Jim Harrington: Here's what it's like to actually visit tennis paradise

LONDON — Wimbledon feels almost mythical.

It’s like Narnia or Asgard, or better yet Shangri-La — a place that we’ve heard stories of and yet seems too fantastical to be true.

How else to explain a place where sports fans get dressed in elegant garb, dine on strawberries and cream with glasses of champagne, and watch some of the greatest athletes in the world gather to play a game on beautifully manicured lawns?

Wimbledon is especially hard to fathom when you’re living across the pond in the States, where the closest tennis equivalent — the U.S. Open — is a big, bold and boisterous event that is far more New York (which is where it’s held) than Narnia. In other words, the U.S. Open is John McEnroe, while Wimbledon is much more Roger Federer.

It’s also, by far, the toughest ticket to land of any of the big four Grand Slam tennis events, so greatly coveted that people sleep out in tents outside the venue and otherwise wait hours upon hours in “The Queue” in hopes of gaining admission each day of the tournament.

Is it worth it? The more than a half-million lucky people who are expected to turn out for this year’s Championships at Wimbledon would holler in the affirmative (unless, of course, there was match play going on and then they’d whisper in the affirmative).

I was one of those incredibly fortunate souls, joining some 42,000 other attendees per day to take in what is no doubt the ultimate bucket-list item for most tennis fans.

And it was every bit as wonderful as one would expect, with the experience coming across as nothing short of a trip to tennis paradise.

Of course, prepping for the Championships at Wimbledon — which kicked off June 29 and continues through July 12 — isn’t like planning for most other sporting events. It’s not like deciding which Steph Curry jersey you want to wear to the Warriors game. A lot of people dress to the nines at Wimbledon — suits, ties, designer dresses, etc. — which means that I was going to look way out of place in my Black Sabbath T-shirt.

But smart casual works just fine here — a button-up shirt, with unscuffed and unfussy tennis shoes and nice pants being the way that many guys go. I added a suit coat to the mix, as well as a Panama-style hat — which I picked up for 20 quid (about 27 dollars) from a street vendor on my walk from the Tube to the venue. The latter turned out to be particularly in style as well as practical, especially on the smaller courts that offer little-to-no shade.

It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the Southfields Station to the tennis grounds, with every step of the way only amping up the anticipation and excitement for what you’re about to experience. And then you finally see it — proving that it’s not myth, it’s actually real — which causes your heart to race even quicker. Then when you finally make it through the security, and your tickets are scanned, it’s like the gates to this magical kingdom have finally opened up to you.

Some might want to explore a bit and get a lay of the land, but I was so excited to actually see some tennis that I went right into action and started enjoying match play on my first day of action (July 1).

That sense of awe

Having just seen many of the top male tennis players during the excellent Laver Cup in San Francisco last year, I decided to catch as many of the top female players as I could during my time at Wimbledon. Also feeling a bit patriotic, in part because Team USA was set to play (and win!) its big World Cup match at Levi’s Stadium back in my hometown Bay Area that same day, I decided to focus on seeing Americans play.

Fortunately, I was able to accomplish all of those things during the three second-round matches that I caught that first day. These matches featured three top-10 players — world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka as well as Americans Jessica Pegula (No. 4 overall) and Coco Gauff (No. 7). Plus, there was another American in the mix — McCartney Kessler — who was Sabalenka’s opponent.

As I settled into the sporting venue officially known as No. 1 Court — but pretty much universally known as just “Court One” — the whole realization of what I was experiencing really began to hit me. I sighed that big sigh, the one that had been coming for weeks, and really was overwhelmed by the history and legacy of where I was — Wimbledon — the place where the great Roger Federer won a record eight men’s singles titles and the legendary Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova would each notch a staggering 20 overall championships (singles, doubles and mixed doubles combined). This was the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, aka just the All England Club, which has been hosting this grass tournament since 1877.

And, somehow, it feels like time has managed to stand still for Wimbledon through all the decades. Not in the wrong way, of course, given that this tournament has certainly been updated and modernized in all the right ways to keep pace with the growth of tennis and, in general, professional sports. But the traditions — the players being dressed in all white, the grass courts, the glasses of champagne being enjoyed alongside those yummy strawberries and cream, the spectators dressing up for the event, etc. — remain.

That sense of awe of my surroundings would stay with me throughout the day as I watched Sabalenka dispatch Kessler in straight sets, despite the American giving the fiery top-ranked player a real test in a second set that was decided 11-9 in the tie-breaker. And I was still swooning as I stuck around Court One for the Gauff-Sierra match, which has been one of the tournament’s best, with the American coming from behind — more than just once — to snatch the victory from the Argentinian in a match that went the distance and eventually ended in a 10-7 third-set tie-breaker.

I’d end the day over on No. 2 Court — which doesn’t quite have same the awe factor as Court One but does deliver a more intimate, close-up tennis experience — watching Pegula advance to the third round with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 victory over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Centre Court experience

I had one goal for my second day at the tournament. And it could be summed up in two words:

Centre Court.

I just had to get out and experience the thrill of being out on what is, by far, the most legendary court in all of tennis — as well as, arguably, the most highly respected and admired venue in all of sports — on July 2.

And, thankfully, I would overachieve in my quest, as I would receive the blessing of getting to watch not just one but two matches played on Centre Court.

The goosebumps/chills were in full effect as I took my seat for the first match on the court that day, a promising contest between defending women’s singles champion Iga Swiątek and Karolina Pliskova, a former world No. 1 who reached the Wimbledon final in 2021. There was a lot of intrigue to this match, since Pliskova seemingly had the serve and the power to really test Swiatek.

Yet, it certainly didn’t play out that way in the first set, which Swiatek danced away with 6-1 without seemingly breaking much of a sweat. The second set proved vastly more competitive and entertaining, and seemed like it could go either direction, before Swiatek took command to close it out 6-3.

As much as I was locked into the match and its score, I was equally in tune with the surroundings, taking in all that I could in this special setting. I was taken back by how quiet it can get in this 14,979-seat venue. There is normal sporting event quiet and then there is “Wimbledon quiet,” where you think twice about uttering a small cough for fear of how it might impact the tensity of the overall mood. Then that quiet is broken, in such joyous fashion, as the crowd erupts following a big point or play. The result is a sonic seesaw that is unlike any other sport I’ve seen.

The sense of history and tradition is certainly at its strongest at Centre Court, in large part because of the Royal Box — where British dignities and their guests watch over the proceedings and underscore the amazing privilege that it is to actually be in attendance at such a distinguished and revered venue. I was on the other side of the court from the Royal Box, so I couldn’t tell who was actually there on this day, but its aura still played an important part of the mix.

I then made it over to Court One to see Alexander Zverev dispatch Valentine Royer in convincing enough fashion to make one think that the newly crowned French Open champ could be a threat to make it a “Channel Slam” (winning the French and Wimbledon back-to-back) in 2026. Then closed out my day back at Centre Court to see world No. 2 Elena Rybakina dispatch American Caty McNally 6-1, 6-2.

The experience had been everything I hoped — and then some — as well as certainly one that I would highly recommend to any sports fan looking to spend time in the tennis paradise known as The Championships at Wimbledon.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, those legendary strawberries and cream are indeed a must.