Wimbledon fan Caroline Robinson cried tears of joy when she was given the opportunity to live her dream of attending the annual tennis tournament.
The 40-year-old, from Gateshead, had decided to head to London on Saturday to soak up the atmosphere outside the grounds and queued up on the off-chance she would secure tickets to any match. But when American Express staff working at the event spotted Caroline and her excitement about being at Wimbledon, they decided to surprise her and her partner Karen Smith with two Centre Court tickets to the ladies' singles final.
Caroline said: "I've watched Wimbledon for as long as I can remember and I've always said I would go but never have. I think what's put me off all of these years is the ballot because you have to ballot for tickets and I always thought I have no chance of getting them."
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She added: "I know luck doesn't often come our way but somebody was looking down on us that day. Someone said 'you're finally there, we're going to make it extra special for you'.
"For people who have been going there for years it probably wouldn't have meant so much, but to us it was unreal and we couldn't believe it. We've had the best two days ever.
"We had to have a minute when we got into the grounds just to soak up what had just happened because we couldn't believe it, it was the best time ever."
Caroline decided to finally achieve her dream of visiting Wimbledon during the Championships after spotting a deal from her local travel agent for one night in a hotel and tickets for No.1 Court on Sunday. But she decided to travel down on the Saturday morning to queue up for access to a match.
She explained that she was satisfied with being outside the grounds to soak up the atmosphere and started speaking to staff from American Express, which is an Official Payment Partner of The Championships, telling them about how happy she was to be in London during the Championships. It was then that staff decided to gift her the tickets.
Caroline said: "They said we love your vibe because we were so happy. They asked us to take a seat in this big chair that was made with tennis balls and get a photo and I was emotional because of where I was to start with.
"I was telling them that I hope we can get into Wimbledon, even on the hill or anywhere just to get the atmosphere. I think because I was so emotional saying it was a dream come true all of a sudden one of them said to my partner to give them her phone and get in for a photo. I was then handed an envelope and told to open it and it didn't even cross my mind what it would be, I was just too excited to be there.
"I opened this envelope and inside it said 'Congratulations you've won two Centre Court tickets' which was the ladies' final. Obviously I started crying my eyes out and everyone else started crying too, it was just unbelievable.
"They said you don't have to queue just come straight round so we went in and just sat there for about 10 minutes saying what on earth has just happened."
She added: "We don't have any luck at all to be honest. My partner had a cardiac arrest two years ago and I saved her life by giving her CPR until the paramedics came. It was touch and go, she was in a coma and she had to learn to read and write again and that in itself was an awful time.
"It was during Covid and we couldn't get in to see her when she was in hospital for three weeks, it was horrible. We just don't have a lot of luck and going there for the first time I thought I want to share this because it's absolutely amazing."
Caroline and Karen won one of a number of gifts to be handed out by American Express in the Wimbledon queue, including complimentary breakfast packs, and American Express branded Wimbledon Radios to Cardmembers. A number of surprise tickets were handed out each day of The Championships and fans were selected as they approached the Chair of Champions for a photo moment, by an American Express Brand Ambassador.
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