to think I can turn up at Wimbledon on Saturday and buy tickets

[thefrozensouth]

Not for any of the Centre Court matches, just any old match.

Never been to Wimbledon - live a long train journey away - but would like to sample the atmosphere.

AIBU to think I'll be able to get a couple of tickets?

[Punkatheart]

Um - you'll be lucky. Saying that I did it one year without understanding the demand for them. Got into the grounds and then went to queue for returns. A drunken journalist who had to go home - just came up and gave me some tickets. I saw Becker and Agassi. Otherwise you will just get ground tickets and be able to watch it on the big screen. But it's a great atmosphere but if you live so far away, you will take a big chance!

[Punkatheart]

They are resold but you have to queue for them and demand is high.

[raisah]

My friend got there for 5am and the queue was already long with people in their sleeping bags. I think she said they opened the doors around 9am and closed them at 10.30 to let the allocated number of people settle before play started at noon. Doors only reopen if people leave and those tickets are resold. Babes in arms allowed and after that no children are permitted so as not to disturb play.

If you dont mind enjoying the atmosphere on the hill then go but it seems like a long journey for you.Any possibility of staying in a hotel on Friday night?

[bobbywash]

Ticketmaster sell show court tickets, the day before you could try that.

We queued from 6.30 on monday for ground tickets and were 4100 odd in the queue, we got in about 45 mins after the gates opened. People were alread camping overnight for Tuesday morning by 9.00am on Monday.

You will need to be there early on Saturday if you want to get in.

[limitedperiodonly]

punkatheart I was convinced we'd met until you said Becker and Agassi

[LIZS]

Yesterday they said that by 9am the queue had exceeded availability so yes you'd need to be there very early on Saturday to even get into the grounds.

[Shitsinger]

If you want tickets then get there the day before and queue/camp overnight. I usually get there at 4pm and the queue for the next day has started already !

[AphraBehn]

I read an article yesterday and apparantly the demand for tickets this year is higher than usual.

A couple turned up on day 1 to queue for tickets at their normal time of 4.30am and were surprised at how many people were already there.

[Lorelai]

Last year I went on the Friday to queue for Saturday, got there about noon and there were already over 500 people in the queue, so we didn't get Centre Court tickets. By evening there were about 2000 people in the queue, so the people joining then were only queueing for ground court tickets. People kept joining the queue all night, the people arriving in the morning wouldn't have got in until mid-late afternoon. If you want to be sure of getting a full day in the grounds, but aren't fussed about show court tickets, then I would say arrive as early as you can Friday afternoon/evening and camp out. If you don't leave home until the trains start running on Saturday you will be lucky to see any tennis before 5pm.

[Punkatheart]

limitedperiodonly - not sure why you thought we had met, but then further confused that Becker and Agassi make you realise we have not.

Confused.com

[limitedperiodonly]

Sorry, it wasn't clear. When I started to read your post, I thought: 'That was me!' because I'm a journalist, I was a bit erm, refreshed, and handed my Centre Court tickets to someone on the way out.

But it was years after Becker and Agassi so it couldn't have been.

I was going to hand them in to the returns office but saw two girls and thought: 'Nah! Wimbledon makes enough money.'

I wasn't sure whether the resale money went to charity or to Wimbledon but they were happy. Actually, one of them thought it was a con and tried to drag her mate away from the drunken lady.

[Punkatheart]

ha - lovely story, limited. It must happen a lot! It would have been incredible if it had been you.

[Emsmaman]

You can buy tickets on ticketmaster from 9pm the night before, so check that on Friday night before going early on SAturday.

[Plumpcious]

On Breakfast News earlier this week they had a reporter at Wimbledon and she said the queue had been closed at 7.30am because it was full. And that was a weekday.