OK...

I admit that this post is perhaps a little tardy, but I really needed a couple of days to take in all that happened at the Championships. Mull over what I have learnt. Sift the remaining photos that I took, see if any are worth uploading. A few of them are, I think, and they are below.

So what did I learn at this event, my twelfth? Funnily enough some very basic things. For example, do you know how big a tennis court is? If you are a fan of the game you might, and though I am not a fan of the game so much as of photographing the game and its trappings, I can now say I do know. And it is partly responsible for a new found respect for the players. The court on which they court victory or defeat is 78 feet (23.78 m) long and 27 feet (8.23 m) wide. It is 36 feet (10.98 m) for doubles matches. The boxes into which a Federer or Williams must place their serve is not that big, and in the way is a net that stands 3 feet (0.92m) high in the center. They are nearly 40 feet from the net when they serve. To place the ball accurately time after time takes many hours of gruelling training and sacrifice, and that's just the serve. There are all the other shots to consider, not to mention the cardiovascular demands. It tires me to think of it.

I think of the web site we have done over the last umpteen years, and how the process can be likened to the game of tennis, the difference being that we are on the same side as the opponent. We have to serve up a compelling homepage a few hundred million times, a page boxed by the constraints of technology, stakeholder desires, user needs, and an immovable delivery date. Now, whereas a player will probably be looking to ace their serve and win the point, we look at it a little differently, and instead want to get into a rally with the site user, returning their volley of requests with deft and timely site content, and using our deliveries to guide them around the court - the other areas of the site. We work very hard for each point we play in order that the user has an easy game. A lame game analogy? Admittedly only half thought through. I hope the numbers will bear out our efforts, the initial indications are promising indeed.

Enough points were won to take the game perhaps, but there is always room for improvement. I want to try and make the photography delivery better. I'd like to be more regular with blog updates. I'd like to be there again next year very much.

So, to end this brief blog, a few photos from the last two days or so of the event. Seats overlooking Court 18. Some shots of hats that were worn to stand out in the crowd. A band member reflected in his instrument. Focused concentration, an important prerequisite for a line judge. The very vibrant entrance to the Evian suite. A couple of tilt-and-shift efforts of play. No. 1 Court brooding over the few remaining games to be played on its velvety green surface this year. I hope you have enjoyed looking at them. I should like to say thanks to wibmbledon blogger for setting this up again this year, and to the greater IBM team without whom things would be very different. And to you, for reading and commenting. Until next year, I hope...

























PS: I guess the last photo needs a little explanation. I can but say that the Stick Family Forkinsons featured here on the balcony overlooking the large garden of their rented accommodation are another story, one which cannot be related here. I have heard rumours that they came to an untimely end at the hand of someone devastated by the prospect of having to prepare his own food again once the tournament is over, but no proof has surfaced. Yet. Their current location is unknown...