A day at Wimbledon and Wimbledon Museum

Well, what can I say about my Wimbledon 2026 trip apart from it was hot. We had tickets for day 5, the first Friday. While it was a good day, the tennis wasn’t as good as it could have been which was a shame. But I did tick off a few firsts which is good as this was my 4th visit to Wimbledon.

Lots of people this year have been complaining about all the influencers being invited by the big brands, knowing nothing about tennis and just being there to look good and take up free tickets. I have to admit, we spotted no celebrities, had no clue about influencers and didn’t see most of the branded stands or the interactive ‘have a go’ places. It was just too hot to be wandering around all the time. I think a lot of people must have felt the same because it didn’t feel as busy as previous years. But maybe that was because we weren’t around the thousands of people around Centre Court or Court 1.

I hate the heat, so I had been worried beforehand given we had only been able to get Court 2 tickets in the LTA ballot. That meant being out in the sun all day, rather than under cover on the main 2 show courts. Yes it was hot, but it could have been a lot hotter. And I didn’t get too burnt, other than a couple of random spots I missed with the suncream on my arm, and my face caught despite being under a hat!

After a thankfully smooth train and tube journey in, we arrived nice and early for a relatively leisurely wander from Southfields tube to the gates to queue before opening. Our plan was to head straight to get something for lunch for later, then to the museum which neither of us had been to before.

The Wimbledon Museum

You go through one of the shops to the museum, and every time I’ve been before there’s been a queue. So we did right going first thing on arrival.

The museum displays covers the history of the game, the tennis balls, the early pioneers of tennis including the ladies, the building of Wimbledon and the impact of World War 2.

Then it’s on to more nostalgia with the legendary opponents through the years, the fashions with plenty from favourites over the years. 

I loved that there was the smell of strawberries as you entered the food display room. And there’s lots of interesting facts about players, traditions, and things you wouldn’t even think about like the player lockers.

Around the museum there are interactive activities and displays, for children and adults.  There was a queue for the batak wall which was a shame as I love to play those, although maybe it was a bit hot.

There are also the trophies to look at and compare the weight of them.

It’s definitely an interesting view of Wimbledon for any tennis fans.

Court 2

I’ve only ever had Centre Court or Court 1 tickets before, but this year the LTA ballot gave people the ability to book 2 tickets across 2 days. I think this must have been the reason for us not being able to get those tickets for any of the possible days I’d looked at. For me it doesn’t seem fair that some people are able to get 4 tickets, while others don’t get any. But we did manage to get Court 2 which was better than none.

I really don’t like hot weather, so I was worried about being on an open court with no shade from the roof. But it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We just needed lots of cold drinks, lots of sun lotion, hat, a cover for open arms/shoulders/knees, and I used my rechargeable fan between points.

For the seats and view, Court 2 is definitely better than the show courts. Although we were at the top of the seating, we were still so much closer than sitting in the gods on Centre Court. It meant being near enough to get much better photos than having to zoom in miles.

The matches on court 2 weren’t very exciting though which was a shame. With no Brits playing on our court, it meant either waiting to get onto other outside courts to see doubles with Brits in, or just staying on Court 2. For us we decided to stay on Court 2. It was really too hot to be walking all over the place. But maybe we could have seen some more exciting tennis if we’d gone elsewhere.

We saw the seeded Fonseca having a shocker of a match against qualifier Safuillin who outplayed him convincingly. 

Then one of my favourites Pegula who was seeded 4th, playing Spaniard Bouzas-Manerio. Pegula displayed clinical accuracy to trounce the Spaniard, so it was a fast match. A good display, but not a thrilling match.

We ate our lunch during the matches, and inbetween them filled up our water bottles.  This year it was a lot easier to spot the free refill locations, and there was one and some toilets right by the court which was good.

I wasn’t going to bother about having a Pimms but my friend wanted to. While she queued for the bar at Centuary Garden, I bought myself an ice cream tub which I then demolished while joining her in the bar queue. The drinks offers at Wimbledon can be a bit frustrating if you’re after soft drinks. Most are in cans rather than bottles which isn’t always the most flexible. So I decided I’d treat myself to a Pimms anyway.

Yes it was nearly £15 (which included the deposit for the ‘glass’ which we always take home with us anyway), but it tasted so good in the sun. And for nearly a pint of Pimms and lemonade, the price isn’t too horrendous. 

Being at the top of Court 2 also meant we could nosy inbetween sets and matches over to the courts behind. There was mostly doubles going on, but Court 10 seemed to be being used by players for warming up, as there was quite a lot of muttering when Djokovic was out there.

Our 3rd match on Court 2 was Tommy Paul vs Hubert Hurkacz, 2 big servers. I’ve seen Tommy Paul play before and he quite often has 5 setters so we were optimistic this would be a more competitive match to watch. It ended up being 4 sets, and could have gone either way until the fourth set when Hurkacz kicked it up a bit for the break to win. 

Unfortunately the tennis was over by just after 6pm, having started at 11 on Court 2.  In the past, if there’s been rain during earlier in Wimbledon, delayed half finished matches are then scheduled on different courts, so play will go on longer.  But with no rain this year, and very few mammoth 3 or 5 setters, it meant there were only a few courts still with matches playing by the time we were finished on Court 2.

We did watch a few mixed doubles matches going on, and I was surprised that we could quite easily find places to watch. It didn’t feel as busy on the outside courts as in previous years when you just couldn’t get a viewing point and there wasn’t much room to walk between the courts. I don’t know whether it was because we weren’t in the crush of centre or court 1 between matches, or that it was hot so people were watching from the Southern Village or The Hill instead. It did feel a bit more bearable and less of a crush which was nice

Given our court’s play was finished early, we did debate seeing if there were any Centre Court resale tickets as there was still a full match left to play on there. But the resale queue was closed, so it wasn’t an option. 

After a full day in the sun (and a 5.35 alarm) I was flagging and needed food. So we decided we’d head back to the train at a normal time, and grab something at the station to eat.

Although lots of people were leaving at the same time, we could just walk straight out and back up to Southfields tube. Not like last year when everyone was blocked and then let out in a phased exit. Like the morning, the tube was uneventful, and we had plenty of time to get back home at a normal hour.

Overall it was a good day at Wimbledon. I really liked seeing everything in the Wimbledon Museum, and it’s just amazing to soak up the atmosphere of the place. Plus get to see some of the stars of tennis. While the matches we saw weren’t the most exciting, we did have other options if we’d wanted to go and queue for other courts. Because of the heat we didn’t venture all over the site either, so missed out on seeing some of the stands, brands and live interviews you can often see happening.

But I’m sure I’ll be trying for the ballot in future years too, in the hope of seeing some Brits play.

If you’re looking for Wimbledon tips, then check out my first visit including tips for Centre Court visits.