Wimbledon

On June 29, 2015, I attended the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2015 in Southwest London. The process of entering involved about five hours of queuing in line, but the long wait was worth it as I was able to witness a match and be in the presence of several athletes who I have only seen on television. As an industrial engineering student, queuing is a procedure that can be broken down into several components such as input type, service mechanics, and system capacity and has an immediate connection to the way we stood in line that day.
The Wimbledon is one of the rare athletic events in the world where people may still stand and buy tickets for the most premium courts on the same day of play; it was an experience I will never forget. We entered the queue from the side of the court entrance and were directed forward toward an endless lawn. Thousands of people were lined up neatly in rows that snaked right and left on the field. Towards the beginning, we were able to enjoy pleasant weather and sit down, but after an hour the sun came out, showing no mercy. We used newspapers as mats to sit on and chatted, hoping the queue would move quickly. Anticipation grew as we finally passed through the security gates and trekked through the maze of lines within the Wimbledon courts. We made it to a match finally in the afternoon, and I knew that the moment I spent on the court had been well earned.

Thinking back on my queuing experience, industrial engineering queuing applications explain some components of our wait to the Wimbledon gates. We were the inputs who could be represented as random variables since people came at different times of the day, often in groups at certain time intervals. Service times depended on the rate at which a person left, which dictated the successive entrance of a person in the queue. The capacity was limited by the demand of tickets for the day.
At a reasonable cost of 25 pound expense, I am proud to have survived the queue and satisfied a dream of mine since I was a child. Next time, I plan on camping overnight to get access to the Show Courts and maybe using a queuing strategy to better plan my visit! -Anjali

On June 29^th, I went with a group to queue for tickets to Wimbledon. This was a once in a lifetime experience and one of the few premier sporting events that allows for queuing for day of tickets. I wasn’t sure at first if I should go because I don’t know that much about tennis, but I’m so glad that I went. When we first got there were walked into this huge grassy field and got put into a line to queue; we were some of the last people to make it in before they cut off at a specific number. After queuing for over four hours we finally made it in. I was so excited to see the famous grass courts and watch the sport in one of its most well-known locations in the world.

First, we needed to grab some food because after queuing for so long we were so hungry. I was tempted to try Wimbledon’s popular strawberries and crème, but opted for a more filling wrap instead. Once recharged we headed out to the courts to watch a couple matches. The highlight of this event was getting to see Venus Williams not only play, but play extremely well and win her match. It was exciting to me to see not only an American play, but one that I've heard of since being a little kid.

I probably won’t ever have this chance again and it was such a good experience, that I recommend it to anyone with any range of knowledge about tennis or the players. It is well worth the wait to see Wimbledon! ~Kelly P

Waiting in queue and paying the £25 for a ticket was definitely worth the experience. We were able to watch Azarenka beat Kontaveit in a Women's Singles match and afterwards we saw John Isner from Greensboro beat Go Soeda. One of the students in our group, Adam, is from Greensboro, so after Isner's match we went down to the edge of the court and Adam yelled, "I'm from Greensboro!" When Isner heard him, he walked over and started signing our tickets and hats. He saw Adam's NC State hat and said "You guys go to State? My whole family went to State, Go Pack!" Our day was pretty much made after talking to John Isner, but we stuck around a little longer to watch part of a double's match, some of Sharipova's match on Centre Court from the screen on Henman's Hill, and a few players warm up on the practice courts. It was a full day of standing in queue and watching tennis, but being with a good group of friends made the time in queue fly and watching such talented players made the matches captivating! ~Sedona



The best experiences are often unpredictable and require you to wake up at 4:30am. That was Wimbledon. A group of us crawled out of bed at sunrise, took the first available tube and started the queue by 6am. I was the 3278^th person in line. After about four hours of delirious conversation, we were let into the gates just in time for the first games at 10:30am. We somehow managed to get eight seats all together for Azarenka’s first game at Wimbledon. She quickly defeated her opponent. As people exited the court, we ran to the front and luckily got eight seats all together on the fifth row. The next game was a big one for all of us. John Isner played in the next match and he is from my hometown. We cheered him to victory and then the best part of Wimbledon happened. We ran to the sideline and I yelled, “I’m from Greensboro!” He looked up, saw my NC State hat, and came over with a sharpie. He fist bumped me and said “Go Wolfpack! That was my team back in the day.” He proceeded to give all of us his autograph.

John Isner

Look carefully for Serena Williams in the background