got up to demonstrating if anything their skilled control of all kinds of varied angled shots. Despite weather conditions, Court One was filled to capacity and the atmosphere was contagious similar Centre Court during the Championships, the only difference is Court One is smaller and has a capacity of 12,235 seats while Centre Court holds almost 15,000 seats. Although differently designed, Court One has a more circular feel to it, both courts have identically constructed roofs which creates maximum light to support the growing of grass. .
Between matches the BBC Concert Orchestra entertained the crowd with a melange of tunes ably conducted by Richard Balcombe, a versatile conductor and orchestrator. First up on the small podium wearing a bright red ensemble and high stilletto heels was Paloma Faith who, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, sang a couple of her latest hits to rapturous audience. This was was followed by the Ladies Doubles match, another exhibition tennis match between two of the worlds former top players, four times Wimbledon Champion Venus Williams and Kim Clijster, both delighted the crowd playing three entertaining sets. It really didn’t matter who won or lost it was just a joy to see these two great players on court again.
The contrasting mixture of Paloma Faith much sought after hit songs and one of the world’s best tenors, Joseph Callerja was breathtaking. Callerja entertained the crowds for twenty minutes with his power singing and received a standing ovation after Ness’un Dorma with the backing chorus coming from Grange Park Opera chorus, a perfect combination for the occasion. .
The highlight of the day was definitely the mixed doubles match with the ever youthful and slim looking John McEnroe who at 60 and despite a head of white hair proved that none of his creative tennis have diminished, displaying his incredible ability and touch at the net. Playing with the likable Kim Clijsters, they proved a formidable duo against Martina Navratilova who remembers playing her first Wimbledon match on the old Court One in 1976, and who this occasion partnered Jamie Murray. But not all the tennis was serious mixed doubles, there were plenty of fun exchanges between players plus McEnroe’s verbal comments that kept all amused, plus his trademark expression, ‘you can’t be serious’, which was uttered several times during the match. Post match on court interviews with Sue Barker were equally amusing.
Interesting to note that all the money raised from tickets purchased for the event went towards #Wimbledon Foundation to help the critical need of homelessness in the local borough of Merton.
Sorry this is so late but almost forgot to post with so much going on at the moment!
