On Saturday 17th of November Sports Connections Foundation were able to grant our latest Sporting Wish at the ATP Tennis Semi-Finals, held at the O2 in London.
Whilst it can be difficult for families during times such as these, we are able to give them long lasting happy memories and a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life as well as gruelling treatments and hospital visits and it truly is a wonderful experience and honour seeing the happy faces and the levels of excitement, especially when you are at the ATP Tennis Semi-Finals with a tennis mad young man!
So what did the day include I hear you ask, well firstly we were granted access all area passes, which meant we had our very own backstage tour of the O2. We were able to see the warm up pitches, the players lounge, the changing rooms, the press room and even made it court side whilst a certain Roger Federer was warming up. As you can see from the picture below we were within touching distance of one of, if not the, greatest tennis player of all time!
Aside from the backstage tour we were given the full VIP treatment which included an incredible spread of food and fantastic seats for not 1 but 2 matches!
First up was the doubles semi-final, we saw Jaime Murray (UK) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) play against Mike Bryan (USA) and Jack Sock (USA). The game was fast paced and thrilling to watch and with both teams winning a set each it was left to a tie breaker to decide the outcome, sadly for Jaime and Bruno it was the American’s that progressed to Sunday’s final, which they also won!
After a quick break and a raid of the pick’n’mix table we then returned to our seats for Roger Federer’s (SUI) match against Alexander Zverev (GER).
Much to many people surprise it was Zverev who won the match, from the display we saw it was a just victory with him having almost outplayed Federer for large parts of the match and whilst there was some controversy at the end (booing from pockets of the crowd?!) I’m glad to report that Zverev then went one better and beat Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday.
The day was a fantastic success and was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole family, we also managed to acquire quite a list of celebrities we had spotted:
Boris Becker
Annabel Croft
Judy Murray (Andy & Jaime's mum)
Greg Rusedski
Tim Henman
Sir Ian Mckellen
Ivan Lendl
We would like to pass on our gratitude and thanks to the teams at ATP, Match Hospitality and HEAD UK who helped make this Sporting Wish extra special for a very deserving family and for supplying him with a terrific goodie bag, your generosity and time in helping our team make the Sporting Wishes so special is really, really appreciated.
I'd also like to thank our Sporting Wish coordinator Jane who, as always, helps us create these fantastic Wishes, Phil Nicholls for being a fantastic chauffeur and to our Chair of Trustees Steve for all of his help in making everything run smoothly on the day, and for also offering to be the chauffeur for the journey home!
We've got more Sporting Wishes in the pipeline so please keep your eyes peeled for the latest updates and news.
If you know a child that you feel would be deserving of a Sporting Wish please get in touch with us: enquiries@scfchildrenscharity.org.uk