Wow, it has been a while since I have posted. Hope everyone is doing well!

Is there any chance that my husband and I can get tickets for Wimbledon? We failed to get them through the lottery. We will be arriving in London on June 25th, which is the beginning of the second week. Is it worth getting up early one day and waiting in line for tickets? We will be in London for 8 nights and don't want to waste a day standing in line, but we are HUGE tennis fans and the thought of being in London when Wimbledon is happening and not trying to get to a match would kill us!

Any thoughts? TIA!

If you get up early and stand in line (A LONG TIME) you have a decent chance of getting a grounds pass for the early rounds. We stood in line for about six hours on the second day of play, and got a grounds pass which entitles you to visit any court EXCEPT Centre Court, Court 1 and perhaps one other. Early on its cool, tho, because a lot of higher seeds will have a few matches on the outer courts. That said, it involves A LOT of waiting. Count on setting aside the day for it.

My husband and I were in London two years ago during Wimbledon, and some local people told us that what they always do is to go out to the grounds late in the afternoon-- especially on a day when there has been any rain delay.

It's very reasonable to get admitted to the grounds after a certain time in the afternoon. (I don't remember the exact cutoff time, but I think we went at about 4 PM and admission was only a few pounds) We didn't have to wait very long at all to get into the grounds.

Once you're in the grounds, you can see matches in the outer courts, which can include some of the big name players in doubles matches. and you can picnic on the hill with lots of other people and watch the Center Court and Court 1 matches on a big screen, which is actually really fun.

Once in the grounds you can also can wait in another, much longer line to buy tickets for seats that people have left for the day. These also are very reasonably priced. (maybe around 5 pounds?) We ended up having the choice of either a match already well underway on Center Court or one just starting on Court 1, which was what we picked.

We ended up with fabulous seats and saw some great tennis.

The truth is that it was fabulous just being there and having strawberries & cream and seeing the place. Going late in the day meant that we didn' t have to waste so much time waiting in line, but we still got to experience it.

The reson to pick a day that has had a rain delay is that it's likely that matches will be going on longer and you'll get to see more.

Good luck!

If you really want to go tickets for Wimbeldon are always available - I had to get some for a client on one day's notice - just have your hotel's concierge do it. Depending on what's available its usually 2 to 3 times face price - except for final etc - thenthe sky's the limit.

Thanks for all of the advice! Going late in the day was something that I never thought of. I also will check with my hotel about getting tickets (not for the final, of course . . . we are not relatives of Mr. Trump!). We might be willing to pay extra within reason for some other matches since this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us! We just want to experience the ambiance . . . and it even would be great to watch a match on the big screen from Henman's Hill!!