I have a ticket for centre court tomorrow!
My first (and I guess last) time at Surbiton.

I was at Surbiton today too, I wish I'd realised some of you were going to be there too, even if it doesn't sound as if CD wanted to talk to anyone. I was hoping to get there by 12 and catch the dénouement of some of the first matches on court but a trespasser on the line near Victoria meant half the trains from Croydon to Clapham were cancelled and the one I was on was getting held for a long time at virtually every station, even though it hadn't been meant to stop at any of them and it was close to 1.30 when I finally got there, so I missed Emily's fine win and Amelia's fine near-ish miss against the top Q seed.

So, the only Brit I saw in women's singles was Naiktha, who was up against the very tall no. 16 Q seed Lia Karatantcheva (younger sister of Sesil, presumably). Despite being the lower-ranked of the two at the moment, Naiktha seemed like the better player and could probably have won even more quickly than she did, but at least she got through in the end.

In doubles, Lauryn and Ranah held their own quite well in the 1st set against some good opponents. I went elsewhere after the 1st set and from the scoreline, they fell away quite quickly after that.

I then stood between courts 1 and 2 and mainly watched Tara and Beth take out the no. 4 seeds. Beth has improved a lot since I last saw her live and was the best player on court in this match and it was great to see Tara playing again too. They should have won in 2 sets, but at least having suffered the disappointment of being pegged back from 3-0 in the 2nd, they held their nerve in the MTB to finish off a very good win. Ponchet wasn't happy with some of the calls (there were dodgy calls both ways in most matches I saw), to the extent that even her partner, Schoofs, told her to stop arguing and get on with it at one point! :)

At the same time, I was keeping an eye on Harriet (& Greet) v Alicia and Freya - the all-GB pair were getting the most vocal support but despite them going an early break up and playing some very decent tennis at times, the other two always looked like winning.

In addition to those who played today, I noticed a few of the top GB women spectating - Katie Swan cheering on Alex Bolt against Ben (what is it about GB Katies and Aussie Alexes?  ), as well as Sonay (I only looked round and realised it was her when the dark presence - aka JB  - sidled up to talk to her) and Fran, with Anne K and Iain Bates.

I only had a ground pass too, I must have been off Twitter when the tickets went on sale and by the time I thought to check a few weeks ago whether they were available yet, that's all that was left. I remember the days when you could get a ticket easily on the day, even for Centre (if it wasn't the weekend) and it seems crazy that now that it's so successful, while still maintaining much of the relaxed atmosphere (players and coaches mixing with the paying public), they're going to stop holding a Challenger there.

I agree too that it is ridiculous that they don't let people into Centre when it's half empty - I don't know whether or not it was full for Kyle v Ryan, which must have been an excellent match, but the main stand looked more than half empty for Paul's match before filling up for Billy - that's what it looked like from afar, at least.

I'll be back there on Wednesday (pity it's not tomorrow, when the OoP looks very interesting!), happy to meet up for a few minutes if anyone else is going and wants to (don't worry, CD, I'm not easily offended!  )

Sorry I missed you Steven - we must have been very close whilst watching the doubles.

steven, great to hear you had a good time (although the train sounds a nightmare)

We've actually already met and had a 'good chat', at Surbiton before

Must have been 6 or 7 years ago now

Although you didn't know it was me (must have been the false moustache ) It was just by chance

In fact, I only realised it was 'you' five minutes in.... and there were other people there too, it seemed a bit weird to suddenly say 'oh, and I'm CD'

Apart from grumpy gitness, my only excuse, - but to me it's quite a serious one - is that I used to belong to another forum (completely different topic) - and loved it and was there for 8-10 years - until I met up with everyone for the first time. And I've no idea why - blame it on me - but suddenly it had lost its magic, or whatever, I'm not sure, but it completely fizzled after that

It left a surprisingly big mark and I vowed to keep any other forum that came along just as a forum, as penpals

So I really am sorry, I know it seems a bit unfriendly 

I'm on digital spy (different name) but only really go for the tennis thread

No, it wasn't tennis at all - completely different domaine

Sorry to hear you got banned, emmsie - I never really quite got into Digital Spy - I did try it for about a month - just following it, not as a poster - but it didn't sort of take off

Sun's out ! Got my usual bench seat between courts 1 and 2