Trying to get Wimbledon tickets via the Returns was a hard slog this year. It becomes more challenging every year so I will do an updated 2026 edition of my Wimbledon guide after the tournament has finished. I got there in the end in mid-June and managed to purchase a pair of tickets for Centre Court on day 3 – it felt more special after hundreds and thousands of relentless refreshes. We had a great day at Wimby and in almost perfect weather. Read on for highlights, photos and random spots from the day.

Day 3 Matches 🎾

Jelena Ostapenko d. Antonia Ruzic, 6-2 6-0 (R2, Court 17)

There were too many men’s matches opening up on the outside courts for my liking. We had two men’s matches on Centre Court so naturally I dragged the bro and his pals to watch some women’s tennis. The obvious choice was Ostapenko-Ruzic so we headed off to Court 17 and managed to get seats about 20 minutes before play started. It’s a nice court in the shadows of Centre and I love how close you feel to the action.

Obviously I chose Ostapenko because I fancied some late morning drama 😁. To be honest, the drama was rather lacking aside from some classic Ostapenko facial expressions and one complaint about a line call even though she won the point 😂. Instead, we were greeted to a flawless display and flashes of peak Ostapenko which was equally enjoyable as the drama I had dreamt of. Ostapenko was 4-0 up in 13 minutes, barely missing a ball and smacking away return winners. I knew it wouldn’t last and it didn’t as Ruzic halved the deficit. Things were starting to slide. Ostapenko did well to halt Ruzic’s gathering momentum as she saved three break points in impressive fashion and with a couple of hearty roars towards her box. Ostapenko was constantly engaging with her team and I wondered if some of it was to get a second opinion on line calls 😂.

Saving the three break points was the pivotal moment in the match as Ostapenko was untroubled from there on as she won the last eight games of the match to win in just 66 minutes. When Ostapenko has a good day play and hits more winners than unforced errors then she will beat most players. Her stats though were insane – 34 winners to 10 unforced errors?!?! Ruzic didn’t do a lot wrong and simply couldn’t handle Ostapenko’s depth and weight of shot. This result was more about Ostapenko being good rather than Ruzic being bad. Ruzic grew increasingly frustrated in the second set as she ran out of ideas to stop the Ostapenko train.

While it wasn’t competitive, I really enjoyed watching Ostapenko play well and absolutely crunch the ball for an hour. Love her or hate her, she’s a fun watch live.

Jannik Sinner d. Nuno Borges, 7-6 (4) 7-6(2) 6-4 (R2, Centre Court)

After watching Carlos Alcaraz last year, I was keen to see Sinner live again so opted for Sinner (and a Zv*r*v-less day too) as we knew what days he would play. I was surprised how well Borges played in this match and he was arguably the better player for a set and half. He matched Sinner off the ground, hit some cute drop shots and served impeccably. Sinner had three break points in Borges’s opening service game but otherwise the first set was rapid with no further deuce games. The first set was so tight and it pretty much came down to one point in the tiebreak which Sinner won.

Sinner had a lull at the start of the second set and shanked a ball long to gift Borges the first break of the match. Borges continued to play well and barely miss a ball. He served for second set and had a set point but unfortunately blinked for the first time as he found the net. Borges naturally held to love after losing his serve for the first time (always happens!) to force the tiebreak. Borges wasn’t the same player as errors crept into his game and his challenge faded. Sinner won the second set tiebreak rather convincingly. We left after the second set and got back for the interview where Sinner was asked about his golf game.

Sinner was just fine, nothing special. He showed his class winning the big points in the first two sets. There was one amusing moment when Sinner hit the microphone on the umpire’s chair with a return and he and the crowd had a chuckle. The key takeaway was Sinner’s movement on the grass and all the sliding. You could see all the slide marks, even from high up.The grounds staff must love him!

Barbora Krejcikova d. Mirra Andreeva, 4-6 7-5 6-4 (R2, Centre Court)

I’d never seen Mirra live so was thrilled that we got this match on Centre. I thought it was the right choice and the best women’s match on Wednesday’s slate with this year’s French Open champion colliding with the 2024 Wimbledon champion. I wondered (and hoped) if we would get two women’s matches on Centre but you can’t have everything.

The atmosphere was rather subdued for the opening two sets as the majority of the crowd left after the Sinner match. The first two sets were decent. The first three games went to deuce and Krejcikova won them all. Andreeva didn’t panic and was patient as she won the next five games en route to winning the opening set. Krejcikova’s level dropped at the end of the first set but she improved in the second set and went onto win a tight second set. Andreeva became increasingly frustrated from the start of the second set and this was one of the talking points of the match.

The third set was a strange one with a lot of stoppages in play which didn’t help the rhythm of the match. We started with a lengthy Babs bathroom break in between the second and third sets. Then Krejcikova took a medical time-out at 2-1 for what looked like blisters on her foot. Andreeva’s bracelet broke and deposited itself all over the court which required the ball kids and umpire to help – we couldn’t work out at the time what had happened! England’s round of 16 World Cup match with Congo DR was going on at the same time so there were a couple of eruptions when England scored. Andreeva’s frustration was constantly growing – there were balls launched in the air, into the net and a few racquets chucked towards her chair. Andreeva was noticeably rushing and Krejcikova is pretty slow so Andreeva was having to wait on serve a bit and I don’t think that was helping her mood.

The third set was pretty patchy and then out of nowhere, it burst into life. Krejcikova served for the match at *5-3 and they played an absolutely thrilling game with some fantastic rallies – I had goosebumps, it was that good. Krejcikova had seven match points that slipped from her grasp. Krejcikova froze on a couple with double faults and hitting long. I remember Andreeva saved one with some fearless hitting. Andreeva managed to park her frustration and locked in for a short moment and started swinging – it reminded me of when Andreeva played Gauff at Rome when she was 1-5 down in the third set and managed to get it back to 4-5 by just going after her shots.

Andreeva won the crazy long game and the crowd was totally invested at the end. Unfortunately Andreeva couldn’t carry that momentum into the next game which was rather anticlimactic as Krejcikova broke for the win, admittedly with two favourable net cords including one on match point. All in all, a good match with a fantastic ending. You could see how much it meant to Krejckova at the end and she gave a lovely interview. She likes the microphone and owned the moment as she rightfully deserved to revel in her victory.

Player practices 🎾

Court 7 had no match play on Wednesday so was being used as a practice court. We saw Felix Auger-Aliassime replaced by Barbora Krejcikova and her team so we sat in the seats by Court 7 and had lunch with Babs. As the practice ended, Pablo Carreno Busta came onto the court. A woman asked me if Sabalenka or Djokovic would be practising on this court to which I responded, unlikely!

Five minutes later, a large entourage turns up on Court 7 followed by Djokovic – oops! The woman’s friend said they had had a tip-off that Djokovic might be practising here. It was funny seeing the mad dash of people around us while we had plum seats. Right time, right place I guess although I’m not a Djokovic fan at all! Djokovic’s son, Stefan was there wielding a racquet and clearly desperate to hit some balls. On one point, Djokovic was pulled out wide and he was like a metre away from me. I could have touched him. I didn’t though. The two women next to me were having heart palpitations.

There was a guy at the end of Krejcikova’s practice waving a photo and a pen and he was clearly desperate to get it signed. Babs went over and took a photo. Then when Djokovic came out, he was waving a new picture! I wondered how many photos he had in his bag.

Around the grounds 🌱

As is the norm, the grounds were exceptionally busy between 12 and 1pm before play started on Centre Court and No.1 Court. Every year, it’s my main complaint on the feedback form that the top two courts should start earlier but they will never change. It’s all about corporate guests and celebs getting their fancy lunches.

I’d hoped to get onto No.3 Court to watch Muchova but those hopes quickly faded when we saw the queue around lunchtime which stretched all the way to No.2 Court. I’ve never seen it so long and it was still the same length later in the afternoon. Presumably this was for Fonseca?

We took a break from Sinner-Borges and enjoyed some men’s doubles on the outside courts with Skupski-Harrison and Krawietz-Puetz on adjacent courts. In the afternoon, the outside courts at the South end of the grounds are manageable.

We watched a few games of Anna Kalinskaya vs. Diane Parry from the roof overlooking Court 18 which is one of my favourite vantage points at Wimbledon. It seemed a good match and I wasn’t surprised to see the match go the distance as Kalinskaya won, 6-4 3-6 7-6(8). We didn’t stay long as the backs of my legs were burning in the sun.

We caught the last two points from the Court 18 roof of the match between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Lanlana Tararudee which Alexandrova won, 7-5 7-5. The crowd went absolutely wild for Tararudee at the end. It was a bizarre scene as Alexandrova quickly exited the court while Tararudee took in the applause from the crowd.

I like the frictionless larder where the old Court 19 used to be. You scan your bank card, head into the larder, pick up what you want and then walk out! No queueing whatsoever.

We had so many famous person alerts (FPAs) and I love people watching at Wimbledon. Some of the FPA highlights:

• Jo Konta doing some filming with a box of strawberries in her hand.
• Walking side-by-side with Belinda Bencic’s husband and their daughter.
• Seeing Sascha Bajin by Court 14 and then minutes later on the roof of the Media Centre. We also spotted Ivan Ljubicic.
• Multiple FPA alerts when we exited the grounds as we walked past John Lloyd and Harriet Dart in quick succession.
• Eugenie Bouchard and Sam Querrey at the BBC studio on the hill with Clare Balding.
• Rishi Persad and Jenny Drummond, two of the on-court commentators, walking around the grounds.
• Vicky Pattison as we left Centre Court after Andreeva-Krejcikova.
• I’m sure there were more but this is all I can remember!

Snap of the day 📸

I was really happy with my Ostapenko pics so will go with an Osta-roar!

Photos 📸

More photos from my day at Wimbledon can be found on the MTB Facebook page.

Highlights 📺