After leaving the Lake District, we headed south towards London. It was quite a loooong drive although it didn't look that bad on a map when I was planning it. Maybe being squished in a smaller vehicle didn't help, but what did help was stopping at Sainsbury's and Tesco to get a Meal Deal for lunch--the kids' and Robert's favorite thing to do.
We had such fantastic days in store for us in London area, but first things first!
In April of 2020, Mark was quite bored because there was no tennis to be played...so Katya and I set up an Instagram account for him, dedicated to tennis. Of course, over the years it's grown to have almost 2400 followers from all over the world (and only legitimate, non-creepy ones moderated by me). One of the first accounts Mark followed was The Tennis Brothers. We knew them from YouTube and then really enjoyed their videos and stuff on IG. Mark worked with them for their Junior Fitness Player program as well because everyone was trying to be creative with their at home training during quarantine. Anyway! We've had a few conversations with the Tennis Brothers--Felix and Lucian over the years through Instagram, in fact, Katya and Alex also knew exactly who they were. So before our trip to England, we connected once again and asked if Felix wanted to hit with Mark when we are there. He said YES!
And when he said that they actually live in the village of Wimbledon, we couldn't believe our luck! Imagine Mark's excitement to be able to play at a tennis club in Wimbledon WITH FELIX from Tennis Brothers! FINALLY, he actually had a good use for his tennis racket-haha. The truth is he brought it along just for this true purpose!
We were actually staying near Wimbledon, in an apartment/B&B, so we dropped off our stuff and drove over to meet with Felix. Mark and Felix played, while Liz, Felix's mum, chatted with us.
Mark was a bit star struck, of course! In fact, we all were! Everyone in the tennis world of Instagram knows who Felix is. It's quite incredible how he created his own influential brand at such a young age! And a lot of Mark's friends couldn't believe he actually got to hit with him!
And we made it fun by having Felix sign a tennis ball-haha.
It was so funny!
And so after the hitting session, Felix and Liz offered to walk with us through Wimbledon village to eat dinner together. The whole village was ready for Wimbledon, the tennis tournament. So many decorated store displays!!!
Tennis balls everywhere!
We were simply amazed at how exciting it was to be there!
We couldn't stop smiling!
We had dinner at one of the pubs and had so much fun! It helped that Katya is Felix's age-hahaha. We were missing Lucian, but he was occupied with another commitment.
After dinner, we started our walk to Wimbledon's playing site. It was still so incredibly light outside because...well...because it's England!! I absolutely love it! Staying up late because it's 10 pm and still light outside reminds me of my childhood.
And then!!!! We met Tommy Paul! It was another fantastic thing! Small talk, a picture, but so surreal! He is from North Carolina originally, and he is one of our top US players.
Star struck again:))
One of the most festive tennis store displays!
So we continued our walk towards Wimbledon courts.
Katya was beyond excited! I mean...Wimbledon village! And Felix (J/K)! hahaha
And finally! THE place! It was hard to believe it!
We were actually right here! Right near Wimbledon's Centre Court. I know... we all are just such big fans of tennis now.
As we walked over to Wimbledon tennis area, Felix helped us figure out the plan of action for the morning when we were going to come back to the village and join the queue to try to get onto Centre Court or Court 1 or 2. As we were there later in the evening, we saw where people already were lining up to sleep in tents overnight to be the first few people who got tickets to see matches on Centre Court. We were not that ambitious, but our plan was to show up before 5 am and see if we have a chance (I mean, everyone would get grounds passes).
Another sign of support for Ukraine while passing by a Wimbledon store.
And look at this cute mail box decorated with sunflowers and Ukrainian colors! It was right on the way to the courts where all people going to Wimbledon's queue would be seeing it.
And thus, the night before Wimbledon started, was very productive and fun for us! We said goodbye to Liz and Felix and arranged for us to come back on Tuesday (this was on Sunday) to park our car early in the morning near their house (aka the tennis courts) and walk together (??? FELIX TOO?) to join the queue.
We had a full day of London adventures waiting for us on Monday though, so we needed to get some good rest first.
Lyana.
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