The Overseas Tennis Fan’s Guide to the Championships at Wimbledon

This entry is part of the Wimbledon’s Grass is Always Greener series. Please click here to read the rest of On the Baseline’s exclusive series!

I love Wimbledon. Words cannot express the feeling I get each year as look at the beautiful grass courts of SW 19. Just hearing the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling that are sketched in the tunnel underneath Centre Court gives me goosebumps. “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” The greatest tennis players in the world have walked underneath those words and have many of them have personified the thoughts behind Kipling’s poem.

Unfortunately, as much as I love Wimbledon, I have yet to see the sights and sounds with my own eyes. To compensate for this shortcoming, I have learned to search the pages of the internet and enjoy the matches from the comfort of my living room sofa. I know that there a millions of people out there like me and I hope that these few tips may help some of your Wimbledon tourist wannabees.

Tip Number One: Don’t Forget the Essentials!
It is very easy as a coach potato Wimbledon fan to forget the time difference and miss the best matches of the day. Make sure that you remember that Wimbledon/London is only five hours ahead of New York (EST), six hours ahead of Chicago (CST), seven hours ahead of Denver (MST), and eight hours ahead of San Francisco (PST).

Another one of the most important things to remember during the next two weeks is to always be prepared for rainy days at SW19. The All England Lawn and Tennis Club is eventually planning on putting a roof on Centre Court, but for the present, rain is as much a part of Wimbledon as strawberries and cream. The next time you find yourself wrapped up in a quarterfinal match, only to see the groundsmen frantically tugging at the court covers, be grateful that you are relaxing in your living room and not being soaked in the stands of Centre Court. Grab that copy of War and Peace that you always meant to read and sit tight; the match will start again sooner or later.

Tip Number Two: Try out the new Wimbledon Live service.
The AELTC has unveiled a brand new subscription service for this year’s Championships at Wimbledon. The new Wimbledon LIVE! is a impressive package of video and audio clips, player interviews, daily highlights, and best of all, live video coverage of some of the matches.

All of these incredible features are not free; for fans in the United States it costs $19.95 for the two weeks, if you sign up now, with the cost going up to $24.95 after June 26. Day passes will also be available if you only want to listen to specific matches.

Tip Number Three: Too cheap for Wimbledon Live; try Radio Wimbledon!
Live coverage of the Championships at Wimbledon does not have to come with a price. On top of the Wimbledon coverage via the new Wimbledon Live, the AELTC will continue its highly successful Radio Wimbledon at this year’s event. Using Radio Wimbledon, fans can listen to the coverage of the tournament, and hear play-by-play calls from Centre Court and Court No.1 for free! You can access Radio Wimbledon at the Wimbledon LIVE! site.

Tip Number Four: Use RSS Feeds and other traditional media sources for the latest news.

RSS feeds with the latest Wimbledon news:
Official Wimbledon RSS
CBS Sportsline
On the Baseline
BBC Sport’s Tennis Coverage

Traditional Media:
Bob Larson’s Tennis News
Wimbledon Coverage from Eurosport
Court Coverage
BBC Sport

Live Match Coverage:
Wimbledon LIVE! (includes on-demand video and free Radio Wimbledon)
Wimbledon on the BBC
United States Television Listings
BBC Five Live Radio

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