Radio Wimbledon: My New Best Friend

Work can get boring. Especially when you work in an office building with rows and rows and rows of cubicles, constantly reminding you that you're one of many worthless minions all running the same rat race. When something comes along to break up the monotony, it might as well be christened as a savior.

My newest savior is Radio Wimbledon.

By broadcasting a live feed straight into my headphones at my desk, Radio Wimbledon allows me to hear all of the matches on the main two courts (Centre Court and Court 1). Since Andy Roddick, my favorite tennis player, has played most of his matches on Court 1, I've been able to follow along all tournament. The fact that lovely London is 5 hours ahead means that the action is just cranking into high gear as I enter the workplace. Today's Roddick-Lleyton Hewitt match was spectacular and thanks to my new best friend, I didn't miss a single stroke.

Had I been at home, is there any way I would've listened to nearly 4 hours of a single tennis match on the radio? Highly unlikely. I would've watched the TV coverage, but that's much easier to follow than radio. However, boredom at work means that the tennis match instantly became my number-one priority, allowing me to knock out the hours of 11am-3pm without a problem. Luckily, I sit alone in my group of cubes, so nobody saw me fist-pumping and slamming my head on my desk as the peaks and valleys of the match unfolded.

An underrated part of listening to the matches is the actual commentary that Radio Wimbledon announcers provide. They're usually middle-aged British men who use their awesome accents to produce some rather funny palaver. Some highlights from today's game:

-- "Well, that was a donkey drop; it looked like something you might hit." Apparently, a donkey drop is a rather slow serve.

-- "I tell you, this Roddick is pure showbiz." Not quite sure what he meant by this, but it sounded complimentary.

-- "Trust me, there's more to that story from Saturday night than we can share on the broadcast." Translation, these two old Britons threw back a few pints the night before Middle Sunday and got into some mischief.

-- "Those chants are up there with the finest lyrics of our time." A sarcastic reply to the Aussies constantly chanting, "LET'S GO HEWITT." Apparently, our elderly friends enjoy originality in their cheers.

-- "It helps Roddick that he can take a gander at his shelf of aces and say, 'I'll take this one.'" Probably my favorite quote of the match, the announcers were in awe of Roddick's seemingly endless array of rocket serves that allowed him to crawl out of hole after hole. He had 43 aces in the match, FYI.

As you can tell, there's a lot of quality stuff going on with the broadcasts at Radio Wimbledon. It's not just that it breaks up the monotony of my work day, it's that it does it with such flair. I'm really going to miss these guys next week. Hopefully, Roddick wins Sunday's Final and an American reigns supreme again at Wimbledon.

Otherwise, I'm not going to have anything to look forward to celebrating on Monday morning since my new best friend will be leaving me for 50 weeks.

~~ Lank