Fallon's Town Talk: Thrills and drama at Wimbledon and The Mousetrap
For all the magical ambiance it is the tennis which makes Wimbledon special.
On entering the grounds at Wimbledon, you know instantly that you are in one of the world’s great sporting amphitheatres. The home of the world’s most famous tennis championship in south-west London is one of the few places that looks exactly like it does on television.
All around the grounds, a buzz of anticipation carries on the summer breeze. The balmy temperatures of between 23 and 26 degrees were warm by Irish standards but a far cry from the sizzling high 30s in which London had baked one week earlier.
The setting is idyllic: the grass on the carpet-like courts is a pristine green, the flowers shimmer and shine in the sunlight, the crowds mingle in the thoroughfares before heading to the courts. The strawberries and cream are fresh, delicious and one of the few commodities that isn’t wildly overpriced.
As with the Premier League, sporting bodies know they can charge over the odds for merchandise. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many fans and they are willing to pay handsomely for souvenirs of their trip.
Our daughter and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Court 1 for last Tuesday, the second day of the championship. The first week of Wimbledon is fantastic, from Centre Court to Court 18, good matches are taking place all around the ground. Even qualifying for the first-round is a major achievement and financially crucial for the journeymen and journeywomen of the tennis world.
First-round losers get 80,000 sterling; it could be the difference between being able to stay on tour or not. The prize money soars as the championship proceeds with the winners of the men’s and ladies’ singles getting an eye-watering 3.6 million pounds each.
In the French Open championship, a Polish woman called Maja Chwalinska embarked on a fairytale run. After reaching the third-round she had no hotel and no money; a sponsor stepped in to ensure Chwalinska could continue; she reached the final and banked a life-changing €1.4 million. Chawlinska’s fairytale didn’t continue at Wimbledon; she was comfortably leading her first-round match until injury struck and she had to concede a walk-over.
For all the magical ambiance it is the tennis which makes Wimbledon special. On the practice courts we saw Naomi Osaka and former champion Goran Ivanisevic who is now a leading coach. Most of the spotlight was on the sensational return of one of the sport’s icons, Serena Williams, four years after she retired.
Serena was playing on Centre Court but found out that even the greatest sportspeople can’t defy Father Time. Nonetheless, Williams, never the most gracious of losers, could have shown more generosity to her opponent, Maya Joint, who was enjoying the greatest moment of her career.
On Court 1, we got to witness some of the best players of the world including world men’s No 6 Taylor Fritz and women’s No 2 and 2022 champion Elena Rybakina.
However, the highlight of the day – or evening, as it turned out – was an epic match between two fan favourites: 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini and three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka. 41-year-old Wawrinka was playing his 19th and last Wimbledon and had the majority of the support.
Throughout the day fans were ambling out to buy champagne, Pimm’s and strawberries. That wasn’t happening during this gripping duel with each of the four sets going to tie-breaks; the zenith was an astonishing second set tie-break which Wawrinka won 18-16. He won that battle but victory went to the charismatic Berrettini. People headed into the gathering darkness exhilarated by the joy of sport at its most compelling.
New York might be the city that never sleeps but London is surely its equal in terms of energy and glamour. It is a vast metropolis although it was still a shock on Wednesday evening to see people shopping on Oxford Street and others heading for the theatres and restaurants just as England’s World Cup match against DR Congo was kicking-off.
Now, the hostelries, including the Irish pubs, were jammed with soccer fans, but I couldn’t help but think of how the streets of Dublin and every town and village in Ireland would be deserted if Ireland were playing in the World Cup.
I ticked an item on my London bucket list when we attended Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’, the longest-running play in the world. The play is now in its 74th year and St. Martin’s Theatre was packed – so the run won’t be finishing any time soon. Oh, the audience was warned not to reveal the plot twist so you’ll have to go yourself to find out whodunnit.
