Wimbledon 2005

Qualies report:

Guccione, who played a very entertaining match vs Henman at Queen's last week, nudged out Patience 23-21 in the third in their first round match before Losing To A Brit (Delgado). On the ATP tour it's not unknown for players to be forced to wear a badge (a teddy bear crying Union Jack tears) to show that they Lost To A Brit in the Roehampton qualies. Some can't stand the ridicule and the stigma and end up giving basketball clinics in Split. Gambill and Clement are still in there, watching the rain fall, waiting for their final qualifying matches, which is reassuring. Bit of a comedown for those two.

They don't hand out badges on the WTA tour - they don't have to. Plucky Mel South took a set off Rita Kuti Kis but the rest of the UK Grrlz folded like damp flatbread: taking a total of 25 games in 5 matches. I'm keen to see if Sybille BAMMER makes it.

Seeds for the Gentlemen's Singles:>

1. FEDERER, Roger (SUI)
2. RODDICK, Andy (USA)
3. HEWITT, Lleyton (AUS)
4. NADAL, Rafael (ESP)
5. SAFIN, Marat (RUS)
6. HENMAN, Tim (GBR)
7. CANAS, Guillermo (ARG)
8. DAVYDENKO, Nikolay (RUS)
9. GROSJEAN, Sebastien (FRA)
10. ANCIC, Mario (CRO)
11. JOHANSSON, Joachim (SWE)
12. JOHANSSON, Thomas (SWE)
13. ROBREDO, Tommy (ESP)
14. STEPANEK, Radek (CZE)
15. CORIA, Guillermo (ARG)
16. PUERTA, Mariano (ARG)
17. FERRER, David (ESP)
18. NALBANDIAN, David (ARG)
19. HAAS, Tommy (GER)
20. LJUBICIC, Ivan (CRO)
21. GONZALEZ, Fernando (CHI)
22. HRBATY, Dominik (SVK)
23. FERRERO, Juan Carlos (ESP)
24. DENT, Taylor (USA)
25. KIEFER, Nicolas (GER)
26. LOPEZ, Feliciano (ESP)
27. GASQUET, Richard (FRA)
28. NOVAK, Jiri (CZE)
29. MASSU, Nicolas (CHI)
30. SODERLING, Robin (SWE)
31. YOUZHNY, Mikhail (RUS)
32. VOLANDRI, Filippo (ITA)

Seeds for the Ladies' Singles:>

1. DAVENPORT Miss Lindsay (USA)
2. SHARAPOVA Miss Maria (RUS)
3. MAURESMO Miss Amelie (FRA)
4. WILLIAMS Miss Serena (USA)
5. KUZNETSOVA Miss Svetlana (RUS)
6. DEMENTIEVA Miss Elena (RUS)
7. HENIN-HARDENNE Mrs Justine (BEL)
8. PETROVA Miss Nadia (RUS)
9. MYSKINA Miss Anastasia (RUS)
10. SCHNYDER Miss Patty (SUI)
11. ZVONAREVA Miss Vera (RUS)
12. PIERCE Miss Mary (FRA)
13. LIKHOVTSEVA Miss Elena (RUS)
14. WILLIAMS Miss Venus (USA)
15. CLIJSTERS Miss Kim (BEL)
16. DECHY Miss Nathalie (FRA)
17. JANKOVIC Miss Jelena (SCG)
18. GOLOVIN Miss Tatiana (FRA)
19. IVANOVIC Miss Ana (SCG)
20. HANTUCHOVA Miss Daniela (SVK)
21. SCHIAVONE Miss Francesca (ITA)
22. FARINA ELIA Mrs Silvia (ITA)
23. SUGIYAMA Miss Ai (JPN)
24. ASAGOE Miss Shinobu (JPN)
25. SPREM Miss Karolina (CRO)
26. PENNETTA Miss Flavia (ITA)
27. VAIDISOVA Miss Nicole (CZE)
28. FRAZIER Miss Amy (USA)
29. BARTOLI Miss Marion (FRA)
30. SAFINA Miss Dinara (RUS)
31. MEDINA GARRIGUES Miss Anabel (ESP)
32. RAZZANO Miss Virginie (FRA)

There ya go.

"Miss Amelie" sounds the cutest thing in the world. But it isn't. Oh no.

The one I'm watching in The Qualies is Miss Pironkova of Bulgaria, first name TSZVETANA!!!, who reached the semi-finals of her first ever WTA tournament last month.

Women's title is between Justine, Maria and Serena in that order I think. Justine is the mentally toughest woman on tour, on a million-match winning streak and has great grass-court game, but has never won it. Maria has been very consistent this year but keeps dropping sets to randoms and matches to Justine. Serena is probably the best grass-courter around but hasn't won a match of any sort for two months, and has pulled out of more events than she's completed this year. Everyone else = mental midget headcase type, expect CHOKING to ensue.

Is Davenport a Miss because she keeps her maiden name as her professional name?

Oh my, Serena and Venus could meet in the 4th round.

The new BBC trailers are intriguing, as they seem to be offering the vague prospect of ChakChakChak's girly forehand causing her to shatter into a thousand pieces. This is a notch up from last year's effort, with Mac detailing the great storylines the tournament had, almost exclusively involving players that didn't turn up. Nice way to portend the Lleytz-Clidge break-up too.

If the BBC had any sense they'd be playing the Venus and Serena line from 'Signs' over the trailers.

Hopefully I will also have magicked up a job by Tuesday but let's face it this won't be happening. I'd be up for queueing for a ground pass from early morning. Email me if you would also like this, I won't be back til Sunday.

I heart Justine so much, she should walk this tournament.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4094998.stm for the men

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4095022.stm for the women

Nothing leaps out in Federer's quarter. Hewitt-Blake potential r2 ding-dong. Safin has a murderous segment: Srichaphan, Poup & Ancic await. Two of our ALL-TIME FAVES square off in the third quarter: Schalkin' Vac and Starchy Tito! Henbot has a really nasty one first up in Niemenen...Arthurs lurks in r3 and Grosjean in r4; a real achievement for Timmy to fulfil his seeding this year. Ljubicic is the scariest seed in Roddick's path but Ivo Karlovic is waiting in r2.

Third round clash for Clidge and Ai Sug? Can Suarez upset La Mesmo? Pierce-Henin r4 tie likely and, get this Second Monday organisers, Venus-Serena! They should both be Centre Court (if they happen) and sod the blokes. Should S(p)esil K deal with the feeble threat of Amanda Janes, it'll be Sharapova in r2.

Back with QF predictions later...

Clijsters-Asagoe
Mauresmo-Dementieva
HeninHardenne-Hantuchova*
Schiavone-Sharapova

(* - no Venus-Serena in r4 after all?)

Clisters vs. Schnyder
Sprem vs. Frazier (the Murphy's Law quarter - if they can go wrong, they will)
JHH vs. Serena
Razzano vs. Sharapova

Clijsters vs Kuznetsova
Sprem vs Jankovic (for the jokes, mostly)
Henin-Hardenne vs Serena
Zvonareva vs Sharapova

Is there, is there, a reason for Roddick to have been promoted to #2 seed ahead of Hewitt?

I don't like the fact that we all seem to think Pandy's gonna fall before the second Wednesday. Cos you know what that actually means will happen...

Got my reasons for Malisse confused - Karlo does for Dicko. Igo does for Karlo. And Malisse does for him. I reckon.

Gonzalez will be the first seed to go. Mackin's victory leads to brief talk of revival in British men's tennis. This ends by the fourth round.

Youzhny (to Baghdatis)
Davydenko (to Draper)
Massu (to Sargsian)
Nadal (to Spadea - gnarled, cynical, biggest-losing-streak-in-tennis-history Vince will asnnoy him into submission)
Henman (to Nieminen)
Volandri (to Arthurs)

I'm hoping safin does well, despite the tough draw.

(what time do ppl start queueing again? plz don't tell me thousands of ppl sleep overnight - sorry to ask but couldn't find the advice given last year (when I didn't go but its looking better this year), i searched for a bit earlier and now the search is slow...)

Bear in mind, however, Dechy now has Magic Trousers.

In the women's, Pironkova doesn't make it but Santangelo does. In the I-should-bloody-well-hope-so column, Els Callens and Ashley Harkleroad are there. As is Sofia Arvissson. It's about time we had a good Swede.

In the realm of the unfinished, we have a Brit whose storming comeback was stunted in the gloom: Delgado back from 2-6 5-7 vs Goldstein to level the match; Moodie-Djokovic also 2-2 overnight. And that's your lot.

Forecast for weekend is high-80s in London...but Monday is showers. :(

Roddick won Queens for the third year in a row. Hewitt got kicked out by Karlovic. So yeah Roddick will probably do better this year on Wimbledon. (Also because Hewitt's been injured)

He's serving for a place at his 11th Championships - 5-2.

After a sweltering Sunday the weather looks likely to break this morning in London. Let's get the thunderstorm out of the way before 1pm, yeah?

Re: seedings - there is a mysterious "grass court formula" which has never been revealed, usually it takes the form of "fiddle about with player's actual ranking + past grass record so that the Henbot gets promoted a bit". They don't bother for the women.

Last minute predictions -

Clijsters v Kuznetsova
Mauresmo v Jankovic
Henin-Hardenne v S.Williams
Razzano v Sharapova

Federer v J.Johansson
Hewitt v Safin
O.Rochus v Gasquet
Grosjean v Roddick

I will be attending Wimbledon tomorrow (weather pending), queuing up from early o'clock and getting a ground pass. Londoners without prior work commitments, fancy joining me?

Elsewhere - Shaughnessy vs. Schruff IS WAR - Mighty Meg takes the first 6-1, only for The Shambler to take the second by exactly the same score. Oh, and Chakkatakk IS ROBBED of the first set by Jankovic 6-4. Janko-BITCH, more like. Yeah.

Fedge's Road To Glory starts against PHM. He's 5-3 up, but two of Paul-Henri's three have been won against serve. He's a plucky young feller, no?

Sherwood looked pretty good. His dad was the hurdler Superstar, is that right? Mathieu giving RF some trouble.

Less happy Brit news on Court 18, where one Rebecca Llewellyn is playing Kuzzy. Insofar as losing the first set 0-6 in about ten minutes, winning just 8 points along the way, can count as 'playing' and not 'getting raped'.

xpost!

And it's *gasp* Patz! Whichever of the Serra-Zanettis it was has done for her 6-3 in the third!

Mirzbow through 8-6, Mysks 4-2 DOWN against Oye Bohmo Va, Josh Goodall looks set to be the next Brit going home.

Nastya pulls it back to 4-4 - New Seed In Seeming Danger is Aiiiii, who's currently 5-1 down to Roberta Vinci. Eeeeeeek.

Nastya does a grand comeback! Wins 6-4 in the third.

Phil's Boy has sorted himself out on #13, up a double-break in the fifth vs Dickie Norm.

Women's - bit more interesting. Aside from Big Dave's 6-0 6-2 demolition of Jiddlypuff, we've seen every single British player fail to get even a set (Baltacha was playing a qualifier, fer pete's sakes), as well as The Loiterer blow a 5-0 lead in the third to go down 9-7 to Aunt Selima, but perhaps most surprisingly of all three seeds are gone - Patty, as noted upthread; Aiii, who got Vinci'd in three sets; Smokin' Amy Frazier got pounded out in three by The Knack; and, in possibly the biggest upset of the day, Tammy Tanasugarn squelched Sprem 6-2 6-2.

Those looking for another seed to fall - Shinobu's currently getting skewered by Maggie M of all people - one set down and 4-3 down in the second set tie-break. In what could be seen as an upset of sorts, Massu's two sets up on Sargis. Poup's about to flush Beck. Other'n that... not much.

On an entirely unconnected note, ten stalkers have been banned, from Wimbledon.

I see James Blake flopped again.

What kind of odds can you get on Jarkko doing Thimble today?

With only about half a dozen compatriots this year (one of whom has already exceeded expectations, another has already dashed them) the Llout needs to llook llivelly if llocal interest is going to llast past about Thursday.

Anyway, Sjeng's out, so Starch-o's got to face Elsie. This may be tricky.

meanwhile, more Women's seeds struggling, including Arena mag fave Dani Handjobkova, against Linetskaya. I wonder if Lex is watching this, cheering on the Linnet?

Shap also through in straight sets against NLV. She's got the evil eyes in again. Ooh. Also helped by the fact that NLV is, well, a dwarf.

Two seeds gone - Ljub jiffied by Melzer, AnMedGar stomped by Robotnik.

Currently - Dicko, Venus and, er, Sanguinetti are all cruising. Two seeds in danger - Voney's a set down to Brandi, Razzo's 3-0 down to Castanets. And for those of you wondering which court Lex has gone for, I'm taking a wild guess it might be #11, where Bobbysods and Lovely Igor are getting it on - 5-5 in the first.

Can everyone please get behind Daniele Bracciali? Thanks.

Tim Of Hen loses his first set 6-3.

Brockwell 'Lidou = Eleni Daniilidou
Tim Of Hen = Tim Henman
Swiss Stan = Stanislas Wawrinka
Dicko = Andy Roddick
Radical Staircase = Radek Stepanek
Voney = Franchesca Schiavone
Razzo = Virginie Razzano
Castanets = Catalina Castano
The Monarch Of The Glen = Andy Murray
Bobbysods = Robin Soderling
Lovely Igor = Igor Andreev
Ljub = Ivan Ljubicic
NLV = Nuria Llagostera Vives
Shap = Maria Sharapova
AnMedGar = Annabel Maria Garrigues
Robotnik = Katarina Srebotnik
Starch-O = Potito Starace
Elsie = Gilles Elseneer

My predicting skills have accounted for Stan, I fear - he held his serve after the best of christ knows how long, but went on to lose the next five games and now finds himself 3-1 down in the fourth.

After Molasses gets Marrayed, it's time for my homegirl Maria Elena Camerin on court 18 against gritty irritation Nathalie Dechy.

- BANG! JHH-Danii With Two I's - IT'S WAR! Eleni was 4-2 up in the third, JHH breaks back and is serving at 4-3 down - can the pre-tournament favourite hang on?

- BOOM! What is it about dark horses going lame at SW19? Gasquet takes the first 6-3, then PK comes back to take the second by the same score. NOW the French wunder-enfantis 4-1 up in the third.

- THWACK! Another seed in trouble, and it's a big 'un - Petrova a set down against Ginny Ruano-Pascual, going with serve in the second.

- CRASH! Latest seed to fall is Soderling, down in four to Lovely Igor.

- WALLOP! And christ, you want home interest? Marray-Malisse is turning into an epic - at two sets to one down, Malisse pulls out the fourth 6-1 - Marray then goes 3-0 up in the fifth, the X-wing pulls it back to 3-3...

But yeah, Britain's best player since goodness knows when takes precedence on the one-channel setup, which is perhaps fair enough. Cue yet more crowd shots of the excessively pasty waving gigantic England flags, accompanied by the noise of Andrew Castle.

JHH at 30/30...

(Haas and Schiavone - I'm down to 13 of 16 of my qf picks at 5pm on Day 2. Not good).

Elsewhere, Petrova-VRP is 1-1, Gasquet's got over his second set wobble nicely, Arnie Clem's in the shit against Lu, Vicky Han's a set down, and Potito's Road To Princess Michael starts by going a break down in the first.

Rova serving out for the match, Elsie serving out for the set, Gasquet and Popp both through.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40649000/jpg/_40649880_murray_270getty.jpg

PLUCK-WATCH #2 - Janes ain't sunk yet. She's forced Sesil K to a tie-break.

Elsewhere - Starchy is a break up in the second, Arthurs looking poised to make Volandri the next seed to go, V-Han vs. K-Carl is one set all (both tie-breaks), Clem taking Lu into deep waters - he takes the 4th set 6-3, and they're goin' the distance.

She's probably lose now, but that first set was somethin' else.

A: SO DAMN HARD.

Exhilarating all the way. Serena does tend to play best when her back's against the wall, and Angie would not stop shovin'. If Rena-Pova II comes to pass... ooh boy. Inexperience perhaps did for Haynes a wee bit, but when she comes back... ooh-hoo boy.

Elsewhere - Golovin's nearly Golo-gone...

this maybe common knowledge to proper tennis fans, but has anyone noticed that Justine Henin-Hardine has Greg Rusedski's face.

All eyes surely on Court One, though, cos Grosjean and Llodra are going to-the-wye-ah - Sebbles took the second set 7-5, Llodra takes the third 6-4, then for the fourth set they go to a tie-break which Grosjean takes...

At this juncture, therefore, the BBC decides that now is the ideal time for highlights of JHH-Brockwell. GAH.

Let it also be noted that Nads got by Spads 6-3 6-4 6-0, which suggests that grass not be quite so far beyond his ken as had been speculated. His white capri pants and sleeveless shirt are also very becoming. I'm growing to like this feller...

Another seed out is David Ferrer. Big wow, yes.

oh, and Potito got mashed in straight sets :(

Yes, it's the famous "Tennis Weasel" visage.

Meanwhile, Bandy and Sluiter dutifully take their vitamin A and, with the help of not being enclosed in a bloody great arena, are making the most of the fading light on court #7 - 6-2 6-2 3-3 to the 2002 finalist.

(special late-nite xpost)

5-5. They have to finish this set, right? There'll be a riot amongst the bleachers if not.

I wonder if Lex is watching this, cheering on the Linnet?

I certainly was. I saw the end of the first set, during which Linetskaya dictated virtually every point with aggressive groundstrokes which really exploited Hantuchova's poor movement. Then she...stopped. And became really passive, and tried counterpunching. Hence final score.

And for those of you wondering which court Lex has gone for, I'm taking a wild guess it might be #11, where Bobbysods and Lovely Igor are getting it on - 5-5 in the first.

Yes again! Igor is even prettier in the flesh, and I got to see the much-vaunted six-pack. He should have won in straights - he was clearly the superior player going into the tiebreak, but got rattled by a dodgy line call.

I saw the entirety of Haynes vs Serena - the first set may well be the most thrilling set of tennis of the fortnight. The tiebreak was insane. I've heard rumours that Haynes has, er, personal issues with Serena - and after her mega display of attitude throughout, I'm inclined to believe them. She is one feisty chick, and gorgeous to boot, and I love her. Some of the winners she hit were spectacular, it all begs the question of why she has no other notable results to speak of at all. Anyway, she kind of died after going up 2-1 in the final set, it was all quite anticlimactic. She looked really, really depressed when she trudged off court. On another note, I thought she looked fantastic with the funky headscarf and all - totally outdressed Serena, whose dress looked unfinished. She's Erykah Badu to Serena's J-Lo.

Other stuff seen - Zvonareva vs Weingärtner. We took a sweepstake on how long it would take Bepa to start crying. I won, with 'after three games'. Santoro v Wawrinka - Fabulous Fabrice is just magical to watch. I love junkballs so much. Bartoli v Fujiwara - Rika actually played very well, nice dropshots &c, but Maid Marion was blistering. Gasquet v Kohlschreiber - the first time I'd seen King(-In-Waiting) Richard, and I am suitably impressed. Schaul v Beltrame - poor Clouds is utterly lost at the moment, she looked as if she had no clue what to do on court at all. Ivanovic v Douchevina - Ivanovic has Wimbledon titles in her future, seriously.

I am EXTREMELY pissed off about the Henperson escaping defeat. And just bemused about JHH, though Daniilidou's definitely capable of lights-out tennis...

In our house, we have decided that ttennis is quite a good game, and that Tracey Austin looks like a right-wing evangelist /stroke/ teleshopping host on bad acid.

Lex: Just seen a hilites package of Haines v SW. Angie Baby certainly matched the Rene grunt for grunt and the Fox commentator described Williams as 'dreadful at the start and not much better at the end'.

Also saw the Haas faas. As both Zaphod Beeblebrox and Hannibal Smith of the A Team said at various times, ten out of ten for macho but zero out of a million for smart.

There must be dozens of matches happening, and why Uncle Rupe chose these two to share with us is quite mystifying.

I take a couple of days off work and it's complete bloody chaos - to the extent that I've only just checked the online scores.

The Clij (my new fave for the women's title) is up a double break already and Mysky (my number two) has rediscovered her form and is trouncing Nakamura. Also re-energised by a close thing in the opening round is Taylor Dayne, romping away with it vs Kim. The Sherwood show, meanwhile, is almost over; Lopez the Logger is cutting a swathe through Notts: 6-2 6-4 5-1.

JCF and HTL are at one set apiece, as are Gabelstaplerfahrer and Massu.

Saffy and Poup in the breaker.

I have about two games to try and work in a reference to Riss's crocodile-fancying Oz legend namesake, Steve.

(Too late. Bugger!)

Clij actually lost five points on her serve in the match. I got carried away.

Grosj and Llod about to reappear on court #1, both clad in spectacular Gallic flares. Seb favours the 21" bottom with onion stitching, 'odra got his from some geezer in Altrincham - which is exactly what he was doing at the time.

Have I got time to go to Pret?

Am curently looking at 'the Mess' make one of Sanchez-Lorenzo (who, unless I'm very much Murray Walkered, scored the winner for the locals in the 88 FA Cup Final).

Breaksniffer says "Safin at 1-1 15/30! Yellow alert!"

4-4 in the 2nd set t-b. JCF about to level vs the General.

Ouzo a mini-break up 4-2 and serving...and blowing it. Now looking at going 2 sets down.

15-yr-old Nicole Vaidisova comes back from 0-3 down to take the first set against Egg Pasty.

There really are no other matches of consequence, are there? I'd really like to see Kuznetsova v Mirza later though.

Vaidi through, Meg & Boozy in a second set tie-break, Washington and Sfar at a set apiece, and No-One Especially Bothered About Justin Gimelstob Shock (he's 2-1 up on Mmmmmassu).

Remember when Corina Morariu had leukaemia? And her devoted husband helped nurse her back to health? And when she was able to play pro tennis again it was a fantastic and heart-warming story? Her next move was to have an affair with Gimelstob. Divorce ensued.

Oh, and Batty Patty Gossip from Monday, courtesy of people I know who went to see her - apparently she was in a total don't-give-a-shit mood, kept getting code violations for racket and ball abuse, and at one stage mocked all her opponent's mannerisms by mimicking her ball toss, return stance etc.

Safin converted his one and only break point and is now serving for r3.

(xpost! Gimelstob is now officially fascinatin').

Was Vince Spadea unavailable?

Likhovtseva accounts for Shaughnessy.

The Best Name In The Womens'(just can't come at this 'Ladies' crap) Draw, Mashona Washington, is 1-1 in third v Tunisian Selima Sfar. The name at the other end of that league table, Shenay Perry, has beaten Tambourine Tanasugam 7-6 6-2.

JCF goes a break up in the decider against HTL, Massu takes Filthy Adulterer to a tie-break.

Russian Dave takes the first-set tie-break wing-ding against Bjorkblokey, SilvFarEl through in three, and Gimelstob trounces Massu 7-0 in the tie-break, making Your Olympic Hero the first seed to fall today.

Mirza is wearing ankle supports, I presume, which look like thick black woollen hiking socks.

I'm going to guess "sobbing and pitching a fit".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40654000/jpg/_40654350_safin_getty.jpg
=
http://data.over-blog.com/lib/0/4/3540/pics/Portraits2/Errol-Flynn.jpg

REALLY odd thing - Hernych's showing signs of getting back into it against Hewitt - 5-3 up and serving in the second...

And what's that out on court 3? Diva's been broken again? Oops. Kla-Cha-Cha 4-2 up and serving...

In the men's, Hewitt got through in four and Russian Dave had to withdraw with a wrist injury.

Currently, Ancic is being given all he can handle by Danai Udomchoke, Youzhny's come back against Lisnard to lead two sets to one with a break in the fourth, and in the fervored hype about Andy Murray people have forgotten that Gael Monfils is a bit of a handy young lad too - he leads Hrbaty 4-2 in the first.

Sania's major weakness would seem to be her movement, girl is really slow and she rarely got to shots at full stretch. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of her though!

WOMEN - no seeds out. At all. But in round 3 - SERRA ZANETTI vs. MAGGIE MALEEVA SUPERCLASH OMG!!!

One match left. JoJo is two sets to one up on Grrrrrrreggg, but the Cockney Canuck is 6-5 up in the fourth...

Antonella Serra Zanetti in the Wimbledon third round makes me crack up. Keep blasting those serves, Antonella!

JJ, though - he so Jexy!

http://www.geocities.com/sojexy/banner2.JPG

While we're on the subject of names that sound like gobbing up, hands up who remembers Joakim Nystrom? Twice he served for the match against Becker in r3 in '85. How different the world would've been. President Dukakis and Pulp at #1.

http://shop.wimbledon.org/images/standard/WIM-50300428_l.jpg

Been looking through the player bios on site. Worst photo still in the draw is Jill Craybas, with Taylor Dent a close second. Best is Fabrice Santoro.

http://www.wimbledon.org/images/players/wtac294.jpg

http://www.wimbledon.org/images/players/atpd362.jpg

http://www.wimbledon.org/images/players/atpd362.jpg

http://www.wimbledon.org/images/players/atps424.jpg

Oh, certainly not, but the advantage JoJo has is that we won't have to watch him at all because he is An Foreign. Until he plays Fed in the quarters, where it will be fun to see his big big serve get eaten alive.

1) Gimelstob comes off as a lot more likeable than I would've guessed. Sample quote:

I was sitting watching Corina and Lindsay's double match yesterday, and these three guys were looking up at Henman's score and just blasting him to shreds saying, "I don't know why he doesn't retire, he's never going to win Wimbledon." After they're going on like this for a couple minutes, I finally ‑‑ albeit I am trying to live a kinder, gentler life, but I finally snapped and I just said to these guys, I just want you to know, you guys are the biggest idiots I've ever come across in my life. If you have any idea how hard it is to try and be one of the best players in the world or best people in the world at one thing, you guys have an unbelievable ambassador to England, he conducts himself unbelievably well, he deals with pressure, the pressure you guys put on him in this country as well as anyone can handle, he's a great person, family man, competes great, he's had a great career. Maybe he won't ever win Wimbledon, but since when is the barometer of success or failure being the absolute greatest at something? There's only one greatest at something. I mean, seriously, I think the bar is maybe set too high.

2) On the other hand, check out this bizarre exchange from the Hewitt interview:

Q. Pat Cash was commenting on the game. The camera came across your girlfriend. He remarked, thinking his microphone was off, "I bet she's up the duff." The BBC apologized for that. I wonder if you mind her being talked about like that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, Pat's ‑‑ Pat always comes out with some loose comments now and then. Yeah, I was talking to Pat in the locker room just before. He obviously didn't bring that up (laughter). We're obviously pretty good mates. You know, I've got a lot of respect for him as a person.

Q. No offense taken?

LLEYTON HEWITT: No, not from me.

One thing that can be confirmed is that it is going to be the orangest baby ever.

Andrew Castle was comparing Federer to Darcy Bussell on the highlights show last night (which, despite the horror of Inverdale, I must now watch religiously due to being back at work, innit). Pam Shriver appears to be up the duff - a Lazenbaby.

I am glad to see that my old favourite phrase is back: ... THE BREAKER.

Last night's highlights show was peculiar - perhaps because live action went on so long? - and with Castle's technology failing. At the end Inverdale murmured that it had been an interesting 45 minutes. Alas, his status as a stubby, simian version of early Tony Blair - the public-schoolfellow who tries, y'know, to be with it - is reaffirmed when he appears on screen.

It seems that R5 has an hour-long programme called DES AT WIMBLEDON. I have not heard that yet.

I am unsure whether anyone on this thread has yet mentioned the other most important person(age) at Wimbledon: Barry Davies.

At what?

(xpost!)

Des was mostly playing the role of mediator last night as David Felgate and Annabel Croft almost came to blows over the state of British tennis (AC: "Do the LTA coaches go on courses to update their skills?" DF: "I can't believe you would actually ask me that." AC: "Don't be so defensive!" Etc.) Michael Stich keep stiching his oar in.

There was a moment on Tuesday when both McEnroe and Connors were in the commentary box at the same time. JPMc introduced him as "James Scott Connors". This made me very happy.

Very little Becker yet, in my experience. A good thing?

It did occur to me last night, as I baked on the top-deck of a 468 through Camberwell, that as much as I revel in the luxury of days at home with BBCi, the Wimbledon experience for me is inextricably linked with eking out info from Radio 5 as the reception comes and goes and the soft ramblings of Christine Janes (nee Trueman) and Frew McMillan. As exciting as Tuesday was for channel-hoppers, the tournament started for me last night on the bus home with the Lynam burr.

Meanwhile, on Court Two Venus is all over the place against The Pratt - from 4-2 up to 4-4, and she's only just held serve to go 5-4 up. One court further down, Fabrice is having one of those days. He loses the first set 6-1 to Jiri Novak, perhaps spurred on by there being a Czech player in Stepanek who's actually verging on being a bit interesting. Course, nothing's ever that simple with Santoro, who takes the second 6-4, and is 6-5 up with serve in the third.

Maria's a natural on grass. Sesil's played one match on it ever, and that against a British woman. It was always going to be painful, I think...I would be interested to See a rematch on clay. Poor Sesil.

Marion Bartoli, you are an enigma.

Hennety back on terms. Not another bloody five-setter.

Out on Court 18, it's a carnival of rocket launchers as Arthurs Plays Popp. German leads 6-3 3-2. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly Pennetta is in control against Dulko, Tim's just squandered a break in the third, Muller's a set up on Rafa, Conchita's a set up on Brandi, Vera's a set up on Peschke, Bondarenko's through and Gasquet's just done for Elsie. Also - Rochus Superior and Max Mirnyi. Hello boys.

Penne makes pasta of Gorgeous Gisela, and the Conchitron butters Brandi.

Tursunov serving for fourth set against Henbot. C'MON DMITRY.

Vera :(

If only we had t'interweb at home, there was a great thing to be had in JoJo telling GRusk to "leave, right now, it's the end of you and me" last night.

Boo for Nadal and Vera going out, though.

Haha, Andrew Murray is the Last Brit.

I fear I'm going to dislike this one for the next decade or so. He's such a lank-haired poser. He reminds me of me at his age.

Is it very wrong to find Andrew Murray a bit attractive?

However, right now he is looking good against Stepanek, so all power to him for now.

The women's didn't bring shock results, but shock performances - Serena dropped an entire set against Santangelo before finally switching herself on and getting through, while Mary had to go to war against Akuavak, finally taking the third set 9-7.

On court now, Bandy's looking good against the ever-sort-of-green Kucera, Lu and Raver are into their fifth set now, Novak Djokovic (there must something in there, I'll find it soon) has won a third set tie-break to stay in against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and Bracciali-Roddick is going with serve. Shock.

Djokovic came all the way back to beat GGL and Bandy won with such economy and style against Kucera that I expect the Murray flurry to end in a hurry on Saturry.

Q. Did Stepanek congratulate you on your win?

ANDREW MURRAY: No (smiling). I wasn't even listening to him at the end. I don't like him.

Q. So neither of you exchanged a word to each other at the end?

ANDREW MURRAY: I just said "bad luck" to him and didn't really listen to what he was saying.

Hahaha. Timbot he ain't. The more cynical, self-hating Brits may have to get used to getting behind someone from their own country for a change ...

That wouldn't be a reference to anyone on this thread, would it?

There's a goldmine of obnoxious Sesil-esque Brat Quotes from Murray to choose from in the past apparently. I love him. It is very odd to actually genuinely find myself liking a British male player. It amuses me to think that he went to school and is still friends with Nadal and Kuznetsova.

Are the Williams sisters having an intra-family competition to see who can play worse while still winning? Serena looked dreadful against Santangelo and as for Venus, dropping eight whole games to Nicole Pratt is unacceptable for anyone who considers themself of top 50 calibre.

Ivanovic to beat Pierce in the next round. Ivanovic is special.

JCF-Mayer - former world #1 vs. last year's surprise quarter-finalist. Possibly best match of the round.
Murray-Bandy - He's a massive underdog, but if Murray wins he'd likely get Gasquet the round after, which would definitely be intriguing - oooh, actually:
Gasquet-Muller - Muller took out Nadal, who ain't a grass-court specialist, but then again last year Gasquet went out in the first round here
Coria-Melzer - because the wee man looks to be taking it rather seriously this year, and Melzer's already taken out Ljubicic
Andreev-provisionally Roddick - because Lex will go apeshit

Vinci-Clijsters - should be Clijsters, but taking out Ai then straight-setting Kremer suggests Vinci might be a stiffer test than expected.
Vaidisova-Kuznetsova - Sveta really wasn't at ease against Mirza, and now she's run into a seed, albeit a young and inexperienced one. Upset?
Myskina-Jankovic - After the Bohmova war, Nastya seemed to raise her game against Nakamura. Nakamura ain't the 17th seed, tho.
Washington-Dementieva - Klaschka nearly took the Diva out, and she's the world #177. 3-set minimum.
Venus-Hantuchova - Venus is in decline. Hantuchova, however, is Hantuchova, and if Venus is gonna come back into form, you'd think this would be the place to start.
Craybas-Williams - on paper, a stomping. That's what they'd have said about Haynes and Santangelo, though. Serena needs a confidence booster and fast, Craybas will probably never get this opportunity ever again. Serena 6-0 6-0 then.

Hopefully Vaidisova v Kuznetsova will be televised tomorrow - Kuznetsova has quite frankly looked shaky for a while now, but while Vaidisova has all the weapons to be a future grass court force she doesn't have the comfort level yet, whereas Mirza grew up on the stuff. Dangerous, but Sveta should have the experience to see her through.

Nastya's losing unfortunately. Jankovic is looking good lately and I don't think wins over Bohmova and Nakamura are really indicative of Nastya's slump ending, especially as the personal and physical crises continue.

If Serena loses even a set to Craybas it will be quite astonishing...at least Haynes and Santangelo have weapons.

Bandy should outclass Murray but can be awfully flaky sometimes.

Andreev v Roddick promises to send me apoplectic.

Ancic v Monfils and Lopez v Safin look great as well! Daniilidou v Pennetta should be very stylish.

Similarly, Serena's not looking great, but you'd back her to get to the quarters at least, and then maybe the Sharapova rematch, which, give her form thus far but adding in the fact that she will absolutely not surrender ever, should be fascinating.

Plus, who the hell will come out the top half? Big Dave's only conceded five games thus far, but hardly against top-drawer opponents, and goodness knows if Dinara will stretch her that much. Then she'll probably get Clijsters, in a match that'll tell us a lot more about either of them than all their previous encounters put together... winner of that (presumably) gets a somewhat out-of-sorts Kuznetsova. And after that, Amelie. Who, looking at the draw, won't have had to go through much to get to the semi-final... crikey, might this be the year SW19 gets Mesmo-rised? Though you'd back Sharapova or Serena to squelch her in the final.

started by watching gasquet-elseneer. Good stuff gasquet seemed to have a good all round range, elseneer had the better serve but thankfully that wasn't good enough. then I went to queue for re-sales (sort of agonizing for a bit over this - think I missed MYSKINA playing doubles), just by henman hill to erm, witness its death (this shatters the illusion, and complaining abt ballboys is kind of an acknowlegment but damn it I LIKED TO BELIEVE)...its the murray hill now or whatever they'll call it, but its just so sad.

having said all that by the time I had my centre court ticket and wz soon enough staring at SERENA WILLIAMS OMG!!! it was like "thank you henbot you gave me this". not to get to calumny abt this but let's just say it was the perfect view for serena watching...and the match went to 3 sets!!

I stuck till the end - watched Bracciali-roddick. Can't remember the anti-roddick args anymore but I gotta say: seeing him smash a few is quite a show (brutal really, one thing you can't quite get from watching it on TV) but in the end he's a bully. Hated the way he'd get up mid-break as if to hurry his opponent! and the crowd for lapping it up. He just hasn't the all round game and wz never more glad that safin and federer are around.

And just like bullies if you fight back (he didn't panic, called a medical time out [hey, it slows things down, whether it was a problem or not], gathered himself, got to read the serve and he dished it out in the tie-break), they aren't all that anymore. but now roddick will prob get it together and end it in 4 bah.

had a great day. really good to finally go.

Murray's got that edgy, faraway look in his eyes that the young JPMc had; he's rather handsome in a slightly gormless way. If he beats Bandy - well, there are few better players on this surface in that part of the draw, so in theory he could go as far as Henman ever did, but surely fatigue will set in. He doesn't seem to have great conditioning. Bandy in four, I think. I read some daft odds (over the shoulder of a betting colleague) regarding AM: 8-1 against him never being world #1. 50-1 against him being world #1 this year. Ridiculous.

If Venus beats Single-I Dani, I think I might back her over Serena.

What personal crisis does Myskina have? Nothing too serious I hope!

There was resolution of the seven-five kind in the three Eastern Bloc matches: good for Kuznets (who also has a break in the 2nd) and Dementi, bad for Likhovts. Amelie one game from r4.

cancer, apparently :(

Kuznetsova v Vaidisova reminded me a lot of the Mirza match - Vaidisova has astonishing power for a 16-yr-old and Kuznetsova's still very erratic, but at crunch time she's canny enough to pull out some more varied shots.

xp!

That's what I think.

6-0 5-3 40-15 has somehow turned into 6-0 5-7.

After saving four break points, Mysky is now 0-2 in the 3rd. :(

And Safin is going out too - 2-5 in the 3rd. Not a good day.

Meanwhile, Fernando "Don't Call Me Pancho" Gonzalez is making short work of JoJo. Roddick and Braccilai are back on court... for now. I sense rain.

I came back just in time for the last couple of shots :) :) :)

I have missed seeing Nastya's smile! It's good to have it back.

shame abt marat :-(

also hewitt through - bad day.

Murray's play impressed me greatly. But I'm becoming fearful of his future - of the at least latent arrogance, the posible brattishness, the sense that he comes from a generation schooled out of manners by hip-hop and computer games. I don't know if I want to watch the triumphant progress of a young man like that.

Nadal and Safin were my tips for the top. So much for the top.

Thanks goodness I had Hatful of Hollow and Monopoly to guide me along the path to social niceness.

Stupid prediction time: Ancic-Nalbandian final. Federer to implode in an epic GS semi for the third time this year.

They were all laying into the Williams sisters on Lynam's show last night ("rudest people I've ever interviewed", etc); I almost wished Dan Perry had been there for a bit of balance. Almost. Gerry Williams turned up, was asked for his favourite Wimbledon memories, said "Arthur Ashe..." and immediately regretted it because he got so choked up. What a strange, lachrymose character is Gerry.

I thought the women got extremely short shrift on the highlights show last night, considering there were three very tight matches involving title contenders, one of them a bizarre rollercoaster. Nice to finally see Gimelstob leapin' abaht. He looks a bit like...Dave Boyle.

This is something which interests me. It's something I welcome. There's an awful tendency in Britain, and perhaps especially in Scotland, to have arrogance bred out of you, to be brought up believing in the myth of the plucky loss, of the honourable defeat in the face of a superior opponent.

Not to say I don't respect that - if Murray loses today he should be rightly lauded, but we're looking for champions, aren't we? Let's start but changing the language. Let's not call it arrogance. Because in sporting terms, in the terms we're talking about here, arrogance is simply a negative spin on a positive thing, confidence.

Confidence, now that's something we want. The most important single aspect of sport, in fact. And if it borders onto arrogance then I believe it's only another faculty of play, as much a part of the technique of winning as the position of your feet for every top-spin backhand down the line. I don't exactly believe the hype, if you will, but as long as everyone else does, the job has been done.

I think Murray is an intelligent kid; I think he is a genuinely nice kid. In the last two matches he has stated he will lose. Is that humility, arrogance, realism or just mind games? Whatever, there's an air around him, there's a spark there, there's the energy and fragility and excitement within him that only the young can muster.

I dream of a day when every Scottish sportsperson believes that they are inherently better than every opponent they face, even if statistics or commentary suggest otherwise. I look forward to the next 10 years of brash, bold, thrilling Andrew Murray.

I think however that there's an awful sense of fear in Scotland of people thinking they can win stuff (see Ally McLeod, 1978 version, for how much this can backfire). I don't think Scotland's ever recovered from that as a sporting nation, and heaping it all on the shoulders of an 18 year old kid isn't going to help us, or him.

Ooooh Sharapova. Sad to see her make heavy weather of her walk-over match against Srebotnik earlier on, still hasn't ironed out the problems that dogged her at Birmingham last week. I'm hoping she can tighten up her game now she's in the last 16.
We could be together too.

Ah yeah, yay Murray and all that.

No he doesn't. He looks like a teenage John Gordon Sinclair. This is not URBAN.

I am stupidly impressed with young Mr Murray. I was expecting him to get horsed when faced with a previous finalist, but he is forcing all manner of errors out of Bandyboy and I'm sorry I doubted him now.

I think Flyboy is doing him a disservice. He looked all in by the fifth set, and I think putting in an effort in the third when that was evidently beyond him would have just finished him off sooner. He was within one dodgy decision of serving for the match, don't forget.

If he gets in - he was a wildcard here, ranked 300+. Last 32 of a GS will probably halve his ranking but maybe not enough to skip the qualifiers at Flushing Meadow. But, y'know, he should walk those. He's patently a top-30 talent who is a bit raw and lacks the requisite stamina. He'll enjoy himself over best-of-three when he graduates to the main tour and will be a threat at the Slams in a coupla years. I'm ashamed to say I just couldn't root for him though - maybe if he'd been playing someone I wasn't so fond of - a Hewitt or a Roddick. I thought it was Bandy's from 2-0 in the 3rd.

One player with a great U-18 record who burned out in a similar fashion on his major debut was Stefan Edberg. Having won the junior grand slam in '83, he led Johan Kriek by two sets in r2 at Wimb '84, playing perfect serve-volley. Ultimately, Kriek recovered and won the last three sets for the loss of six games as the Swede wilted. Later that summer SE got a hardcourt lesson from McEnroe at Flushing Meadow in an embarrassingly one-sided match. Within 15 months Edberg had won his first GS title. Watch out for Murray at the 2007 Aussie Open.

Cracking day all round, maybe better than Tuesday; Craybas has just beaten Serena W 6-3 7-6 in a bizarre match on court #2 (they were supposed to be the 4th match on Centre but were switched outside when Murray-Bandy ran late); Serena failed to hold any of her first five service games. When Williams finally started to play, Jill C someone raised her level too: from appearing to choke when serving for a 5-3 2nd set lead, she held her nerve and the Serena errorfest resumed in the breaker. The Federer-Kiefer match had its pleasures, Coria's comeback vs Melzer was thrilling (can he trouble Roddick?), Ferrero was utterly inspired in the last three sets vs Mayer and Kim chugs painlessly on.

The last 16s:

Federer-Ferrero
Gonzalez-Youzhny
Hewitt-Dent
Ancic-Lopez
Mirnyi-Johansson T
Nalbandian-Gasquet
Tursunov-Grosjean
Coria-Roddick

Davenport-Clijsters
Maleeva-Kuznetsova
Mauresmo-Likhovtseva
Myskina-Dementieva
Pennetta-Pierce
Williams V-Craybas
Petrova-Peschke
Dechy-Sharapova

yeah I really like nalbandian - excelelnt all round game, can play on all surfaces and just hope he'll win a slam someday. utterly gutted when hewitt beat him in the final a cpl of years ago. Murray may have his day. I don't think he should play the juniors next week - its just not his scene anymore.

nalbandian-gasquet will be good.

damn I switched it off after murray thinking all the matches were over so I missed serena.

Ferrero looks in good touch (hurrah!) and I'm hoping for a classic on monday. Really liking Coria's play so you never know.

also - what was hantuchova (sp?) saying to venus' father?

I'm very sad about Andy Murray, someone texted me that result. I guess the first real test of his career is really whether he has the work ethic to transform his fitness - he's not naturally athletic à la Nadal, so he'll have to have Henin-Hardenne levels of dedication to get to that level. Still, a really great effort. I hope the media remember that he still won't even be in the top 150 after Wimbledon and top-level results will not be immediately forthcoming.

I'm not looking forward to Coria v Dickhead, the conditions and surface and game match-up are ludicrously in Anita's favour and it could well be something of a rout :(

Statistical oddity - Mary Pierce's Grand Slam wins so far:

1995 - Australian Open
2000 - Roland Garros
2005 - ???

Her draw has certainly fallen apart enough to take advantage: she beat Venus at the Olympics and Sharapova at the US Open, and all the top contenders in the top half are notorious chokers. And if she's playing well enough to routine Ivanovic (whom I clearly jinxed by bigging up), things are looking up for Mademoiselle Marie.

Surprise of the day so far: Ancic is having a bit of a 'mare with his serve. Nine double faults have seen him drop the first set to Lopez and quickly go a break down in the second. He's recovered that but is struggling to hold again. Johansson (T) has broken the Beast.

Another subject of murmurs of admiration and "Name on the cup" tittle-tattle who isn't folding utterly is AmelieM - up a set and two breaks of the Oddbins serve. The Beast has yet to roar against TommyJ - going meekly thus far, two sets and a break in deficit.

Heard a bit of Dent's postmatch conf on the radio, where he was quizzed about his not-very-well-disguised weight-gain. He was very affable about it all until someone mentioned John Daly. "John Daly? Jeez, c'mon! John Daly?"

Now code violation. SHUT UP HEWITT.

Sultry Brown Cow Eyes is out! In straight sets to a frankly inspired Feliciano López. Commentators seem to be slightly confused by the sight of a serve-volleying Spaniard who has posed naked.

Mesmo downs the cheap booze in straight sets too!

Bandy thru with a third-set bagel, TJ "Okker" smoothly past Maxine, Chewy masticates Arthur in set two.

What are the odds on Jill Craybas getting blitzed 6-0 6-0 today?

I think Lleyton Hewitt will win. No reason, just a gut feeling. I have no choice, seeing as I know next to nothing about it.

Venus now halfway there.

I want to catch some Clijsters and all of Federer when I get home from work.

I love both of them. I want the winner of Myskina v Dementieva to WIN IT ALL.

Dement breaks, serves for the match...

.. thrown away.

Nastya takes tiebreak 11-9!

Not particularly interested in the Hewit match.

Can't find any pictures of her nice trainers, sadly.

Kuznetsova, OTOH... She's awesome.

Nastya goes up 3-1 in the third.

Actually I'm not that keen on Dementieva, either. Sharapova and Kuznetsova = YAY.

It's the players like Davenport and Clijsters I can't imagine inspiring passion - they're such girl-next-doors and really rather dull.

Davenport has that really cute hitch in her serve toss, plus she tees off on the ball like it owes her money. I love watching women smack the shit out of a tennis ball. Also she has won more majors.

So I love them both.

Roddick set, break up. Gonzalez looks to be overcoming Youzhny, two sets and 3-0 up there. Petrova through in three, while on #2 Grosjean's just missed two set points on his own serve.

Dave and the Clidge are terrific players - I especially love it when Kim does the splits mid-rally and then GETS BACK UP and continues as if nothing's happened - but ehhh. They're so stolid.

Nastya to serve for the match!

Myskina gets a crucial break to go 5-4 up, and now she's got two match points...

oh awesome, these two hate each other as well. There was an Incident a few years ago between Nadia's coach and Maria's dad which ended with one of them pushing the other into a bin. I forget which one it was though.

you should point out that they were watching HISTORY! the start of the tennis Russian Revolution. And history is not always pretty.

Indeed. Mysky percentage of won serves: 47.8; Dementieva 48.8.

- A set and 1-4 down, then 0-3 in the final set, in the first round
- 1-5 down in the final set in the third round
- Two match points down in the fourth round

Is she trying to give her fans coronaries?

(Though I still love Myskina too)

I'm prepared to endure a few palpitations

Big Dave misses match point opportunity at 5-4 up on Kim's serve, Clijsters pulls it back to 5-5.

Kim takes the tiebreak! Davenport starts to slouch.

And then Kim goes all Chokey McChoke Choke. We've never seen THAT before, right?

SEE LEX???? Clijsters = awesome. (Shame about the double-fault though; I guess Belgium had a special on those this year.)

Davenport was very impressive throughout

SEE?????????? Davenport = awesome.

Davenport v Kuznetzova
Mauresmo v Myskina
Mary Pierce v Venus Williams
Petrova v Sharapova

most of them have looked strong this past week. could be some close matches from now on

Pierce-Venus will be interesting, tho - Mary's dumped Ivanovic and Pennetta for the loss of just 9 games in successive matches, while Venus has yet to lose a set all tournament. Mauresmo-Myskina... Amelie's been a semi-finalist here twice. Myskina's reached the fourth round here twice. You'd reckon the French lass might just be the favourite there.

Incidentally, is anyone watching Tursunov-Grosjean? It's into its fifth set (Tursunov took the fourth 6-3, having been 5-0 up), and really does look quite interesting.

Fed leading by two sets and 6-5 up, serving out for it... they've pulled it in favour of University Challenge. I am imagining the colour of the air in the Macpherson house...

Knowles and Venus just broke Perry and Els.

I really want Sveta, Nastya and Nadia to pull off their respective upsets tomorrow. Annoyingly, I don't see any of them succeeding - but I do see Pierce upsetting Venus in the one match I'm not that bothered about. Pierce is ranked ahead of Venus though, so I guess it wouldn't be an upset.

Pierce is looking really very good but that 'one match at a time' cliche has never applied more as it does here.

following myskina via teletext - the one match the interactive freeview didn't show that I hoped it did!! awesome stuff.

Davenport's wz a powerful display but Kim kept at it, never gave up, and got that 2nd set but her serve fell off in the 3rd.

Ferrero was really awesome in the third: again, never gave up - I think he'll be a serious contender in future if he can get up round the net, and knows what to do when he gets there, just for a bit of variation that surely will be needed.

Draw - FOR MEN:

Federer-Gonzalez
Hewitt-Lopez
Johansson-Nalbandian
Grosjean-Roddick

For some reason, my eyes really lit up upon seeing TJ still there. He probably won't get any further, Anita's most likely got Seb's number, Federer's definitely got Hewitt's... something about this seems weirdly familiar.

Ironically, this is Ferrero's best Slam performance of the year so far.

GIRLS

Davenport d. Kuznetsova :(
Mauresmo d. Myskina :(
Pierce d. Williams
Sharapova d. Petrova :(

BOYS

Federer d. Gonzalez
Hewitt d. Lopez (would not be surprised at upset though)
Nalbandian d. Johansson
Roddick d. Grosjean :(

I am so mad that Venus and Mary are meeting now! That would have been an awesome final.

Not too upset though - given how much she'd been struggling this year with everything, making the quarters for the first time was a terrific achievement for her. And it does look like she's slowly rediscovering her game and confidence. Mauresmo played superbly, anyway, and I like her too - will be supporting her if Sveta and Nadia lose today.

First set of Nadia v Maria was very entertaining - at one point a Sharapova backhand was called long and she tried to pull rank on the officials, wailing "no, no!" Nadia merely rolled her eyes and held her hands very far apart as if to say "oh come on, brat, it was THIS far out!" Nadia was serving spectacularly throughout but lost the tiebreak because she's totally flaky.

Some of Clijsters' athletic running about only fully impressed me on a third viewing, this morning.

Is no-one going to join me in approval of TAYLOR DENT? It seems the kind of enthusiasm Cozen might discover.

If we're going to have a three-setter today, it'll have to be Kuzzy and Dave-O.

Like Cook, I would like to see many Scottish athletes reminding the world of that great country's virtues. Perhaps Andrew Murray can be among them. Should such success come, let us hope that they can meet it with a grace and dignity that inspires us, rather than by flattering Britain's most crass and stupid instincts.

OTM. That third set was just... gladiatorial.

Oh, everyone's talking about today now... Why am I at work?

It seems to have been 3-4 30/15 for a long time on the Pierce serve. Perhaps I've broken my IBM Scoreboard by ignoring it for 45 minutes.

It could happen - Pierce with two serves to come for the breaker!

Perhaps. I dunno, I can't see it.

Allez Amélie!

(Aw Mary, I'm sorry.)

Heavens above, Maria Of The Golden Shoes put me through the ringer today. By sheer force of will "our" Maria battled through the first set. Fucking misery-guts, whatsherface Petrova shaking her head and tutting every point Sharapova won, then had the cheek to act all belligerent when Sharapova questioned a desision. Petrova grumbled at fucking everything! You'd think she'd have got used to losing by now, but no.

Our Maria s'gonna have to really concentrate aganst Williams. Extrordinary game against Pierce: cringing for Pierce in the first set, just praying she'd get something anything on the board, but, conversley to Sharapova, Williams had to slug it out in the final sets. Poor Mary though, props to her, bloody hell what a comeback.

My daughter seemed very taken with the footage of Sharapova's birthday party that they showed while it was raining. It sent a brief chill down my spine.

hoping for bandy to win it all but that prob won't happen.

as for the women - want mauresmo to win it all but again don't think that'll happen.

federer won the 1st with some triffic counterpunching, btw. he's taken the 2nd but gonzalez is really trying his heart out. Incredibly holds after federer puts everything in the 4th game of the 3rd.

lopez trying to push it to a 3rd set breaker.

And Grosjean looks about to lose the second set. I believe the operative word is "shit".

Ava is refusing to comply with my Wimbledon Fortnight Regulation VII part 2(a) - "..banana puree lunch should be followed by a pleasant nap in the cot, during which the Child should not seek to disturb the Father by mewling, wailing or getting all jammed up against the crib bumpers on account of precocious flipping and proto-crawling. Cooing is acceptable..."

MEN'S SINGLES LATEST
First round: Court 16
A Dupuis Fr v T Berdych Cz
6-7 (5-7) 5-7 6-3 6-7 (4-7)

a.k.a. I Love Computerglitches

Too right. Seven straight games for Pandy. Frankie Valli was talking rubbish.

Bandy, having played so well to catch up in a first set that always seemed to be running away from him, ballooned a backhand wide for no particular reason at 5-6 in the breaker and is now 0-3 in the 2nd. Aside from the usual Federer magic, this is turning into a very bad day.

(Computer glitch #2: I believe the Washington-Frazier score is still up too).

Ava still Does Not Get It. Even after removing wasp danger from her room with a backhand smash. Meanwhile, Ceefax is showing point-by-point updates from Rosewall-Drobny. I think the youngster loses this one.

Ooh, a Bandy break. Do not despair.

roddick up a break in the 5th - merde!!

Today I watched Barker's interview with Murray,then the 4th set from his last match on Saturday (I only saw 1.5 on the day). I was surprised that he came close to winning the match in that set - I'd not realized it, having heard that he'd just fizzled out.

In the interview, Murray was sensible and restrained. It strikes me now that perhaps it is the 'adults' talking about him who are inane, rather than Murray himself. I have decided that I agree about Cook's distinction between confidence and arrogance, too.

Murray said he did not like Barker's dubbing the hill 'Murrayfield'. He said that this was because it didn't rhyme - meaning, in fact, that it is not alliterative, unlike 'Murray Mount'. But his instinct is right, if only because there is *already* a Murrayfield - surely this is the real fatal flaw with Barker's policy. So, again, I can back Murray. I don't feel sure he will win much in the future; I don't think I can imagine him beating Hewitt, for instance. But I think I am ready now to look forward to watching him try.

I was moved when Connors in his commentary on the match said 'This is what you live for - two great players on Centre Court - whether you're playing or watching'. *What you live for*? That is generous, I thought: that is a large, humane declaration.

The two most striking things about the '82 final footage - the insane amount of time McEnroe in particular is taking between points (no wonder it was the longest-ever final) and the incessant chorus of coughing from the crowd. Either the Beeb have developed better directional mics in 20+ years since or the nation have finally packed in the Woodbines.

So, if play is ultimately washed out today - all four semis on Centre tomorrow, with perhaps a noon start? They wouldn't risk it, surely? If not, who gets demoted to court #1?

We just got to see some Nystrom/Pernfors veterans' doubles during the Connors Q&A! Pernfors hit a winner behind his back! That was it!

And yes, she gets the break back!

Big Dave appears to have the break back. Well done, Dave.

I hope this is inspiring Serena to practice.

haha sample BBC: "And after a long rally of high-quality tennis and high-pitched screeching, Sharapova nets"

The thought of Davenport or Mauresmo beating Venus seems utterly ludicrous right about now.

The Watson household have decided that, with an evil death stare masking her pretty face and her general demeanour and attitude, Ms Sharapova is, in fact, Chloe O'Brien from 24.

Do we know how this is going to improve Venus' ranking?

She was incredible! I'm so glad I didn't have a vested interest in that match, I might have had a heart attack. Apart from her eternal weakness of not being able to run very fast, Sharapova really did very little wrong apart from overhitting a few times - she fought to the end, it's hard to believe the second set was really 6-1. But Venus - incredible. She's back. I loved her reaction on winning match point - no smile at first, just hands in the air and a stony glare around, as if to say: "I told you so. I'm back, bitches." Then after the handshake she suddenly let it all out and made me remember how utterly charming her smile is.

Other semi-final was notable for exquisite points mixed in with MASSIVE CHOKES from both. Mauresmo was up 5-2 in the first set, and double faulted on her first match point. Davenport served for it at 6-5 up, and contributed a forehand smash which landed in the vicinity of Court 2 and - guess what - a double fault. Every time someone broke in set 2, they dropped serve immediately afterwards. I really, really, really want Mauresmo to win, and the delay will help her more than Davenport, but it's not looking good at all.

(Venus will make mincemeat out of whoever does win, anyway.)

I saw bits of that old final too. I didn't realise John McEnroe was quite so dashing in his younger days (when he wasn't throwing a tantrum).

:(

Okay, I just wanted to fucking smash something after that match, but Venus was astonishing.

This Federer v Hewitt match is a bit of a plodder.

I hope Venus gives Davenport the thrashing of her life and FORCES HER INTO RETIREMENT.

Venus was astonishing yesterday - perhaps the best performance I've ever seen from her. Mesmo is as Mesmo does - I don't think she'll ever win a Slam.

http://yel-a-0.sportinglife.com/images/sharapovawimb05sfwoe.jpg

:(

There. Too many squandered break points, too many wild backhands, but, hey, Shara still had the best tennis shoes by far. And that must count for something, right?

In the men's doubles, Team Bros play Team Moody Hussy in the final. The ladies still haven't finished the quarter-finals yet! I thought Mesmo would pull out for sure, but no, she and Sweater are a set up on Discount Booze and the Cry Baby. Tapping their feet impatiently in the semis are ALG/Grandmartina, Black/Huber and Stewart/Stosur.

They haven't finished the quarters in the mixed either, but Bhupathi/Pierce won that match earlier. I think Rochus had a crisis of masculinity throughout, he was finding it tough to return Mary Pierce's serve while she was murdering his, and he kept fluffing really easy volleys. Also he was a foot shorter than Kim.

It's a miracle my TV set is still in one piece. 6-7 6-2 7-6 7-6 to the Dickster. He sucks. Go Fedge!

Wouldn't it be nice if he never ever won Wimbledon?

(xpost!)

Boys' title goes to Jeremy Chardy of France, girls' title to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

There are so many routes to eventual disappointment for the watching Roddick-hater - today it was a case of bumbling along the noisefloor of near-zero expectation after Pandy had ripped thru the second and then finding that Scarlett's sheer perseverance gradually replenished the hope caddy. The outrageous net-cord was the hole in the bottom.

Worst net-cord since the Becker-Lendl match-point in the 5th t-b in the '88 Masters final, ending a 37-stroke rally in Copperhead's favour. Or maybe the net-cord that flicked Boris's pass over Rostagno's racket as BB faced m-p in the US Open nine months later.

Y'know, I think my loathing of Roddick is reaching Becker proportions. I'd hoped I'd grown out of all that. Roddick win tomorrow = worse than Liverpool winning the Champs Lge.

I hope Venus has now found her game for GOOD, for too much of the match she's been playing with the form which saw her drop firmly out of the top 15.

Really good drama, but it fucking sucks in a way because the game was hers until 4-2. Still, Venus, at points, during the tournament, was the best she's been (let's forget some of the first few rounds, shall we?), and she's the more likeable of the Williams sisters, so good on her.

Either this will push Serena through the swingdoors marked "Alternate Career" or she'll knuckle down and try to get as good as sis.

I had a tear in my eye!

I'm so, so happy for Venus...her uncontained joy was amazing.

gutted for thomas but roddick has so much determination to make up for lack of damn class bah. and he's coming in the net more. given federer's 'close but no cigar' sorta year I'm fearing the worst.

hope I'm wrong. xxxp

1. Lindsay Davenport (1)
2. Maria Sharapova (2)
3. Amélie Mauresmo (3)
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova (6)
5. Elena Dementieva (5)
6. Serena Williams (4)
7. Justine Henin-Hardenne (7)
8. Venus Williams (16)
9. Nadia Petrova (8)
10. Anastasia Myskina (10)
11. Alicia Molik (9)
12. Patty Schnyder (11)
13. Mary Pierce (14)
14. Kim Clijsters (13)
15. Vera Zvonareva (12)
16. Elena Likhovtseva (17)
17. Elena Bovina (15)
18. Nathalie Dechy (18)
19. Jelena Jankovic (19)
20. Ana Ivanovic (21)

didn't serena just win the australian, though? it wasn't that long ago...

Bizarro inconsistencies - all three Slam champions this year have done shit at the other two Slams. Which is why they're not in the top 5, and the top 3 is comprised of people who haven't won a Slam in the past year...two of whom seem to be making it their current raison d'être.

*unless they're Lindsay Davenport or Amélie Mauresmo in the latter stages of a Slam.

I'm hoping for a Borg-Connors '78-style massacre today. Come on Roger.

Federer, on the other hand, is indeed a Golden God.

But, yes, Federer is just awesome.

No. But I like Federer more.