The rain is falling and the chat turns to memorable Wimbledon matches of yesteryear.
Not surprisingly, the 2001 "People's Monday" duel between Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter figures in the conversation. For these Wimbledon.com reporters, it remains their favourite Championships match and here they share personal memories of an extraordinary day.
For the record, Ivanisevic won 6-3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7. Two months shy of his 30th birthday, he became the lowest-ranked player and the first wild card entry to win Wimbledon. He remains the only man to have won a Grand Slam as a wild card.
Kate Battersby
These days the Centre Court roof ensures that, barring a fortnight of freakish downpours, no men's final can ever again be postponed to a Monday. But the showdown between Rafter and Ivanisevic was called off on Day 13 thanks to relentless rain, and we all assembled again the next morning.
Seats on the Centre Court were gained by public simply queueing. I remember parking my car at 11am on the golf course over the road, at least 300 yards as the crow flies from the Centre Court, to be greeted by the sound of singing from inside the great tennis theatre, clearly audible even at that distance. It was already crammed, and the chanting would barely abate all day.
A few weeks earlier I had watched courtside at Queen's as he lost early to the little-known Italian Cristiano Caratti, describing his performance afterwards in terms which cannot be repeated here.
At Wimbledon he drew little attention as he battled through a first-round five-setter, but then he won his second round... and his third. John McEnroe described it as a very nice story, adding confidently: "He won't win the title." Frankly, everyone agreed.
Round by round, you could see each opponent thinking he would be the one to have Goran's number - but none did; Carlos Moya, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick among others - they came, they went. Rain hampered Tim Henman's semi-final challenge.
Britons were told the final would be an anti-climax without Henman. Er, no. In a match lasting just over three hours, fortunes swung wildly. Three Championship points came and went before Ivanisevic defeated Rafter.
Round by round, you could see each opponent thinking he would be the one to have Goran's number - but none did
One of the great sports photographers, Russell Cheyne of The Daily Telegraph, captured an image of Ivanisevic in the moment of victory, his face slack with disbelief, his knees giving way... and if you know where to look, visible in the vast ranks of the cheering crowd behind him, is this correspondent, writing furiously in her notebook.
Back in the press room I asked the late, great Telegraph correspondent John Parsons if he had ever seen a better final here, and he shook his head. I took him at his word. "Accept no imitations," I wrote in the Evening Standard. "This was the most extraordinary final of them all."
Vivienne Christie
For Australians, Wimbledon watching means late-night TV viewing that carries a tradition all of its own, involving cups of tea (or chocolately Milo) to stave off the mid-winter chill and sneaky snoozes as you wait out any rain delays. Should an Aussie make a run at The Championships, superstition can become a factor.
If you’ve watched a player win one match then surely you must keep watching to help them win the next? It was true when Pat Cash became the men’s champion in 1987 and equally so when Rafter was a finalist in 2000 and again the following year.
It wasn’t just that these feverishly grateful fans created such a rare, theatre-like atmosphere that made this match so special.
Ivanisevic and Rafter were true fan favourites, popular sentiment for them enhanced by their respective characters, entertaining playing styles and the fact that each man had been to Wimbledon finals before.
As an Australian, there was no hiding the bitter disappointment that a man so deserving as Rafter had just missed out on victory. At the same time, there was an underlying feel-good element that you knew would always linger.
I hadn’t yet been to England then, but even from my lounge room in Melbourne, I knew that this match had been more special than most.
Ian Chadband
I’ve been privileged enough to report on some great finals, with Rafa Nadal’s epic win over Roger Federer in 2008 still, to my eyes, being just about the finest duel modern sport has witnessed.
I had to hit the button with the copy the second the winner was decided
Strangely, though, its memory isn’t seared on me in quite the same way as Ivanisevic’s triumph over Rafter.
I was covering the final for the London Evening Standard, who prepared a special late edition in honour of the Monday “People’s Final”, but, er, none of us realised quite how late.
Amid the best, most fevered atmosphere I’ve ever heard here, the fifth set epic rolled on…and on... with the command that I had to hit the button with the copy the second the winner was decided.
At 8-7, with ‘good Goran' serving for the match, I gambled that this was the moment - only for ‘bad Goran’ to spurn three match points. I swear I felt almost as elated as him when Rafter finally dumped a forehand return into the net.
Alix Ramsay
Some of us have covered a few of these Wimbledon extravaganzas so some of us may have to move house soon to accommodate the huge collection of Wimbledon bags we have accumulated along the way (it is a very nice gift we get every year but I now have three wardrobes full of them).
As a result there have been many, many remarkable matches that have made their mark in the memory bank. And as an aside: why is it I can remember the break points in the 1999 men’s final but I cannot remember where I put the car keys this morning?
In tennis terms, those break points in 1999 were the best: Andre Agassi, the champion of Roland Garros held them and Sampras, the world No.1, snatched them away. In the few seconds it took Agassi to realise what had just happened, Sampras grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck and ran away with it.
Who knew so many Croats lived within striking distance of SW19?
In history terms, watching Andy Murray win in 2013 was a moment that no one will ever forget. As he held his nerve in that final game, saw Championship points dribble away, fended off break points and finally served out for the title, 77 years of waiting were over and us inky fingered scribes in the press had the best sports story in the world to write.
But in terms of fairytale finishes, nothing beats Ivanisevic’s win over Rafter. It was first come, first served for tickets on that third Monday.
Who knew so many Croats lived within striking distance of SW19? Who knew so many Australian cricket fans, still celebrating their win in the first Ashes test, could make it back from Edgbaston in time to see the tennis?
And who knew that a 29-year-old bloke with a left shoulder held together with no more than hope and pain killers, a wild card entry with a world ranking of No.125 in the world, could win the most prestigious tournament in the world?
In his pomp, he had reached the final three times only to be beaten by Agassi once and Sampras twice. After the third defeat, he was inconsolable. Goran thought it was the end of the world.
So when three years later the same Goran served double faults on match points and finally, on his fourth match point and with the tears running down his face, won the title he had dreamed of but never believed would be his, Centre Court erupted in sheer joy.
He and Rafter had always been the crowd’s favourite in equal measure; only one of them could win. That it was Goran – emotional, unpredictable, hilarious, volatile, last-chance-saloon Goran – made it the best tennis story ever told.
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