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8.55 pm: The schedule for tomorrow has been released. It’ll be here on the site any minute now. Nadal – Soderling will be first up on No.1 Court, you’ll be pleased to know.

Right, that’s your lot, this is Drew signing out. Thanks for all the questions, comments and particularly for all the kind words throughout the day. See you here tomorrow, same time, same place. Always a pleasure, never a chore…

8.06 pm: When did we do away with net cord judges? asks Daniel. Hmm, 10 years ago, I think. I’d say 1996 or 1997. Bob asks about the third set of juniors – it’s a super tie-break, first to 10, two points clear. How many points do players earn in Grand Slams? A question from Nicole in Germany. 1000 when you win a Slam, 700 as a runner-up, 400 for semis, 250 for quarters, 150 for fourth round, 57 for 3rd, 35 for second, 5 for first.

Do I play tennis myself? asks Blair. Don’t have the time – too busy writing about it!

7.53 pm: Which are the show courts? asks Zak. Centre, then 1, 2, 3, 13 and 18.

Meanwhile, Frank from Canada has the following explanation for tennis vocabulary – and I have to say, I’m entirely convinced! “Tennis was the royal game at court in Paris. (Real tennis = royal tennis, the original indoor version of tennis before lawn tennis). Hence, we now have the English versions of all the original French names....
Court = court in French.
Tennis = tenez (take hold of or seize your weapon -- a tennis racquet in this case, also a French word)
Let = filet (French for net)
15, 30, 40 and game come from the quarter hours of the clock face - 40 being modified from 45 = quinze, trente, quarante-cinque, jeu.
Jeu de paume was the old French handball game.
Deuce = deux -- the two points you need to win if the score is tied at 3 points each.
Advantage = avantage.
Service = service.”
Brilliant stuff!

7.43 pm: Frank from Munich, just up the road from where I live in Zurich, informs me that in scrolling terms, my weather references can be found at 3.09, 2.57, 2.24, 1.04 and 11.42. Good man!

Thousands of you are asking about latest Wimbledons ever. There was a third Wednesday in 1922 after it rained cats and dog all tournament. We’ve used middle Sundays in 1991, 1997 and 2004, and the men’s final in 2001 was played on the third Monday. The latter was due to late rain, so if the weather improves, I’m confident we’ll get through the backlog.

7.26 pm: NO MORE PLAY TODAY. It’s started raining again so they’ve called off the rest of the day’s play.

7.22 pm: Will the tournament direction ask players to play twice in a day if the weather does not improve? asks Feofaaki from the land of long white cloud (New Zealand). Hopefully not. Maybe the winner of Rafa and Soderling would have to finish off their third round tie early then play a fourth round tie at the end of the day. Hopefully not though. Tomorrow is the cut-off point for third round matches though (3rd – Wed, 4th – Thu, quarters – Fri, semis – Sat, final – Sun).

Tennis Hack (good mail address!) asks whether the doubles might have to stretch over into a second week. Possible…

Michael from Poland is worried about Ana’s strapped up knee. Purely a precaution. I sometimes wear one when I’m trotting around touch rugby pitches.

7.18 pm: Yes folks, No.3 is a show court with TV coverage so you will be able to see Venus and Maria if and when they come back out.

A lot of you saying that FedEx is getting all the breaks and Rafa none of them. Well, at least the Majorcan is getting valuable match practice, while Roger is kicking his heels. He must be going stir crazy – not playing for five days. But yes, he will be very well rested by the time he finally plays again, whereas Rafa will have bitten his nails down and worn out the batteries in his walkman.

7.10 pm: Cristiano wants to know where Rocket Roger is practising. In the All England Club indoor courts – they are covered courts a mere stone’s throw away from the press centre here. My colleague Mike saw him in there today.

7.01 pm: Mikael from Finland thinks that all Drews are female (nope, Ms Barrymore is the only female Drew. Me, Drew Bledsoe, Drew Brees and lots of Scottish people are all blokes). Anyway, he asks about the capacity of the various courts. Click here then on the various courts to take a look around, see the facts and figures etc...

6.58 pm: All remaining matches on outside courts cancelled for the day. We’re still hopeful for the show courts though, and that includes No.3 where Venus and Maria are scheduled to come back out.

Lars from wonderful wonderful Copenhagen wants to know how we can slow services down. Well this debates comes around every so often, but other than making the grass a little longer, we haven’t had to do much – players just get better at returning.

6.52 pm: Don’t know why, there’s no sun up in the sky, stormy weatherrrrrr…

Challenges in tie-breaks and fifth sets, asks Philip from Soderlingland. One more challenge each in a tie-break, an extra three challenges every 12 games in a third (women’s) / fifth (men’s) set after 6-6.

6.41 pm: Shortest ever game: in 1995, Brandi and Ondruska beat Ho and Steven 0-0, 0-15 retired. Steven served, Ho tried to return but strained his back and that was that.

6.38 pm: Anton asks why tennis balls are green. They’re yellow, actually, as that’s the easiest colour for the eye to see. Hence New York cabs being yellow. And if you want your favourite blogger to take a yellow NY cab or two in late August/early September, don’t forget to use the contact form at the bottom of the usta.com homepage… Tee hee!

6.32 pm: Soderling races through his service. 4-4. It’s raining in Paris and Germany as well, apparently. Why do some courts resume quicker than others? Due to the covers etc. And… RAIN DELAY. I kid you not!

6.25 pm: Dave from Heathrow reckons the weather is set fair so we should get lots of play. And that consequently I owe him photos of Vaidisova and Ivanovic. You got it, David.

6.24 pm: Ovidiu in Romania wants to know why we go 15, 30, 40, game. We had this the other day. I said quarter past, half past, quarter to, game and then someone rounded 45 down to forty. I was then informed that it came from a British navy game centuries ago when they had 15, 30 and 40-pound cannons.

Andrea from the States asks if players can change racquets whenever they want. Yes. Just not mid-point (unless they hit a really slow, high lob…)

Soderling serves and holds. 3-3 in the decider…

6.17 pm: Stjepan from Croatia asks whether we’ll finish Wimbledon before the US Open starts. Cheeky! Very funny though… The Rafa and Robin show is warming up again, for the umpteenth time today.

6.13 pm: Soderling and Nadal are back out. My Swede readers (Sweders?) are on the edges of their metaphorical seats. Who can hold their nerve better after so many breaks. Is this the most interrupted match of all time? you all ask. Hmm… probably!

6.07 pm: Centre and No.1 ready to start in the next five minutes.

Natalie from the Netherlands (Netherland Natty, I think I’ll call her) wants me to ask Robin Soderling to shave his beard off. He’ll probably have Tipsarevic-style facial hair by the time they ever finish his match.

Plenty of you asking about next Monday. It shouldn’t be necessary. Here’s my theory (assuming better weather from tomorrow onwards, which is the forecast):
Wednesday: (assuming we can finish the ones we’ve started): four men’s fourth-rounders, two quarters. All ladies quarters (providing Maria and Venus can finish today).
Thursday: Remaining men’s quarters, women’s semis.
Friday: Men’s semis. Hang on, we’re up to date! Simple as, folks (I know, I know, that assumes no more rain…)

5.59 pm: COVERS COMING OFF!

A lot of you have asked why the women get parity in terms of payment without having to play five-setters. “Quite apart from the moral case for parity, the remarkable quality and depth of play demonstrated by professional women tennis players, combined with the global popularity and media and sponsor interest in our players, merits equal prize money at all the Grand Slams," says Larry Scott, CEO of the WTA Tour.

5.48 pm: Ksenija from Serbia asks about love. In tennis, I mean – this isn’t a dating website. It comes from the French, l’oeuf, meaning the egg, which looks like a zero. Speaking of French, Soizic from France (in fact most likely from Brittany with a name like that) has posted to ask what the most popular item in the Wimbledon shop is. When I was in there today, as you guessed, Soiz’, it was umbrellas.

Latoya asks whether there would be more interest in the mixed doubles if more seeded players entered. Good idea. They’ve changed the doubles rules in most tournaments recently to make play more exciting - the super tie-break is a first to ten, two points clear match played when it is one set all. There is also the “No ad” rule, where at 40-40, the next point wins and the returner chooses the court for service. They have also given wild cards here this year to the likes of the Williams sisters to improve the profile of doubles in general.

5.40 pm: Darkness falls across the land. All of you who suggested floodlights – I’m beginning to come around to your way of thinking. And roofs. Every court.

Tonia from Nigeria asks about the tournament ace leader board. At the end of yesterday, it was Michaella Krajicek (36), Serena (33) and Daniela Hantuchova (26). In the men’s, it was Arthurs (65), Ljubicic (55) and Berdych (53).

5.17 pm: Darkness and deluge.

Michael wants to know the shortest match. Hmm… shortest ever final was when Suzanne Lenglen beat F.I Mallory in 1922 – 23 minutes. So quick, she had a court named after her at Roland Garros.

Sheryl wants to know about player towels. They belong to the Championships, I’m told. You can buy replicas from the online shop, though!

5.09 pm: Play suspended. We have the mother, father and first cousin once removed of all storms on the way…

5.08 pm: Thunderstorm! Nadal’s off, some other play is continuing. Nadal must be soooooo annoyed!

5.06 pm: Tony from Switzerland chips in with the longest match ever around the world. “At the 2004 French Open Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement (both French) played the longest match since the Open era of professional tennis began in 1968. The match began on Monday, May 24 but play was suspended in the 5th set when darkness fell. The game resumed the next day and Santoro finally beat Clement 16-14 to win the fifth set. The 71 game marathon lasted a total of 6 hours, 33 minutes on court (beating the former record of 6:22 played by John McEnroe and Mats Wilander at the 1982 Davis Cup). The match score was: 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 16-14.”

5.03 pm: Grand slam winner in trouble alert! Soderling breaks to level at 2-2 with Nadal.

Since Venus is coming out for the singles, they’ll reschedule the doubles (a lot of you were presuming she’d have to dash from one court to another!).

5 pm: Oh, winners a-go-go. Davydenko beats Monfils in straight sets. Davy will face Baghy in the fourth round tomorrow, then the winner of the whole Hewitt/Djokovic/Kiefer shebang in the quarters. It’s one-all, the German having taken the second on the tie-break.

4.55 pm: Joao asks about juniors. If it’s one set all, they play a super tie-break, first to ten, two points clear.

David from Oz-tralia asks if Ana can win Wimbledon this year. I predict that the winner of her match with Vaidisova will make the final and face Justine (who’ll just edge Serena). And in the final… hmm… I’m still going for Justine (though I though Amelie would get through!)

4.52 pm: Roddick sweeps the first set 6-2. Hewitt wins in four sets! He’ll face the winner of Djokovic and Kiefer in the fourth round (tomorrow, that’ll be). Nadal and Soderling are back out.

4.43 pm: Kiefer and Djokovic are back out. Roddick has broken. Rafa’s coming out, as are Maria and Venus. Get your Wimbledon LIVE now!

Matt refines the warm-up timings after rain delays: “No warm-up is allowed if the delay is 10 minutes or less. If the delay is 11-20 minutes, a 3 minute warm-up is allowed, and if the delay is 20 minutes or more, a 5 minute warm-up is allowed.” Well done, squire.

4.39 pm: Bartoli beats Jankovic! Wow! Bartoli to face the “little Kraai” Krajicek next up. Who said that shocks were on the menu today? That’s right, Uncle Drew.

Eline from Belgium asks about the longest ladies game. Chandra Rubin beat Patricia Hy in 3 hours 45 minutes in 1995, two tie-breaks and 17-15, no less. All in one day.

4.30 pm: Roddick and Mathieu are underway, and ooh, Ana Ivanovic has a match point and wins! She’ll play Vaidisova next up.

This is the ideal time to watch Wimbledon LIVE. Your choice of nine courts, video on demand.

4.20 pm: Williams fans out there, don’t shoot the messenger, but Venus – Maria has been moved to court No.3.

Ah, Roddick and Mathieu are out. This’ll be a good game!

Stacey from the States asks about the longest ever match. 5 hours 28 minutes in 1989, when Holmes beat Witsken 14-12 in the fifth, stretched over three days. Philippoussis beat Schalken in five hours five minutes in one day in 2000 (20-18 in the final set!). Gonzales – Pasarell was 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9 in the days before tie-breaks. Oof! And to remind you, no tie-breaks in the fifth (or third sets for women) in Grand Slam events except at the US Open (which is why you sometimes see big numbers at the end of the scoreboard).

4.09 pm: Covers off!

Mikael for Finland: yes, the warm-up is ten minutes after a rain-break as well.

“White clothing?” asks a young lady from Oz (that’s Australia for those of you who asked) by the name of Annelies, which is my daughter’s name. See 12.46 pm (or press CTRL and F then type in “white” Clever, eh?).

Rabia wants to know if Borg’s here – haven’t seen him yet – and how to contact the US Open to suggest they have a blog, tee hee. I think you’d have to go on the usta.com site and use the “contact us” link at the bottom. Purely theoretically, of course.

3.59 pm: We’ve had a few questions about live scoring, who does it, who decides on winners and unforced errors. Statisticians do it all on IBM tracking equipment.

Most match points saved in a match, asks Philipp in Vienna. Soderling, who saved one against Nadal yesterday before the rain came, saved seven against Justin Gimelstob at Cincinnati in 2006. Kuerten won the 2000 Roland Garros final on the 11th match point after Magnus Norman had saved ten before.

3.48 pm: Sunshine at Heathrow. Thanks Dave.

Court 12 was demolished as part of a redesigning of the grounds. And let that be an end to the debate!

Aaron asks if Federer would rather have played, but as he points out, even a rusty Federer is better than most on grass. He’ll be practicing, no doubt against some lefties.

3.45 pm: “Why were some fourth round men's matches scheduled before third round matches?” asks Tim. To get people playing, is the simple answer, and to try to have players having the same amount of rest time. It’s making the best of a bad lot, really.

3.38 pm: Covers being deflated!

3.37 pm: When was the last totally rain-free Championships? asks Grace from Oz, tongue in cheek! 1995. I kid you not.

Branko of Croatia asks why there wasn’t a lucky loser to replace Haas and play Federer. LLs are only included before the tournament starts (e.g. Kevin Kim to replace Andy Murray, who pulled out the day before the tourney started).

3.33 pm: Right guys, I need to teach you how to …. altogether now… scroll down! Sergei says I should put anchor links in – you youngsters have it too easy these days! 10 years ago, you would have had to have submitted your queries in writing to a radio station that might have answered one question a week!

Christian from the UK, where’s court 12? It’s at 12.56pm.

3.23 pm: Darek sends sun from Poland. Thanks. Hopefully it’ll be here soon. Who can beat Federer? asks Ben from Oz. If he had an off day, then quite a few people. We’ll have to se how he is after a five-day break. I’m guessing that he’ll be… brilliant. Rested, eager, sharp…

Pablo points out that of all the people we mentioned who served up loads of aces, all but Philippoussis lost. Good point, my man.

Sheryl from the UK asks about used match balls. Scroll down to 10.55 am.

3.18 pm: Thank you David. I popped out to get myself a Wimbledon polo shirt to wear tomorrow.

Rakesh from the US writes in about another record, and yes, I can confirm, I am the fastest typist on the ATP tour.

How is it I speak a little Dutch? asks Menno. I worked on Euro 2000 in Rotterdam and since I could already speak German, I decided to learn Dutch. Helaas, I don’t get to practice it any more living in Switzerland.

David from the US asks what I do outside of Wimbledon. Well, I did the same as I’m doing now at Roland Garros, and if someone from the US Open website is reading this, maybe I’ll be heading out West in a few week’s time, who knows?

Right, that was the end of the “me” minute!

3.09 pm: Drew’s popped out and it’s David here providing a rain delay update. Even though there isn’t much in the way of rain at this moment, there has just been announcement that there are heavy showers heading towards Wimbledon so the covers are staying on.

3.02 pm: Tomas wants the court lay-outs. Here they are. I can’t believe how poorly Amelie served today and I’ll be interested to hear her own opinion on the matter.

Brian asks why Federer is in the quarter-finals without playing a fourth round match. Scroll down to 11.57 am. Paul here in the office suggests I should get a t-shirt with the slogan “scroll down!” on it!

2.57 pm: The rain is coming, with Ana Ivanovic serving for the match! Petrova appeals, and off they go at 5-4, 15-15. Pedro asks, if it rains really hard in the middle of a point, do they play on or stop? Usually they play on, but it’s up to the umpire’s discretion.

2.55 pm: Vaidisova wins! The defending champion is out!

Where is Southlands? asks Frank from Germany. Scroll down to 10.28 am.

2.53 pm: Amelie’s serve is stuck in the changing-rooms somewhere. Vaidisova is about to serve at 5-1 for the match. Mauresmo then gets a warning for hitting the ball out of the court. Trying times for the 2006 Champion.

2.50 pm : Vaidisova 4-1 up. Ferrero beats Tipsarevic on the tie-break to win. He’ll play Federer tomorrow (if Roger can remember how to play – he’s been off since last Friday).

2012 Olympics, asks Moira. Scroll down to 11.43 am, m’dear.
Adelia from Portugal re Centre Court roof. It will be capable of opening and closing, yes.
Giovanni: how long does a medical time-out last? Scroll down to 2.15 pm.

2.44 pm: Ivanovic breaks back. I can barely type quickly enough!

Who has the fastest serve? asks Pranay from India. Roddick – both in general and here this year (144 mph). Venus is the fastest in the ladies’ draw (124 mph), though Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, who didn’t qualify here this year, has the record (208 km/h – whatever that is in miles).

2.37 pm: We’re up to Ivo Karlovic - Daniele Bracciali, Wimbledon 2005, when Karlovic served 55 aces. Thank you to Viktor, Jos, Cristiano. Any advance on that?

Hewitt takes the third set to lead 2-1. Amelie is three games away from crashing out. Ferrero – Tipsarevic is going to a tie-break in the third. Jankovic has broken back. It’s all happening here!

2.33 pm: Vaidisova breaks to open the third. Told you there were some shocks in store!

Jock from Oz via France wants to know about prize money.

2.31 pm: Petrova breaks Ivanovic in the final set! Canas breaks back in the third! Bartoli breaks to open the decider! Too many exclamation marks!!!

2.28 pm: Mauresmo takes the second. Allez Ameliiiiiiiie !

Stephen from Oz and Ralph from Germany have updated my stats: “The most aces in a match on record is actually 51 by Johansson, who lost a four-setter against Agassi in the 4th round of the Australian Open in 2005.” Well done fellas.

2.24 pm: What time can we play until? asks Olga. Around nine o’clock. (Ooh, two minute til we start again!). Will we play next Monday? asks Vanessa. Nah. Trust me on this one. There will be one more rain break in total in this tournament (cue everyone starting an over/under…)

Dank jullie all wel for telling me that vraag is singular, vragen is plural. I just vergeten it.

Michael asks why so few upsets this year? Well Gonzalez (No.5) is out, Chakvetadze (No.8) and Hingis (No.9) also fell. And there’s more to come – you just watch…

2.18 pm: Nice weather at Heathrow, says Dave (Heathrow is just west of here and they get all the weather before us), so we should be set for a goodly amount of play soon! The players are warming up.

Players can get coached during rain delays – they can do what they want (after all, Rafa’s been on a rain delay since last night!). An injury time-out is 6 minutes, one per injury per set. Trainers can give players a quick rub-down in the two-minute change-overs as well.

2.10 pm: Covers are off!

Most aces in a match, asks Wiebe from The Netherlands. 46 by Mark Philippoussis when he beat Andre Agassi in 2003, tying Goran Ivanisevic who had 46 aces in a match in 1997. The most ever was 49 aces by Richard Krajicek vs. Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the 1999 U.S. Open quarterfinals. I think that these are up-to-date, but if not, someone will no doubt write in and tell me.

1.55 pm: Questions, questions, domande, Fragen, er… is it vragen in Dutch? Maxime suggests we buy a roof. Sigh. Anyone would think that some of you don’t read every word I write, every day… (just kidding). Here’s that link to the future be-roofed Centre Court again.

What do players do during breaks? many of you ask. They do what I do during breaks. Eat. Though it tends to be grated carrots and ‘nanas as opposed to the panini and chips I’m having as I type this (don’t tell the IBM guys that I’m getting the keyboard all messy).

David wants to know how the rain delays will affect Roddick. He’s a seasoned pro – he’s used to this. It’s the teenies who end up burning all of their nervous energy as they desperately wait to get back into action. Sampras apparently just used to lie down in the dressing room and go to sleep.

1.32 pm: People have been writing to tell me that Sybille Bammer has a significant other but isn’t married, while Patty has remained Schnyder although married to her coach Herr Hofmann.

And back on court, Bartoli takes the second set!

Ralph in Germany asks whether we’re planning a roof on No.1 Court. Not just yet. Though if it rains any more, I might build one myself. Covers coming back on…

1.27 pm: Play’s back on – Dave was right!

1.25 pm: How are Amelie’s legs? asks Emmanuel from Denmark. Fine. She keeps the strapping on her upper thigh but she reckons it’s fine.

How long is the warm-up? asks Pasko from Croatia. 10 minutes, Rafa always stretches it out for a minute or two more as well! Break between sets is just a normal change-over – 2 minutes.

Dave from Heathrow, who kept us informed on weather patterns yesterday, reckons we should be set for some better weather soon. Good man!

1.15 pm: Sridhar from the UK asks why the grass isn’t slippery after rain breaks. It’s thanks to inflated covers – they keep the rain off and dry the ground out.

Roberto from Spain asks how Baghdatis and Berdych are playing. Very well, the pair of them. Berdych’ll give Rafa a game in the quarters if they both get through. Baghdatis, the no-longer-bearded wonder, has a clearish run to the semis, but hey, Davydenko, Hewitt, Canas and Djokovic will all be saying the same.

Bob from Flanders (not The Netherlands, sorry) has sent his question in again – what is the greatest amount of matches completed in one day in Wimbledon or at other Grand Slams. No idea. 19 courts here, four-six matches a day – 76 – 114, but it’s not the kind of statistic that is readily available. Around a hundred probably on a sunny day. Speaking of which, the sun is back out. Hopefully the delay will be as short as possible.

1.04 pm: Jankovic breaks back again – 5-5. Mauresmo is a break up in the second. Hewitt is back up a break, 4-2, and… ARGH! RAIN!

GB who’s a Norwegian in the States asks which courts Wimbledon LIVE is on. Your choice!

Philippe points out that the juniors have two sets then a super tie-break. It’s an ITF rule – better for youngsters to keep the strain off them physically – and is also applicable to most men’s and women’s doubles matches (except in Grand Slams). The super tie-break is a first to ten, two points clear match. There is also the “No ad” rule, where at 40-40, the next point wins and the returner chooses the court for service.

12.53 pm: Petrova takes the second set form Ivanovic 6-2. Game on there and no mistake! Ditto on No.1, where Jelena and her lost contact lens are still a break down to Marion Bartoli, though JJ has just broken one back. Perhaps the lens has drifted back into place.

Why does play start quicker on Centre Court after a rain delay? asks Srinivas from India. High technology covers which keep the court drier. Richard from The Netherlands asks whether having Hawk Eye only on two courts favours the big players. Well other players can ask the umpire to overrule, but that is unlikely. Hawk Eye is a costly resource, though, but in a few years time, its usage will be more widespread as it’s been a resounding success so far this year.

12.48 pm: Ferrero takes a two-set lead over Tipsarevic. I saw JCF the other day against Blake and he looked very impressive. Hewitt and Canas are back out, on court 18 which is the one with a great aerial view for fans wandering across from Henman Hill.

Michael from SA – why does the scores say Miss P. Schnyder when she’s married (to the fellah with the moustache and the cap we were talking about yesterday), and the chair ump said “Mrs Schnyder). Er, dunno. I saw “Miss S. Bammer” on the board today and she’s married. Maybe it’s up to the ladies themselves to choose.

Gerry from Oz asks about wearing white. It’s a policy, not a traditional. “Predominantly white” is the original rule, which was updated to say “almost all white” a few years ago.

12.39 pm: Aisling and Emer mail in from Oz to ask when Gasquet – Tsonga will be on. Have a nap first – it’s after Jankovic and her contact lens then the end of Nadal. I’ll be covering that all French battle as well, surprise surprise! Someone also mailed in to ask if France is the new powerhouse of men’s tennis – well, they had 15 representatives here, which is more than any country, and we’re (whoops, they’re!) guaranteed a quarter-finalist due to the above match-up. The quantity is there – enough to win a David Cup, I reckon. And Gasquet is a cracking grass-courter so I look forward to seeing him against probably Roddick in the quarters.

12.35 pm: Sorry juniors fans, but since they are playing down in Southlands, we can’t give you live scores.

Petrova and Bartoli are a break up (though a set down) in the second, but aha, first winner of the day is Kuznetsova, who has beaten the 16-year-old Austrian prodigy Tamira Paszek. Svetlana will play the winner of Venus and Maria in the quarters.

Difference between “rain delay” and “play suspended”. Regular readers will know as we’ve had this before. “Rain delay” in a match, “play suspended” at the tournament in general.

12.30 pm: Vaidisova takes the first set on a tie-break, while the other courts are back under way, with Kuznetsova a break up. A quick dash through some of your millions of questions (Bob from Flanders complains that I didn’t answer his earlier question but didn’t repeat his query! Sorry my friend…)

Where is the o2 arena, where the 2009 Masters will be held? asks Alessandro. Here.
Giovanni wants to know what’s in the air, food or water in Croatia and can they blow it across to Italy? Ha – we could do with some of it up here in the UK!
Rabia from Lahore asks whether Soderling can keep up the momentum when they come back out. I’d back Rafa. He’s a break up and will be really annoyed at his match taking so long.
Who will trouble Rafa later on? Asks Rob fro Oz. Berdych. Mark my words.

Ooh, Jelena Jankovic has lost a contact lens and the trainer is having the devil’s won game finding it. I’ve just grossed out the rest of the office by suggesting she puts another in and finds the original one later – I did that once mid-match (it wasn’t tennis though…)

12.18 pm: Vaidisova holds, and the Ferrero breaks Tipsarevic in the 12th game to take the opening set (Jos the Boss had just mailed in his support of the Serb, so no wonder he lost the set – tee hee!)

Sue from Belgium asks about anti-doping regulations. In and out-of-competition testing exists. You can read more about it (all 88 pages!) on the ATP website.

12.11 pm: Vaidisova breaks back. This is getting silly. Can Mauresmo “hold the break” to win the set? (It’s 4-5, Vaidisova to serve).

Iren from Ireland – can players read, listen to mp3 players etc during the match? No sirree! They sometimes listen to music when coming on and going off court, but that’s frowned upon.

12.08 pm: Amelie breaks again. Can she now serve out? Bartoli gets back one of the breaks against JJ.

Questions about rain delays. Why “resumed matches” don’t go on first has been answered below, so scroll down. Do they have to resume on the same court? asks Eyal from Israel. Nope. They tend to during the day (though Davydenko – Monfils was moved yesterday) but they often move when the gap is overnight.

12.04 pm: Vaidisova breaks back. If Amelie’s serve is wonky, then Justine will eat her for breakfast. Assuming they both get that far…

Speaking of Serena, which we were a few minutes ago, she’s had lots of treatment and is still scheduled to play in the doubles with her big sis. I think she’ll give it a go – the best way of telling if you’re match fit is by playing a match. If it tightens up, she’ll just say “sorry Sis” and pull out, but I’m sure she’ll be out on court for the doubles.

And on the subject of doubles, the schedules are moved around if one of the doubles-ers is in the singles. And yes, it means that players often play twice in one day, but they know what they’re doing when they enter. Players only ever play two singles matches in one day in an absolute necessity (which won’t happen here this year).

12 pm: Many of you have asked about the Serena-Maria match-up. I would back Maria as she seems to be on slightly better form at the moment, but neither lady is playing to their full capacities, and I can’t see past Justine and Amelie for the final (though if Serena is fully fit, that will be one heck of a quarter-final between here and Justine).

11.57 am: Covers coming back off. Yay! Andrew from Oz asks this: “How come Federer is already into the QF's by a walkover over Tommy Haas?” Errr… you’ve just answered your own question there, Andrew! Haas had a stomach muscle strain and pulled out. Blimey, Amelie and Nicole are back out! That’s keen!

11.43 am: Amelie was a break up and Bartoli had a break point on Jankovic. They’ll be annoyed. Anyway, time for some questions (thank you for all of you who mail in just to say you’re enjoying the coverage – we appreciate that). Anyway: Olympics 2012 – yes, it’ll be held here, and yes, the groundsman will have his work cut out to prepare the lawns twice in one summer! And speaking of grass, yes, the juniors down at Southlands are playing on grass.

It seems to have stopped raining already, so let’s cross our heads, shoulders, knees and toes as usual…

11.42 am: ARGH. It’s raining. The players take refuge.

11.40 am: First set of the day goes to… Svetlana Kuznetsova, who takes the opener 6-3 over Tamira Paszek. Aha, mere seconds later, Ana goes 1-0 up over Petrova. Vaidisova and Mauresmo are deucing it up, while JCF (Ferrero) Tipsarevic are at 5-5.

11.32 am: Peter from Germany asks about resumptions. Yes, they resume at the same number of points they were at the day before, i.e. Soderling and Nadal will come back out at 30-30 as opposed to starting the game again.

11.25 am: Amelie breaks back. To love. Because she can. The game point involved a Hawk Eye challenge which was given out, Mauresmo challenged and indeed, it had clipped the line.

Ferrero and Tipsarevic is 3-3 in the only men’s action out there at the moment.

11.23 am: Vaidisova breaks Mauresmo, Ivanovic breaks Petrova, Kuznetsova breaks Paszek. The ladies certainly are doing their best to help us make up for lost time…

11.15 am: Jos from the Netherlands, whom we will call Jos the Boss, reckons that Bartoli will upset Jankovic today. Hmm, it’s off to a bad start for the Frenchie though, as JJ has already broken here.

Tat-leong from Singapore wants to know where the scores for the juniors are. All the scores are under “draws”. Click on “Draws by Event” and you’ll find all the scores on the doors.

11.10 am: Play ball! We’re under way. Vaidisova – Mauresmo has started, amongst others.

10.55 am: What happens to the balls once they are finished win? asks Phil from the UK. They are resold here on the grounds for charity. £1 per ball, £3 for a can of three and the money goes to “Balls for schools” to promote kids playing sports. They raised in excess of £15,000 last year, the very nice lady on the stand just told me.

10.45 am: Ooh, great news for British tennis! The ATP, governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuit, has announced that the Tennis Masters Cup will move from Shanghai to London's O2 Arena in 2009 and be renamed as the ATP World Tour Final. There is currently a press conference going on upstairs to announce it.

10.38 am: Gerdien from Spain but who’s Dutch (isn’t there something in the Dutch national anthem about that?) asks why “games to be completed” never start first (they come on second). If they started with the “games to be completed”, those coming on second wouldn’t know when they were starting – it could be 10 minutes, it could be two hours. At least this way, all those starting first know what time they will start, and those coming on second know that they will be on after one – two hours. There isn’t much of a difference, but it makes it slightly easier for players to prepare.

10.28 am: Ooh, the sun is still out, you lucky people. Questions – where is Southlands? ask Oliver (from Germany) and Bob (from the States). Right here. Davydenko – Monfils – where did it go last night? Read about it here.

10.10 am: Knock knock. Who’s there? Drew. Drew who? Drew Lilley, that’s who, here to take you through all the day’s action. But what about the weather, I hear you cry? Sunny! Not exactly tropical, but there is definite sun out there. I’m prepared to bet my lunch that play will start on time on all the courts.

Written by AELTC Staff