Read the August - The Berkeley Tennis Club

President’s Message…Bruce GurganusWimbledon is Mecca to tennis fans. Asummer trip to England requires a visit.I was skeptical ten months ago when Ientered the All England Lawn Tennis Association’slottery for the hoards seeking tickets. As expected,I did not win the right to any tickets. I never even got thecourtesy of a response.After arriving in England I discovered tickets selling in thethe early rounds. The only other way to get in was to wait inline for a grounds pass, which provides access to all the outercourts. I decided to show up at the All England Club andone. Demand is much greater than supply.After a uneventful ride on the underground I arrived atthe All England Club grounds just after 7 a.m. The tennisstarted at 11. The English are experts at the art of queuing,something about their civility and sense of order. New arrivalswere divided into two queus: one for those with ticketsand the other for those without. Those of us without ticketswere each given a number. My number was 7,415. Thatmeant that a queue the size of a small town was ahead of mein line for tickets at 7 a.m. One usher told us that 8,000 walkups had been admitted on Tuesday.Waiting for hours was made pleasant by the lush greengrass in the park like setting and surrounded by tennis fans:a family from San Diego on the last day of their three weekvacation, a young woman from Taiwan hoping against hopeto get into Court One to see T.H. Lu, her countryman, playthe local favorite Andy Murray. Morning papers, hot tea andmorning buns were for sale by vendors. Slowly the massiveline inched toward the gates of the All England Club.At 2 p.m. our group was admitted after seven hours ofwaiting. With the long hours of English day light there wasstill plenty of time for watching tennis. This was the day theBritish press labeled “Wounded Wednesday” in which someof the top players dropped out with injuries: Tsonga, Isner,Jankovic, and Azarenka. Some others suffered surprisingupsets: Sharapova to De Brito and Federer to Starkhosky.Once I got through the gates I went straight to Court 18 andsets. A plaque on Court 18 marks it as the sight of the 70-68set between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut a couple of yearsago. On Court 19 Hantuchova and Kirilenko were beatingtwo Argentine women handily. So I moved over to Court 12to see Tommy Robredo defeat Mahut in a third set tie breaker.On to men’s doubles where I had a courtside seat on Court 8seat to see the number two seeds, Granolliers and Lopez fromSpain, lose to a team of Columbians, Cabal and Farah in afourth set tie breaker. This close to the court you get a goodidea of the pace of shot and the quickness of the world’s topdoubles players. By the time play was stopped by darknessat about 9:30 p.m. I had spent seven hours waiting and a littlemore than that watching tennis.On the middle Sunday of Wimbledon I represented the BTCat a banquet at the Roehampton Club of the Centenary TennisClubs from around the world. One of the ideas proposedthere was that each of the centenary clubs would get four ticketsfor their members to attend Wimbledon each year. I thinkthat is an excellent idea.House & Grounds(continued from page 1 )analysis of the entire main clubhouse building. Thisstudy, prepared by Peter Yu, P.E., who prepared thestructural analysis for our new deck, is completed withbe started this August. Much planning has been doneto ensure that none of the seismic work would need tobe redone due to future remodeling and improvements.It became evident to the H&G committee, that theneeds and code compliance of an aging clubhouseare complex and should not be done piece meal butrequires a more thorough, overall program/study.Therefore the committee recommended to the Board,to prepare a ‘Feasibility Study” which would analyzeand prepare sketches, all within the footprint of ourclubhouse and ballroom, to re-do current usages andmodernize the facility. The committee selected theand visiting their respective projects.the committee’s intention to continually inform the membershipof the progress. Also, we would like your input,ideas, and thoughts as the process unfolds.In the meantime, interim improvements are planned forthe ladies locker room including painting, better ventilationand lighting, all which are planned for August.In addition to these future planning issues, your committee,with Rigo’s help, was able to get two of our courtsIn the upcoming year, the committee will considerupgrades to the court one fences and installation of a newbike rack. The committee welcomes any suggestions, eitherwritten or verbal, regarding any or all of the aforementionedsubject areas.Respectfully your H&G committee.