Twilight tennis at Hurlingham!

So, back before Wimbledon there were lots of tennis related competitions on twitter etc. In typical fashion I was entering them all and expecting to win nothing.

Then out of the blue I was checking my twitter notifications and there was a message from IMG saying that I had won! Of course, at this point I had to work out what the competition was....!

I had won tickets to the twilight tennis event which included a gourmet BBQ and a champagne reception.

 

It wasn’t great timing though as the event was on Tuesday 17^th June and we were going on holiday the next day :( I did manage to convince my work colleague that she wanted to cover for me at a meeting though so I could go! :)

I still had to go into the office so I was there at 7 whilst I left Rob at home to take the dog to the kennels – he would now stay there until we can home from our holiday.

I finished  work around 11 and headed home, then we drove to Salisbury to catch the train as otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get home!

We caught the 1320 and arrived at Waterloo just before 1500, we had got some sandwiches before we got on the train and were stunned at how expensive they were!

We took the tube across to Putney Bridge and walked the short distance to the Hurlingham club.

Once inside we headed over to find the champagne reception. We passed a court where Kyle was practicing with Greg.

 

 

We had to ask where to go as the grounds were a bit confusing but eventually we found it and got our wristbands.

We found a table and took a seat, we were offered lots of little snacks and we got some water as we don't really drink. While we were here we saw Natasha Kaplinski walk past.

After an hour we headed across to the court to find our seats – we were in row G behind the court and we were really quite close to the court.

Kyle Edmund was playing Marin Cillic. It was actually a really competitive match. The first set went to a tie break which Marin won.

 

 

The second set went the same way but this time Kyle edged the tie break. To decide the match they played a match tie break. Marin took an early lead but Kyle came back at him and won!

 

 

We went to get a drink from the bar and while we were waiting we saw Brendan Cole and Will Young. I was going to ask Brendan for a photo but didn't want to bother him.

Back to the courts where Bahrami etc had just started their match. They were brilliant, Bahrami pulled all his usual tricks and the rest of the guys were fab too. I have no clue who actually won but then that didn't seem to matter!

 

 

Tennis over and we headed across for the BBQ, we had a funny moment earlier when we looked at the seating chart where we were listed by my name....almost all the rest were company names!

We were seated at a table with an assortment of people most of whom appeared to have also won their tickets.

After the gazpacho (which was not good!) we got pork steaks, sausage and salad which was lovely.

 

Dessert was chocolate and hazelnut cream with raspberry sorbet which was delicious but I couldn't eat all of mine :(

I quickly drank my coffee (in a teeny tiny cup), collected my coat and then we headed back to the tube.

We were aiming to catch the 2220 back to Salisbury and we made it to Waterloo with just a few minutes to spare!

The train home was pretty busy and we arrived back at Salisbury just before midnight. It was a quiet drive back to Gillingham and then I somehow managed to get up for work again at 6am the next day!

 

All of my photos

Upcoming fun day out at Hurlingham

So, I'm always entering competitions to win tickets to tennis events....but I hardly ever win (although last time I got a tennis lesson with Judy Murray!)
 
I entered one last week on twitter and somehow I won!
 
The price is 2 tickets to the twilight tennis event at Hurlingham on 17th June:
 

www.bnpparibastennisclassic.com

 

And it includes the following:

• VIP celebrity champagne reception
•  Tickets to both matches of tennis (1 singles and 1 doubles)
• 2 course gourmet buffet BBQ
• Complimentary beer, wine and soft drinks

Now the slight complication is that I had a meeting at work that day but I have sweet talked someone into covering and will leave the office at lunchtime to head to London on the train.

We should arrive around 3pm and that leaves an hour to get across to the venue :)

My video clip from Vstrator

So Paul from Vstrator offered to take some video of us all and provide some feedback on my performance (how kind he and Judy are for not laughing at me!)

Anyway, here it is if you want to take a look:

Lizzi - Forehand

Masterclass with Judy Murray - 14th June 2012 - Part 3

So, we headed over to Centre Court where Tipsarevic had just started his match against Lu. We got to our seats and the score was 2-3 on serve.

It was quite windy and a bit chilly, having been quite warm during our tennis training earlier. Rob and I commented on how it was good that the weather had been nice to us!

Tipsy was broken soon after and Lu went ahead and sealed the set.

They came out for the second set and they were on serve with Tipsy leading 2-1 when the rain came!

It was already quite dark and the weather prospects did not look good so we decided to leave and head back home assuming that we wouldn't miss much play.

We got back to Waterloo around 7 and grabbed some food to take on the train home with us. We caught the 7.20 train and then discovered via twitter that play had been abandoned at 6.30.....not long after we had left!

We got back into Gillingham at 9.20 and were greeted by heavy rain which we had to walk home in cos we forgot to bring our coats with us!

Not the best walk home but we had such a great day that nothing could upset us!

Masterclass with Judy Murray - 14th June 2012 - Part 2

We were given passes to access the Crown Club - which is just inside the entrance to Queens and upstairs.

Rob and I got changed and headed up. We were met by the lady from Highland Spring and we went over to wait for the others. Judy arrived shortly afterwards and we sat and chatted while we waited for the rest of the group.

There was a selection of food provided which included sandwiches, quiches, prawn cocktails, pasta pots, starwberries and raspberries with clotted cream, chocolate and champagne.

Once everyone had arrived we all tucked in - we were quite hungry from all the running around!

We chatted with Paul, Helen and Judy while we ate and caught up on the tennis news from the day. We were disappointed to see that Jamie and Marcos had lost, but pleased that Ross and Colin had got the win against the Belgian pair of Darcis/Rochus.

We were just finishing up when we saw that Tsonga had lost his match, which was a little unexpected.

We were given goody bags fron Highland Spring which included a programme and some other bits and pieces:

We then had a group photo taken which some of you might have already seen posted on twitter.

The photo has been kindly provided by Paul as we didn't have our camera handy at the time. In the photo we have from L-R: Paul, Rob, Claire/Charlotte (not sure which), Judy, Claire/Charlotte, Me, Nussaibah, Zainab and Lady from Highland Spring.

After this I had a photo with Judy:

Paul also took a really nice piccy of us chatting to Judy during the afternoon.

I cannot remember what we were laughing at here...but I think it was a picture of Zainab with Ivo Karlovic on her camera....she barely reaches his knees! (Ok, I exaggerate but it was still a funny photo!)

So, afternoon tea over and we all headed out to watch some tennis. We had a quick look out on the balcony and then left Zainab and Nussaibah out there as we went to Centre Court for a little while.

Masterclass with Judy Murray - 14th June 2012 - Part 1

Finally, Thursday arrived so Rob and I took the dog to the kennels as we would be gone all day. We came back home and packed our bags, got changed and then walked to the train station.

We bought our tickets and then waited for the train to arrive. It was running a few minutes late but nothing serious. We had an uneventful train journey and arrived at London Waterloo just before midday.

We grabbed a bite to eat in the station and then tried to figure out which tube route to take. There were some delays but we managed to find our way to Barons Court.

Everytime I go to London I am amazed by how expensive the tube is....we bought a zone 1 and 2 travelcard and it cost £7 each....! That is a shocking amount of money!

Anyway, we actually arrived at Queens just after 1 so we were quite early. I kept track of Ross and Colin's progress by watching the big scoreboard from outside the gates!

Another of the competition winners was Nussaibah, who turned out to be a friend of Zainab. She had decided to bring Zainab along with her so there was a familiar face to look out for.

We all met up outside the gates and then we found Eve, the PR lady. She gave us our tickets and we were taken in by a lady who works for Highland Spring (I forget her name).

We headed straight to a practice court, astroturf not grass. For those of you who have been to Queens, you turn left immediately after you enter and the court we played on is down the end on the right.

We got there and were introduced to Judy. Also there was Helen from Head and a guy called Paul who works for an American company called Vstrator.

Paul was going to take some video of us while we were playing and then send us a clip analysing our technique and giving us tips on how to improve.

His company has developed an app which can be used to analyse technique using a short video clip. The app is called Vstrator Lite and is free on iphone/ipad - Rob has been playing with it and thinks it is quite cool :)

A couple of the other winners were also there: James and Alec from Kent.

We were waiting for two others who had got delayed but after a few minutes we got started.

Judy had us all do a warm up and here's where the fun started....

We had to jog back and forward from the baseline to the net and along the way warm up for some of our strokes.

We started with the 'backward nike tick' which is more commonly known as the forehand!

We also practiced our backhand and then the most hilarious shot of them all - the smash. Judy decided that we should do the 'Pete Sampras slamdunk'!

Warm up completed and we got started on the masterclass. We were split into 2 groups of four and each group was on a court. 

We started off with Judy (Rob, Alec, James and I) whilst Helen worked with the other group. 

We were hitting forehands from just beyond the service line and Judy was giving us advice on how to direct our shots.

After a little while she introduced targets (cones) for us to aim at, as apparently we were doing well. What I love about Judy is how positive she is all the time...and she was so kind not to laugh at our terrible tennis skills!

After a little while we stopped for a quick drink and then afterward we played a short team game. Judy's team against Helen's.

The rules of the game were basically that you could hit the ball as many times as needed to get it back across the net and the point is only over once the ball stops moving completely.

We had a lot of fun...and I am pleased to report that Judy's team won!

Back in our 2 groups we then moved onto attempting volleying. Judy split us into 2 mini groups and one group had to practice rallying for as long as possible whilst Judy worked on volleys with the other pair.

Rob and I managed to hit the ball to each other for a little while, although there were a few wayward shots!

We then attempted a few volleys with Judy. She gave us some tips on how better to direct our shots and explained that it is a good way to improve - because if you can direct the shots back to an opponent (which extends the rally) then you don't spend as much time picking up tennis balls which can get quite boring!

Helen and Judy then swapped over and we did some more volleys with Helen. She set up targets for us to try and hit...which I think we all failed to do :(

She added hoops to the tops of the cones and amazingly I managed to get the ball through the hoop twice!

Finally to end the session we had another group game. The teams were different this time though, I was with Nussaibah, James, Charlotte and Judy.

I forget what rules we played this time but once again Judy's team won.....which I think pleased her :)

So the tennis was over and we all headed off to get changed before afternoon tea!

Masterclass with Judy Murray - 14th June 2012 - Background

Last week I entered a twitter competition run by Mumsnet and Highland Spring to win a tennis masterclass with Judy Murray at Queens. I didn't really expect to win as I enter similar competitions all the time!

You can imagine my surprise when on Sunday evening I got a message telling me that I was indeed one of three winners!

The message informed me that I would be contacted by the PR company the folowing day to explain the arrangements for the day.

I went into the office the next morning to ask my boss for the day off. She was due to be out of the office on a work trip and I was needed in the office for the week to ensure the accounts were accurate before they closed on Friday.

Thankfully being a fellow tennis fan she agreed to let me have the day off anyway....!

The PR lady called me later on Monday and we arranged to meet outside Queens at 1.45 on Thursday. The masterclass would start at 2.00 and last until approximately 3.30.

I was really busy at work for the next couple of days and was getting increasingly excited as time went by.....despite the fact that I haven't played tennis since I was at school - and even then it was really basic stuff!