Birthday surprise in London – The Ivy and Laver Cup

I’m approaching a big birthday, and last weekend a friend treated me to a day out to help celebrate. So nice and generous of her, and it was lovely to spend time with her too. I knew we were going to London for the day, but other than that it was all a surprise where and what we were doing.

A birthday surprise wouldn’t usually my thing. I’m a planner. I like to know what’s going on so I can be prepared for all eventualities.

But my friend played a blinder. And she knows me well!

We set off early on the train, with a simple tube journey after down to Canary Wharf. I’ve not been round that area for a long time but I love the skyscrapers and all the glass on a sunny day.

Brunch at The Ivy in the Park

We were off to The Ivy in the Park for brunch.  I’ve never been to The Ivy before, but brunch rather than lunch was a great idea. So many nice breakfast choices, and lovely juices and smoothies. 

Unfortunately they state no photos (I get that, but for special occasions, it’s nice to be able to have some. So no photos of the beautiful garden like decor, or the food.

I decided on poached eggs and avocado with hollandaise sauce on muffins which was delicious. And a tropical juice. My friend had the full English breakfast which looked good.

They also brought me over a piece of brownie with a candle in for my birthday which was nice to have organised. So tasty. I did sneak a photo of that! 

After a good catch up over delicious food, we headed back on the tube to North Greenwich for our afternoon.

Tennis Laver Cup at the O2

We were going to the afternoon session of the Laver Cup tennis at the O2. I don’t know how I hadn’t guessed that’s what we were doing, as I’d been following the tennis in the week running up to it. 

I was so excited. The fanzone outside was super busy as you didn’t need tickets for that. There were loads of tennis based activities and challenges going on but it was a bit too busy.

We decided to go and queue to check out the merch. It was a bit weird they encouraged everyone to queue for the tiny front shop, when on social media it looked like there was a much bigger shop floor elsewhere. But that wasn’t really signposted anywhere. I did buy a (very expensive!) baseball hat for N. Although for the price, it really should have had a better back adjuster than just cheap plastic.

Then the queue to get through security. Because I’d not known what the plan was I’d not checked out what could and couldn’t be taken in. I rarely go anywhere without a reusable water bottle and mine was full in the bottom of my handbag. The person in front of us was told he had to drink his daughter’s water in a single use bottle. But luckily I went through the bag check and airport style scanners without getting caught. My friend got stopped for her umbrella. 

When I checked afterwards, it turned out you’re only allowed to take in crushable empty water bottles. So I must remember that next year when we’re at the O2 for Country2Country and Thomas Rhett concerts. Going to London without a water bottle for the day seems madness, so it’s inconvenient (and a bit ridiculous – who’s going to be going to the tennis to chuck water bottles onto the courts!).

Our seats were amazing. Right on the net in the middle, and right opposite the team seating. It was funny to watch them when they were all there.

Be warned there’s quite a lot of flashing lighting at the start when they’re introducing the players and teams. Then the red and blue sides swap each change of end with the players. 

We got to watch some really good tennis. Each session is 2 matches, and ours were both singles. We saw Cobelli play Thien which went to a 3rd set tiebreak, with Thien winning (boo to Team World!). Then Zverev against De Minaur. Zverev should really have won that, but Alex de Minaur gave it everything and won through the 3rd set tie break. So we didn’t see any Team Europe wins, but it was great tennis, and fun to see all the players with the team atmosphere.

The Laver Cup moves around to a different country each year. It is very Americanised, with the Emcee geeing everyone up. But it was fun to see the cameras moving across to spot the celebs attending – Steffi Graff and Roger Federer were there, plus Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Goldblum, Sir Ian McKellan. Not forgetting Thierry Henry who bizarrely was doing the coin toss for the second match.

The leaving and returning to seats whenever you fancy it did drive me a bit nuts. It’s definitely not Wimbledon. We had someone to the right of us who must have got up and down about 8 times in the 3 hours. Everytime, my saddlebags were squeezing back into the armrests – a week later I noticed I’d bruised on both! The seats itself were fine and comfy, but why they made the armrests so much narrower I don’t know (warning for people with bigger behinds!)

Ending the day

Leaving wasn’t too bad after the session ended. There were plenty of people directing you out, and we got directed to different toilets in the O2 shopping outlet with a smaller queue. The tube was obviously horrendous, but we decided to head back to Canary Wharf to find something to eat as we wanted to sit rather than grab street food around the busy O2.

After a lot of wandering around we decided to stop for pizza at Caravan, which wasn’t too busy for early dinner on a Saturday. The service was good and food was excellent.  Then it was time to head back up to Marylebone for the train home.

I had a brilliant day, and as a surprise it was an excellent choice of things to see and do. And it was great to spend a day with my friend. I think more days out with friends going further afield than just local are needed in future.

A great start to my birthday celebrations this year.

Next time the Laver Cup comes to the UK I’ll be back again I hope.