My spontaneous trip to Wimbledon 2016
I've been a tennis fan for many years, and I regularly attend the U.S. Open in New York. I made sure that I scheduled a trip to Australia in January to attend the Australian Open in 2010.
But despite talking about it, I'd never gotten around to planning a trip to Wimbledon. So in 2016, I was just planning to watch some good tennis on TV during the Fourth of July weekend. But the rain during the first week necessitated a rare occasion at Wimbledon -- play on the Middle Sunday.
I woke up on Saturday, July 2, to watch the tennis. While catching up on Twitter, I ran across this tweet:
So, with inspiration from the New York Times' Christopher Clarey, I did just that. I bought a ticket to Centre Court (after timing out on Ticketmaster UK a couple of times) and used frequent flier miles to book a flight out of JFK that evening to London.
Allison Creekmore, right, was interviewed by Faye Carruthers on the Live @ Wimbledon radio network.
Little did I know that my Wimbledon adventure would become the talk of the media room on that Sunday at Wimbledon, and I was interviewed by several media outlets, including Christopher Clarey. Here's a collection of the media coverage, which I am grateful for helping to document my trip!
Video interview with @WimbledonChnl:
Audio interview with @FayeCarruthers on Wimbledon Radio:
Interview with the Press Association (British wire service): Serena Williams super fan flies to Wimbledon from NEW YORK after picking up a ticket for People's Sunday for the match which lasted just 51 minutes (For the record, I really didn't go only to watch Serena, and I would've done the trip regardless of who was playing. I was glad to see her, though!)
Interview with @ChristophClarey, whose tweet started the whole thing: At Wimbledon, a Rare Sunday for Play Brings Out the Adventure in One Fan
My Wimbledon trip easily ranks among the most spontaneous and best adventures of my life. My next goal is getting to the French Open and completing my Grand Slam of fan experiences.