That Friday Feeling...Wimbledon

Andy Murray has made it to the finals!!! And tomorrow I shall be glued to the TV rooting for him to be the first British man to win the Gentlemen's Final since 1936 (or was it 1937?) Anyway, a Brit (or Scot) hasn't won Wimbledon for a LOOOOOONG time so I am crossing my fingers that Murray has a day like the last few matches where he suddenly makes a great comeback and provides an incredible game. Whether he or Federer win, what I'm fairly sure is that tomorrow's game will be pretty exciting. There could be no other theme for today - there was never a question about it. Today's post is dedicated to Wimbledon - tennis is pretty much the only sport I actually enjoy watching enough to get excited about so I thought I'd find some cute things on Etsy for you related to the sport. Here's this week's finds:

Cute card by YourMumRang

Who cares about Caesar when there's tennis? Keychain by riskybeads

Love this rubber stamp set by brownpigeon

As always, a few random little facts for you...

• The first Wimbledon championship was in 1877, it consisted of solely Gentlemen's Singles and was won by Spencer Gore.
• The first non-European winner of Wimbledon was May Sutton from the US who won the Ladies Singles in 1905.
• The first non-British man to win at Wimbledon was Australian Norman Brookes in 1907.
• 1200 seats were lost in Centre Court during WWII after it was hit by not one, but 5 500lb bombs. Luckily play was suspended between 1940-1945 so no one was actually there. Play started again in 1946 but the courts weren't fully restored until 1949.
• The last time someone used a wooden tennis racket at Wimbledon was in 1987. 
• The fastest serves on record were from Taylor Dent (149mph) and Venus Williams (129mph)
• About 250 ball boys and ball girls work during the tournament and have to go through all sorts of tests to be deemed suitable. The average age of a ball boy or girl is 15
• In 1985 Boris Becker made history by a) being the youngest male player to win Wimbledon (he was 17), b) being the first German winner and c) being the first unseeded player to win.
• Players MUST wear white to play - Anna Kournikova was ordered to change in 2002 when she was seen practising in black shorts, and Andre Agassi refused to play the tournament between 1988 - 1990 because of the dress code.
• The longest game played at Wimbledon was between Mahut and Isner in 2010. It lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes and was played over 3 days. Isner eventually won but was promptly knocked out in the next round. The score was: 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70 - 68
• The last British male winner was Fred Perry in 1936 and the last British ladies winner was Virginia Wade in 1977.
• Strawberries and cream are as much a part of the Wimbledon tradition as watching the sport itself. On average 28,000 kilos of strawberries and 7,000 litres of cream are consumed during the tournament.
• Just outside the courts there is a mound with a huge TV screen used by potential spectators. It's been known as Henman Hill for years after Tim Henman, but since he retired it's been renamed Murray's Mound after Andy Murray. (Go Murray!)
• The first official colour TV broadcast in the United Kingdom was Wimbledon in 1967 by the BBC (who have always had the TV rights to live footage and do until 2014)
• Wimbledon is the only grand slam played on grass. 
• My computer isn't working very well with videos at the moment so I'm hoping that today's youtube clip will actually work...