Riiiiiiiight, because Agassi wasn't like that at all. Agassi has done a tremendous job brainwashing people with his "Zen-calm, family guy" PR campaign. It's like nobody remembers what a complete moron he was. (and still is IMO, he just does a better job of hiding it)
Agassi still is a moron. I've never met a bigger jackass than him. On the other hand Roddick, Federer, Hewitt, Safin and Haas are some of the nicest people you'll meet on the tour
Unless you are prepared to come over and queue overnight/early hours of the morning for a ticket(or buy one off a tout), or pay through the nose for one of those package holidays, forget about coming to Wimbledon. It is the most oversubscribed sporting event I've come across. Members of the LTA(governing body over here) have to go into a ballot and hope you get lucky with a pair of tickets. You get told what court/date they are on and then you have to decide if you want them. You don't get to choose! I believe you can apply for the ballot from overseas but I believe you have to do that before the end of the year. The ballot itself is in March. As a Grand Slam tournement I would rank it behind both the US Open and Roland Garros in terms of fan friendliness. I hope to make it to the Aussie Open one day and I have no doubt Wimbledon will be worse than that too!
I despise Hewitt on the court, but from all accounts he's a nice guy off it. Same for Roddick. I'm not a huge fan of Haas either, come across as very arrogant and spoiled. Safin is a real character and entertainer. Federer is just class on and off the field. Even when he is hammering somebody, I never find it boring because he is such a shotmaker. I especially like it when he is delivering bagels to Hewitt.
Gasquet is the kid I'm going to be following closely from the new bunch. I have a feeling he will end up being better than Nadal and maybe Federer's biggest rival. Nadal has had more early success because his game is basically set now - a retriever with a big forehand. Gasquet has more shots and it takes more time to understand your game when you have options like that. I could liken it to Hewitt's early success compared to Federer.
I just want to experience Wimbledon at least once. Even if I have to overpay. We are hoping to go next year when we go on vacation and have already began the planning stage. We are for sure going to Sweden and are hoping to hit two other spots as well. England for sure because of Wimbledon and we are thinking France but not quite sure yet. We are hoping to spend about 4 weeks over there. Any help would very welcome.
I admit there is something magical about that green grass, the all white outfits and eating strawberries and cream! http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/tickets/tickets2006.html
Wow, I'm insanely jealous. I hope to live in Europe for an extended amount of time one day but it would be when my kids are grown (13+ years from now). I'd love for my kids to study abroad.
Sweden is wonderful, albeit a little on the boring side. Paris might be a nice contrast in between Sweden and England. You might like Berlin as well. What are your interests to do/see for this trip?
Masters Flickvan is from Sweden so she wants to visit her mom/family and show me her home. Other than that, we want to start getting to know Europe. As stated earlier I really would love to watch a match at Wimbledon and while there we will hit up as much as possible in England (mostly London). I would like to see the sites but even more than that, I would like to learn how it really is over there. See all of the things that are not on a tour.
Let me suggest taking trains all the way down from Sweden through Copenhagen, north German countryside, Amsterdam, Belgium, and if you would like, an excursion to Paris as well. You can then take a train directly into London from there. (alternatively, you can also bypass Amsterdam/Belgium and take a train straight south through Germany to Cologne, and then head to Paris from there).
Well, it may sound awesome to take the train, but I’ve done that and it wasn’t so great at all. I think it is highly overrated. The “Europass” thing is awesome if you’re 18-25, after that I would not recommend it. I would much rather spend the money on a plane ticket to a certain city and then rent a car for some exploration of the countryside.
Au contraire, the "Europass" thing is still awesome even well after 18-25 But to each her own I guess. Personally, the summertime traffic (especially in France) is not something I am that fond of. If you can afford it, get a chauffeured car.
