Jun/26/2001

OMG.....OMG....OMG!!!!
Well we're here and so is the God in Grey!
He's so hot it's like standing on the surface of the sun!!
Got here at 6am,joined the queue,saw Carlos Moya(a bit hot too),and Marat practice....both looked good.
Watched a bit of Marat v Knowle and Carlos v Neville (forgotten his name)..then it was time for hyperventilating and Pats practice.Pat came out @2pm,grey top,grey shorts,white cap (no headband!) and brown body!Lots of zinc which highlighted his beautiful eyes.....took lots of pics through a horrible wire fence and did well to remain standing and conscious since this was our first sight of him in the flesh!!!Rochey and Peter were there of course and Peter overheard Annie commenting on Pats bottom but was very gracious and didn't say anything.Pat was moving beautifully around the court and looked really well(still wearing brace for his arm...but it didn,t seem to trouble him).He was really relaxed.. laughing and talking to everyone....Dee wished him g" Good Luck" for tomorrow and he winked, smiled and said
a sweet "Thank You"
Got to go and shower to cool down after that... so Bye everone ..we'll post again tomorrow!
Pray for continued good weather and "GO YOU GORGEOUS WARRIOR YOU!!!"
Love Annie Sue Cat Dee xxxxx

Dee, Jun/27/2001

Monday's practice will live in mind for a very very long time! Pat was dressed in all grey and looked very sexy (so no surprise there then) - and NO HEADBAND, thank the Lord. He's such a big tease, he strikes all these subtle little poses - photo opportunities, because he knows there's a line of desperate women all with their lenses poking through the stupid wire netting! Anyway, at one point he turned full face towards us and looked Sue straight in the eyes and her face was an absolute picture - I so wish I'd caught it on camera. She said she felt like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, where the cat gets hit on the head and slides down the wall and onto the floor without bending! They when he was leaving he walked towards us but we were all to dumbstruck to speak, and finally I managed to say hi and good luck for tomorrow, and he said thank you and then smiled the most wonderful, sweet smile, followed by a wink according to the others, although I was in shock from the wonderful smile I didn't even notice the wink!

Yesterday we had the most traumatic day ever, since we were in the queue at 3.30 am but still just missed out on Centre Court tickets. Everybody was in tears. Sue and I were nauseous. Cat got stung by a bee. I mean, how much worse could this get? While we were in the queue (that the line, for the Americans) I spoke to a guy with his 4 sons who all had Centre Court tickets and he said that after Williams and Agassi he probably would have had enough and may have a spare ticket, and his friend had one which she was definitely interested in selling, so that was one, possibly two, and we needed five (me, Catriona, Sue, Annie and Irishface). So when we got inside Sue and I accosted everybody who had Centre Court wristbands, but no luck. Finally, after much hard work and desperation, the wonderful Sue, God bless her eternally, had one finally try and found 2 guys and 2 girls who were kind of interested (the girl said she sees Rafter every time she comes to Wimbledon and wasn't interested in seeing him again !!!), but it was really our Kafelnikov tickets that were the clincher - we said they got to watch Agassi and Williams on Centre Court, then Kafelnikov on No.1 Court with our tickets, and all for free because we would pay for their Centre Court ones, and they said they preferred Kafelnikov to Rafter anyway, so that was what swung the deal! No accounting for taste, but Y2K was our very own ticket fairy yesterday, so we love him too now.

Then we found Carol, who also had only managed to get No.1 court and had come 3000 miles to see Pat and no ticket. I said I still had the promise of this possible ticket from the original guy, so she said she would try her luck in the returned tickets queue and if not she'd meet us after the Agassi match to see if my other ticket came through. In the end she was lucky in the returns queue, but her friend, Beth, still didn't have a ticket, but the wonderful and generous man decided he would give her his ticket and in the end she swapped tickets with him and ended up with me on the FRONT ROW, Centre Court. Cat and Irish were opposite us on the second row, and Sue and Annie were near the other Babblers a few rows back. Only Carol was way up in the back, but she was happy just to get in there, so everybody was just stunned and happy.

Even Pat's headband couldn't dampen our spirits. He looked lovely in white, despite the blue and red headband (which somehow didn't look as bad as it might have), and he did take it off at every change of ends (he kept wringing it out - how attractive is that? *lol*). He was in playful, if distracted, mood (at one point he had to check with the umpire if it was his first serve!), and there were some wonderful moments in the match and one completely heartstopping rally which I'm sure you all saw on TV with impossible shots and angles - the crowd was screaming! Some very nice smiling and joking between the players, and in the end the match just flew by - I wouldn't have minded another couple of sets, we just didn't want the day to end. Cat and Irish were directly behind Pat's chair, so those lucky girls were nearest in the race to take the ultimate butt shot to end all butt shots when Pat bent down to pick up his bags in his soaked through and therefore completely see-through shorts (Cat said you could read the writing on the waistband of his undies!) Watch this space for the photos!!! And Sue's camera had a zoom lens, so guess where she was pointing it? *lol*

We had an absolute ball at a beautiful, sun soaked, Pat soaked Wimbledon and we are all very tired, very happy little bunnies. Wish you could all have been there. Photos to follow soon, we promise.

One final word of thanks to my lovely companions, Catriona, Sue, Annie and Irish - the most wonderful friends you could wish to meet and a credit to this board, and to Carol and Beth, and all the other Babblers who were there and will no doubt give you their own reports soon. Our warrior is looking strong and fabulous and we KNOW he's going to be Wimbledon Champion 2001. GO WARRIOR PAT!

Sue Jun/30/2001

Dee's report further down the board was wonderful..so I can only tell you the day the way I saw it...
In the queue at 3.30am....so many expectations and high hopes of getting CC tickets to see Pat's match v Vacek.All hopes cruelly dashed at 9.15 am when we just missed out. Can't tell you how down we were (Annie, Dee ,Cat and Irish)..it was awful.Tickets for Lleytons match which we got instead seemed scant consolation at the time.But..we refused to give up knowing this was our one and only chance to see our beloved Warrior.Once inside we stopped anyone and everyone and pleaded, begged and cajoled... the deal being that they watched Venus and Agassi then swopped their tickets for ours so we could see Pat and they'd get to see YK2(Iknow, I know!)..we also offered to pay for their tickets too.So many people said "NO" we were starting to despair... then I stopped 2 lads from Liverpool and a guy and girl from the US and they agreed!! you could probably hear us screaming with joy from wherever you live! From then the day just got better and better.Pats practice was 2pm (we got there at 1...couldn't take any chances!) Peter and Rochey came out first and then disappeared back inside, Dee and I joked that they'd probably gone for a beer..then we looked up and there they were up on a balcony sat at a table with drinks! It was really funny 'cos Pat came out then and couldn't find them...he sussed where they were and had to go up and bring them down! We were stood on a platform over the practice courts and as fate was smiling on us that day Pat came and played right in front of us ;0))Bare head,yellow shirt and navy blue shorts...oh and his trainers had "Rafter" written on the back of them! He seemed relaxed again.. but more focused than the previous day...he played against Killer and at one point we heard him complaining to Rochey that the balls were too heavy!!It was 32 degrees again so he stayed for @30 mins...we took loads of pics and I think our "Rafter Rocks" was seen by everyone.Pat left the courts and signed autographs and was smiling and polite as always.As players leave the courts they have to go under a tunnel..so as Pat went down the steps I ran up to the bridge (knocking over several other people on the way lol) and got to the bridge over the tunnel, I called down to him "Good Luck for today Pat" and he stopped ..looked up and smiled and said "Thank You" Ok... so now I can die a happy woman!
We saw the end of Lleytons match, then it was time to claim our hard--earned tickets for Pats game..honestly we could have kissed those boys (but we didn;t want to scare them!)
You've probably all seen Pats match by now so you know how well he played...we were all just SO happy to see him play in the flesh at last. Took loads more pics(yes some of the see-thru shorts too!) and clapped and cheered like mad women.
It was over way too soon..victory for our Warrior and the experience of a lifetime for 5 VERY happy girls! Pat walked off court smiling and waving,signed some autographs and then.....the last we saw of him ...and I'll remember it always, was the sight of that lovely white spot disappearing into the locker room.
Can't remember much of what happened next...we said our goodbyes to the fabulous friends we'd made and somehow got ourselves home...it seems a bit surreal now to be back watching Pat on TV.. somehow he seems to look even better now that we've seen him "live".Thanks again Dee,Cat Irish and Annie for making the whole experience so much fun...don't think I've ever laughed so much!!

Just to prove we did do more than lust after (erm... I mean follow Pats progress) here is an abridged version of "other" Wimby highlights....
Carlos Moyas revealing shorts!
Marat and Mats Wilander gazing longingly at Annie& Dee's ice- lollys during Marats practice,
Marats amazing gesticulations and open-mouthed astonishment at a line call,
Peter Rafter overhearing Annie commenting on Pats bottom...and not saying anything!
Sitting (by mistake, honest!) in the section reserved for family and friends during Jose Acasuso's match!
YK2 turning out to be our ticket fairy in a round about way.
And finally...more Pat highlights...
Hearing 2 real life " Sorry mates"
The amazing colour of his skin...it really is golden!
Asking the umpire if he needed to bow to the Royal box.
Wiping handfuls of sweat off his face and "throwing" it away (over here Pat...over here!)
Pat laughing and joking with his mates.
Pat looking fetching even WITH the headband....and well....just PAT!!!
Sorry this is so long girls but I'm still a bit excited (can you tell??) Love, Sue xxx
GO WARRIOR PAT.....AND THANK YOU !!!

Jun/30/2001

(Is anyone else here old enough to remember Perry Como? Thought not!) Anyway, got my photos from Wimby back....a lesson in how not to take sports photos! Our lovely Patty is only about 3cm tall on all of them. And there's a gorgeous one of Carlos scratching his belly but its obscured by a lot of blurry green fence, or maybe it was just my tennis-totty induced camera shake! Marat is about 5cm tall but then he's a big lad, isn't he girls?
However, my photographic incompetence is no excuse for the woman in the photo shop who asked, apparently in all innocence, "Are these anyone famous?"!!!! Now, come on!
I can't top Dee's and Sue's reports - anyway I was warned about "lowering the tone" of the board (I lowered the tone quite a lot at Wimby) - but a few last thoughts:
TOP WIMBY ADJECTIVES: sweaty, see-through, strapping(thanks, Irish!), gorgeous, sweaty again...
TOP WIMBY CLOTHING: Pat's shorts, Pat's headband, Pat's t-shirt (all sweaty)....also Carlos's shorts (could see right up them!), Marat's shorts (could see right through them), Jose's shorts (wanted to steal them for a friend but his dad got in the way).....
Anyone notice a bit of theme developing here?!!!
TOP MEMORIES: Pat, tennis, lovely new friends!
Love, Annie xxx (Sorry about the preoccupation with shorts but I can't help myself, honestly)