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9.59 pm: Aussie Rob gloats about the Woodies beating the Brits in their invitational doubles tie. Plus ca change… Genevieve from Belgium also thinks that we’re neglecting Justine. Good grief, usually I’m accused of favouritism towards Miss Henin, who is still my tip to go all the way (and win the one Grand Slam that still eludes her).

This will be the link for when the schedule goes up, and this is Drew bidding you a fond farewell. Family business will take me away from these pages for the remaining four days of the tournament, but I’m leaving you in the more than capable hands of my colleagues here. It’s been a pleasure writing this log for you, and thank you for all the questions, comments and particularly the kind words. I’m sure our paths will cross again soon. Take care, one and all, and keep enjoying your tennis…

9.20 pm: Rabia is still there in Lahore and wants to know if Hawk Eye takes into account where a ball bounces, how it skids on impact and if a ball can clip the line, skid a thou’, begin its bounce back upwards outside the court but still be called in. Yes. Hawk Eye tracks the trajectories and takes into account the impact, the ever so, ever so slight mis-shaping of the ball for a split-second and works it all out.

They’re still playing girls’ singles out there. I hope these Misses did their maths homework before going out on court…

9 pm: Ivanisevic and Pioline win 10-8 on a super tie-break. The crowd love it!

The full schedule’s not out yet, but I’ll pop it up when it is.

8.45 pm: Things winding down here, though Messrs Cash, Krajicek, Ivanisevic and Pioline seem to want to take it to a third set and play in the dark –I think the fans deserve a super tie-break there.

Just to reiterate since I got in a kerfuffle earlier - Federer – Ferrero and Roddick – Gasquet are men’s top-half quarters, on tomorrow. Hewitt – Djokovic, Youzhny – Nadal, Berdych – Bjorkman and Davydenko – Baghdatis are men’s bottom-half fourth-rounders on tomorrow, so the two quarters from there will be played on Friday and the semi on Saturday.

8.29 pm: Likhovtseva and Nestor beat Medina Garrigues and Prieto in the mixed, while Melo (he of the 28-26 epic earlier) and Paszek have beaten Damm and little Kraai Krajicek.

Regarding that men’s doubles match, here are the stats: 54 games in the final set (longest), 102 games in total (longest), 5 hours 58 minutes (second longest behind Knowles and Nestor beating Aspelin and Perry in 6 hours 9 minutes).

The longest ever final set was in the mixed doubles in 1985, when Michiel Schapers and Brenda Schultz (before she married Mr McCarthy) beat Tom Nijssen and Andrea Temesvari 29 – 27 in the decider. Oof.

8.22 pm: South and Bogdanovich win!

8.20 pm: South and Bogdanovich have broken top seeds Raymond and Bryan – it’s 5-3 to the Brits in the deciding set! I’ve just recalculated my 7.41 pm posting as well – we’ll have to play a men’s semi on the Saturday but that’s the only element that’s behind schedule. Cris from Brazil agrees with me that the schedule finally makes reasonable reading…

8.12 pm: An embarrassment of riches on court 7. Cash, Krajicek, Ivanisevic and Pioline in the invitational doubles. Cracking stuff.

8.10 pm: Andy from the US wants to know where Davydenko - Baghdatis will be tomorrow. Court 13, 11 am. In fact, 11 am starts on all the show courts.

7.54 pm: John from the UK wants to know about the Junior Tennis Initiative for his son. It’s actually specific to the Wimbledon area, John, so you need to contact your own local authority.

The Woodies – Woodforde and Woodbridge, the legendary doubles pairing – are out on court but they have been broken by the slightly less legendary duo of Petchey and Wilkinson! Rob from Oz won’t be pleased.

7.44 pm: Bjorkman and Molik win. Janie Red – a Brit in the States – knew they would as she’s Bjor’s biggest fan. Gary in the UK was looking for Mansour Bahrami: he has won in the doubles with Mayer over the legendary pairing of Guenthardt and Taroczy. Bahrami has become a confidant of young Aravane Rezai, the French prodigy.

7.41 pm: I’ve just been handed most of tomorrow’s schedule – on Centre Court, it’s Kuznetsova – Venus, followed by Ivanovic – Vaidisova then Federer – Ferrero. No.1 sees Hewitt – Djokovic and Roddick – Gasquet. Youzhny – Nadal is on No.2 while Berdych – Bjorkman will be on No.18.

That’ll be two of the men’s quarters done and dusted, so there’ll be two more men's quarters and a semi and the ladies’ semis on Friday, spead over Centre and No.1, I presume, then the ladies’ final on Saturday and the other men's semi, then the men’s final on Sunday. Insh’allah.

7.36 pm: Extra extra! Stop the press! WILLIAMS SISTERS PULL OUT OF DOUBLES.

7.34 pm: Who’s won the most ladies singles titles? asks Adelina. Martina Navratilova. Nine, count ‘em, nine. Mikael from Finland asks if you can challenge a call that was originally in your favour, i.e. a serve comes down, you hit a winner of a return but the serve is called out. You can challenge up until you have hit the ball, so in that case, no.

7.29 pm: Burton from the States wants a new favourite player now that Arthurs is retiring. He wants a good grass-courter, so I suggest Ritchie Gasquet.

Nebojsa from Serbia wants to know how Hawk Eye works. They have incredibly detailed cameras to track the balls.

7.24 pm: Rox from the States wants the brackets, aka the draws. Here they are. Click on the little down arrow to the right of where it says “Draws by event” to choose which one you want.

Blimey, Bogdanovich and South have taken the first set from Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan. Wow!

7.07 pm: Murray and Jankovic win! Murray – a Brit! They make a lovely couple (on court, I mean, though of course everyone would like to see them holding hands off-court, as the rumours have it).

Melissa from the States asks what line judges bawl to signal that the ball has missed its intended target. “FAAAAAAAAULT!”

7.04 pm: Michel asks about seeding, and why it’s not 1 v 32, 2 v 31 etc. The seeds are allocated and then “drawn” in bunches, so 1 and 2 are placed in the brackets, then there is “draw” to see whether 3 or 4 goes in the top half (in the men’s it was 3 – Andy Roddick). After that, 5 – 8 are drawn to see where they go etc etc.

On court, young Vlad Ignatic has won his boys’ singles match. He won this year’s junior Roland Garros, y’know…

6.55 pm: Bryan and Raymond are out on court against Brits Bogdanovich and South in the mixed doubles, where Murray and Jankovic have taken it to a third set over Bloomfield and Borwell (and are a break to the good to boot). Bjorkman and Molik have also taken it to a decider against King and “Vince Spadea, Italian Gladiator, I ain’t afraid of ya” (he has written and recorded rap songs – I kid you not).

Tom from the States asks: “The server will normally look at three balls before each serve but on the second serve will accept any ball given to him or her. What is the importance of each ball on the first serve and what makes that one ball out of three, to be not unacceptable.” A lot of it is habit and superstition, Tom, but on the first service, players are looking for power and like to assess the “feel” of the ball before banging one down.

6.49 pm: Schorsch from Lower Bavaria wants to know who the loudest player on the women’s circuit is. Anabel Medina Garrigues eeks when she hits the ball and then echoes about half-a-second later. Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, is silent. Despite being six feet tall and hitting the ball further than I could run without huffing and puffing. Go figure.

6.41 pm: Gerard from Oz asks: “What is that black thing sticking out of Henin's sock. It looks like support for an injury. Is she carrying an injury as well?” Mike here in the office, who is a coach, says that it is likely to be titanium tape to support the muscles and improve circulation. Just a precaution, I think, as she’s not mentioned any injuries and has been wearing it since the beginning of the Championships.

6.36 pm: It’ll be an Henin-Bartoli all-French-speaking semi. “Auntie JuJu” waves to her nephews in the friends’ box, all smiles – she’s a happy and relieved woman. Poor Serena was obviously not at full capacity and played high-risk tennis which certainly put Henin off her stride, but the canny Belgian has been around the block a few times and varied her line and length to keep Serena off-balance – almost literally.

6.32 pm: Unreturnable service from Justine. Ad and match point. Second serve, Serena again loooongs a backhand and JUSTINE IS THROUGH!

6.31 pm: Serena dominates the point but loooongs a backhand. Justine serves and volleys and… nets! On match point! Deuce...

6.30 pm: Drew back again and it’s 5-3 Justine, 30-30. Two points away from the semis…

6.25 pm: Henin served for the match at 5-1 and Serena broke back, it’s all getting very tense out on Centre Court. It didn’t come as a huge shock that Spadea/King took the first set against Bjorkman/Molik. And the second set of Murray/Jankovic has mirrored the first. Their early lead has been pegged back by Bloomfield/Borwell and it’s now back on serve.

6.19 pm: Greg from Cyprus has emailed. He wants to know if Serena is showing any signs of her calf injury she picked up in her last match. Well, she’s not moving with a great deal of fluency and there was a bit of a scare when she took a tumble in the second set. All in all it’s not looking that good for Miss Williams, especially as she’s now 4-1 down in the final set.

6.08 pm: Maybe Jonas has bitten off a little bit more than he can chew. Team Bjorkman/Molik, the No. 5 seeds no less, are already 4-0 down against the Americans Vincent Spadea and Vania King. Over on Court two, the Murray/Jankovic fight back has begun, they’re 3-0 up in the second set. And Henin fans – it’s time for some good news. She’s 2-0 up in the decider.

5.59 pm: There’s been a turn around out on Court 2. A spirited fight back from the Brits has seen Bloomfield and Borwell take the first set against Murray and Jankovic 6-3.

Henin fans, I have bad news and bad news. Serena broke again and has taken the second set to level the match.

5.50 pm: Jonas Bjorkman is just eligible for the over-35 Gentleman doubles but the veteran Swede is still going strong in the main draw. He may have crashed out of the Men’s doubles in the first round but he’s through to the 4th round of the singles. And as if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy this Wimbledon fortnight, his mixed doubles campaign is about to get underway with Alicia Molik out on Court 1.

There’s good news and bad news for Serena fans. The good news is she just broke. The bad news is Henin just broke back.

5.39 pm: Kim from the Philippines has just dropped us a line enquiring as to whether Mr Federer will be gracing the lawns of SW19 this fine evening. Sadly the answer is no. But the Fed express will be back in action tomorrow for his quarter-final encounter with Juan Carlos Ferrero, weather permitting of course. No word yet on tomorrow’s order of play so we’re not sure when he’ll be up but as soon as I know, you’ll be the first to know.

FYI – Serena and Henin are 2-2 in the second and Murray and Jankovic are already a break up against their British opponents Richard Bloomfield and Sarah Borwell.

5.20 pm: Hello Log fans, Paul here as David has had to dash off somewhere. Henin has just taken the first set against Serena which is last singles match of the day. However, there’s plenty of doubles action to keep us entertained well into the evening. Out on Court Two, the mixed doubles pairing of Brit Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic have just got their first round match underway.

5.09 pm: And that's it for Bartoli! The 18th seed has come back from a set down to defeat Krajicek 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. She will now play either Serena or Justine in the semi-finals.

5.06 pm: Serena and Justine is going to serve at present. However, Bartoli is now serving for the match after breaking Krajicek again.

4:56 pm: As Justine and Serena get settled on Centre Court, on Court 2 Marion Bartoli looks to be heading to the semi-finals. She broke Michaella Krajicek and then held her serve to take a 4-2 lead in the deciding set.

4.47 pm: This is David here, filling in for Drew for a few minutes. Serena and Justine are on court warming up, with Centre Court still recovering from that astonishing Venus-Maria match a few minutes ago. Needless to say there isn't an empty seat in the stadium...

4.40 pm: Right, I’m off to chat with Jo-Wilfried and Ritchie. Back soon…

4.33 pm: Bartoli takes the second set to take it to a decider. And… Maria gets a low bounce and nets a forehand and VENUS IS THROUGH! She’ll face Kuznetsova in the quarters.

4.31 pm: Venus breaks. Maria’s head seems to have dropped. The Williams sisters are back in town!

4.25 pm: Gasquet wins in straight sets. A bridge too far for wild-card Tsonga, who is nevertheless all smiles, while Ritchie is on awesome form. He’ll face Roddick in the quarters tomorrow – a big ask.

4.22 pm: Maria holds serve after another dozen deuces (or so it seemed). Manasvi wants to know the longest winning streaks on grass. Roger Federer holds it and is extending it, with 51 after he beat Safin. Borg won 41 here in a row at Wimbledon, which is a record, and Sampras won 31 in a row here.

4.15 pm: Maria – Venus is Wimbledon LIVE-worthy. Go and watch it there now – this is incredible tennis, worthy of a final (and indeed, we have two past winners here). They are leaving everything out on court. Deuce-alicious on the Sharapova serve again.

4.11 pm: Venus holds without breaking sweat. She’s got the impetus. Gasquet – Tsonga is going with serve, under the watchful eye of former champ Cedric Pioline.

Regarding the men’s semis, there’ll probably be one on Friday (top half), one on Saturday. Probably.

4.07 pm: Why does the French Open go to “quarante a”, then only after an advantage point is lost is it “egalite”, asks Tim of the UK. Just does – that’s the French way of scoring, but both mean deuce.

Sharapova holds serve as Venus nets a smash. There must have been 20 points in that game. Will that turn the tide? Maria’s looking shaky on the serve but determined, while on the other side of the net (apart from that last error), we had vintage Venus, dancing across the baseline and whipping forehands and backhands with pinpoint accuracy.

4.04 pm: Maria and Venus are still going deuces wild. What is SW19? asks Billy from Hong Kong. You’re right, it’s the postal/zip code. South west London, 19th district thereof.

Roof planned for 2009, yes (to reply/answer a number of you). To Asger in Canada, I’ll mention the possibility of Roland Garros LIVE to my colleagues there!

3.57pm: Maria and Venus are under way again and deucing it up. Jake in Canada asks why the players wear the same outfit every day, or do they have more than one? Yes, the y have lots of different versions of the same outfit and the trend is to wear the same design all tournament.

3.50 pm: Play is about to start – thank heavens for that, I think you guys were on a sponsored mail-in… Sorry I couldn’t answer all of them but we’ve had over 500 so far today…

3.48 pm: Definitive tie-break answer from Sheryl in the US (many thanks, Sheryl). “During the Tiebreak players change ends every 6 points. Once the tiebreak is complete, there is a set break and the players change ends from the side that they ended the tiebreak."

3.40 pm: How many racquets per match is a player allowed (Sahil, India)? As many as they can carry.
TBA (Dennis, USA): It means to be announced, in schedules.
Who’s the best umpire in the world (Jordi)? That’s subjective, but my favourite is Kader Nouni from France.

Venus in shorts (Ranga, US): As long as they’re “predominantly white” (thus spake the rules), she’s OK.
Can I and the rest of the AELTC be officially held responsible for students reading this column instead of revising (Michiel)? Naughty naughty! I didn’t get where I am today by watching sport instead of… oh hang on, I did…

3.37 pm: Play to start on Centre and No.1 in next five minutes, on other courts once they’ve been checked. Anyone for tennis?

3.33 pm: What does INV stand for in the draws (Phil, UK)? Invitational (i.e. over 35 and over 45) doubles.
What do I think about (insert name here)? Can (s)he beat (insert name here) in the (insert round here)? Go (insert name here) go (all of you, everywhere)! Er… yes. When it gets down to the business end of the tournament, anyone can beat anyone over three/five sets.

3.27 pm: Covers coming off, courts being checked.

Entire days cancelled: well, the tournament has been extended 16 times due to the rain, and a mere 32 days have been entirely lost to rain since we began in 1877. You all thought it was more, didn’t you?

3.18 pm: More questions. Roof coming next year (Aaadu, India), no lights (Michael, Oz) because we only play during the day (maybe in the future there will be lights, as at US and Aus Opens), men’s final still scheduled for Sunday (Mike, UK), if bottom half of draw plays 4th round Thursday, quarters Friday, semi Saturday. So Nadal/Djokovic hopefully won’t have to play twice in one day.

Roger will be rusty but rested, Justine is ladies’ favourite (in my opinion),

Play starts at 11 am to allow spectators to get in on time (from all around the UK and indeed the world).
The Williams’ doubles match will be arranged around Serena and Venus’ singles matches (which is why the ladies’ doubles has some 2nd round matches completed and other 1st round matches not played).

3.05 pm: Covers being deflated! Moods being inflated…

Heavens to Betsy, you’re a curious lot! Most games in a final set (Robert – from now on, if I don’t put the nationality, they’re Dutch!): Guenthardt and Taroczy beat Annacone and Van Rensburg 24-22 in the final set of a quarter-final in 1985.

Who am I? (Michiel): A European Grand Slam journalist who does RG and Wimbledon. And who knows, maybe one day the US and Aus. I cover lots of football as well and have even represented Switzerland (my adopted homeland) at touch rugby. Who is my favourite player of all time? Steffi. Grace personified.

2.57 pm: Which end does a new set start from after a tie-break (Dominic, UK): The tie-break counts as a service game, so the next set starts from the end that the first tie-break point was returned from (i.e. opposite end from which the tie-break commenced on).
Has tennis ever been played on Astroturf, ie artificial grass (Lars, rainy Copenhagen): Most indoor tennis is played on carpet.
Difference between “rain delay” and “play suspended” (Jules (NED) and many others): Regular readers will know as we’ve had this before. “Rain delay” in a match, “play suspended” at the tournament in general.

2.47 pm: Longest set ever in terms of games (Steve from SA): 32-30 in the first set – the first set – of Olmedo and Segura v Forbes and Segal in 1968. And the South Americans won.
Most attractive females players (Peter, NED): Justine’s backhand, Ana’s serve, Nicole’s forehand. That’s what I call beauty…

2.42 pm: Lots of you have been writing asking why (insert name of broadcaster here) is showing (insert match here) and not (insert match here). Well the easy answer to all your questions is – Wimbledon LIVE! Your choice of nine matches, on demand.

Questions: When will Henman retire (Nick, Australia)? Not this year, maybe sometime next year.
Will we have a repeat of the Roland Garros women’s final (Andrei, Romania)? Maybe. Or it could be Vaidisova or Venus v Serena… I’d go for Justine (as Serena is carrying an injury) versus… ah, it’s too close to call in the bottom half of the draw!

2.31 pm: The shower seems to be coming to an end and the covers should be off soon.

Questions: shortest ever match without a retirement (from Bobby in the US): Suzanne Lenglen won a 6-2, 6-0 match back in 1922 in 22 minutes.
Is coaching allowed during rain delays (Vinette, USA)? Yes – after all, some rain delays here can last for day!
Can you play the ball with any part of the body (Robin, NED)? Nope! Not since about 1500…
Can Michaella Krajicek win (Mark, NED)? She’s half-way there!
I have tickets for Friday, will I see both men’s semis (Diane, UK and others)? One, most definitely. Both? Hmm… unlikely, as Rafa and Djoker only played today and need to fit in fourth and quarters first. I think that the bottom-half semi will be pushed onto the Saturday, I’m afraid.

2.07 pm: Nicole from Germany wants to know the dimensions of a tennis court, and she wants to know them in German, no less! 78 feet by 27 feet for singles, 36 feet for doubles. Laenge 23.77 Meter, Breite 8.23 Meter / 10.97 Meter, okay?

2 pm: AGH, RAIN! Covers on.

Two of you have asked, including Carla from Spain today, whether you can throw your racquet at the ball to make a shot. Adam, our resident ref, says that you have to have the racquet in your hand for the point to count (umpire’s discretion

1.53 pm: Krajicek takes the first set. Hup Holland Hup, lots of readers are (no doubt) saying. Venus and Maria are level at 1-1 in the second.

In “these are the ladies I used to watch as a kid” news, Annabel Croft and Jo Durie are a set down but 3-0 up in the second against Misses Bollegraf and Lindqvist in the ladies' invitational.

1.48 pm: To reassure Charlotte who has tickets for Friday, yes, you should see the men’s semis. Stevan from Macedonia thinks I should sack Dave from Heathrow as my weathergirl, or at the very least stop posting photos of attractive ladies’ players for him. Harsh. But then again this is a harsh business…

Morty from the States thinks that Rafa looks like Ben Stiller in Dodgeball with his current outfits. Again, harsh. I think that the white suits him, and despite predicting an upset, I’m glad he got through today.

1.41 pm: Venus takes the first set!

1.40 pm: Break-tastic, all of a sudden! Venus breaks Maria again to lead 5-1, while Roxette little Kraai Krajicek breaks Bartoli to lead 4-2!

1.39 pm: Ritchie Gasquet is in his stride, having broken in the second. Vincent has written in to say that Mahut might have gone further had he got a wild card since the qualifiers must have tired him out! Well, quid pro quo as they say. Give some Brits some more wild cards to Roland Garros and Wimbledon might give you some more! I know that RG has a reciprocal wild-card arrangement with the Aus Open.

Vincent is also fulsome in his praise of Marion Bartoli, who has made it to (near) the top with just her Dad backing her as she is not part of the French Tennis Federation’s programme. It’s 2-3 with serve in that match.

1.30 pm: Gasquet breaks back, holds and breaks again to win the first set 6-4. Ahh. Maria double faults and Venus has a 3-1 lead…

1.22 pm: Those of you looking for the draws – all of them are here. Click on the down arrow to the right of where it says “Draws by event” to chose which one you want to see – the invitational comps are in there now as well, featuring the Pat Cashes of this world.

1.21 pm: Tsonga breaks again, while the two ladies’ matches are going with serve.

1.10 pm: Krajicek – Bartoli out on court as well. Kim asks whether Federer-Ferrero will play today – possible. We won’t know who will be added in until later, but as soon as I know, I’ll let you know. Ooh, Venus wins the (rest of) the opening game.

Those of you curious about the weather can take a look here, of course.

1.05 pm: Venus – Maria up next. Robert asks about balls hitting players. Once the ball hits you, it’s your opponents point. Statistically, I don’t know whether that counts as an ace for the server though. Probably more of an unforced error for the returner.

How’s the weather? some of you are asking. Good at the moment. Bright. Keep everything crossed…

12.59 pm: The Joker is through! Djokovic wins the fourth-set tie-break over Kiefer and will now face Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round.

Aha, Ritchie breaks back so it’s 1-1 in the French derby after a mere two games.

12.56 pm: Don’t forget, there are a number of matches on a waiting list should we get through a number of ties early, so don’t panic when you look at the schedule. Rafa won’t have to play a second time, though.

12.53 pm: Roddick wins as PHM slips on match-point. The American no.3 seed will face the winner of Tsonga and Gasquet in the quarters. And MELO AND SA WIN! They saved break-back points to win 28-26. What a match… More stats to follow. Melo and Sa collapsed to the turf after their win in exhaustion and ecstasy.

12.51 pm: Two lets, a second service and Roddick mini-breaks back. 6-6… Ooh, Tsonga and Gasquet are out on court and Jo-Wilfried, he of the wild-card, has broken to open.

12.49pm: Melo and Sa break! They will serve for the match at 27-26! PHM serves for the set at 6-5…

12.48 pm: Roddick’s fighting back – from 0-5 to 3-5…

12.45 pm: Victories for Raymond and Stosur, and Santoro and Zimonjic in the doubles. “PHM” meanwhile is 4-0 in the tie-break.

12.42 pm: Rain at Heathrow, says Dave, so we may well get it soon. Hurry up guys… Roddick and Mathieu are in a tie-break, while Sa is serving at 25-26… Kiefer – Djokovic looks like going to a fourth set tie-break as well.

12.40 pm: Gregoris from Cyprus asks whether Serena can be world No.1 by the end of the year. Well, if she beats Justine today, that would be a start, but I doubt it.

Roddick to serve at 5-6 in the third, while the doubles is now 25-25…

12.33 pm: Mathieu serves for the set but Roddick breaks to love! 4-5! The doubles is now at 25-24. Erwin from – guess where – the Netherlands asks about the highest number of games ever in a set in Wimbledon. 32-30 in the first set – the first set – of Olmedo and Segura v Forbes and Segal in 1968. And yes, the South Americans did win.

12.31 pm: Nadal wins on the fifth match point! Oof! Well played both of them. Rafa will play Youzhny tomorrow in the fourth round.

12.29 pm: Soderling saves another match point as Rafa again nets.

12.27 pm: Nadal nets an easy slice then puts a forehand juuuuuust wide. Deuce. Gutsy serve and volley from Swede Soderling at match-point down.

12.26 pm: 15-40 – Soderling sends two back-hands wide and Nadal has 2 match-points in a tie started on Saturday…

12.24 pm: Richard from The Netherlands asks why the change-over is on odd games – it’s to make sure that no-one gets a two-game advantage from one end (maybe due to the wind), otherwise they could theoretically win a set thanks to the advantage from one end.

Soderling to serve, 5-6, and it’s getting cloudy out there… Mathieu is serving at 4-2 up, while the doubles is 23-24…

12.22 pm: Giovanni asks what Gasquet needs to win a Slam and become a top 5 player. He needs to beat Tsonga, Roddick, Federer and then Nadal/Berdych/Baghdatis/Davydenko/Hewitt in the final here! It’s the kind of surface he likes…

Nadal saves a break point on serve, while the record for the most games in a fifth set has been broken in the doubles, where it is 23-23.

12.16 pm: Soderling holds, it’s 5-5. Meanwhile, Mathieu is a break up in the third (though two sets down).

Emmanuel from Denmark asks about prize money.

My tip for Gasquet-Tsonga, asks Aisling. My tip is that someone else will be on the blog then as I’ll be covering the match!

12.13 pm: Jolien from The Netherlands asks about challenges. A correct challenge doesn’t count, but an incorrect one is taken off the ones a player has left. Three per set, one more for a tie-break, three more every 12 games after it goes to 6-6 in a decider.

Mikael from Finland is back to ask about unforced errors on service returns. It depends on the serve as to whether it was an unforced error or merely a good effort simply getting your racquet to it.

22-22 in the doubles, and Nadal is also out and leading 5-4, Soderling to serve,

12.10 pm: Roddick and Mathieu are out on court, and the American has closed out the second set 7-5.

12.08 pm: Richard Williams – Dad of the two Williams girls – reckons that Serena isn’t 100% fit and he thinks she shouldn’t play. Will be a shame if that Serena-Justine match-up is affected by this.

Mairi from Oz is looking forward to the battle of the goddesses, Mars v Venus. Mars. Maria S. Nice one!

Lots of you are still worried about the lack of singles matches scheduled today – there are plenty on a “waiting list” to be added in, so fret not.

12.04 pm: Players coming out onto Centre and No.1 courts… the tension mounts. Ilie Nastase’s out there in the friends’ box.

Nicole asks whether Rafa could overtake Roger to become world No.1. It’s possible. Federer is defending so many points at the moment, but I think he’d have to crash out of a few slams in the early rounds for it to happen.

Ooh, Melo saves two match points at 20-21…

11.56 am: Manuel from Spain thinks Camille Pin has potential but needs a few wins over top-ranked players to get her self-belief up. Couldn’t agree more, and a little luck in the draws would help too.

That doubles match is up to 20-20… while Kiefer-Djokovic is with serve in the fourth. Bright sunshine here still, by the way. Keep ‘em crossed (fingers, toes, legs…)

11.51 am: Jo from the UK wants to know whether there will be men’s semis on No.1 court on Saturday (as she has tickets). Yep, every chance. Lucky you.

I got it wrong earlier about tie-breaks. The tie-break is opened by the player who had just received, but it counts as a service game, so the person who served at 5-6 also gets to serve at 0-0 in the second set. Thanks to those who pointed that out. Seems unfair to me, though…!

11.49 am: Spotters badge to Andrei in Romania. “The 2nd round Men's Doubles match between Paul Hanley (AUS)/ Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) and Marcelo Melo (BRA) / Andre Sa (BRA) on Court 16 is already up to its 79th game. Not sure what's the duration of the match so far, but I think it's well past the 6-hour mark.” It’s currently 18-19, Melo serving. Amazing. (No super tie-break in Grand slam doubles, of course).

11.42 am: Djokovic takes the third set (and the first set of the day) from Kiefer, 6-2.

Emilio sends sun from Spain and asks whether Rafa will have to play twice. Or Robin, of course (don’t forget, that’s my tip for a shockeroony). No, I doubt it. The winner of that match will be first up tomorrow.

11.30 am: Benoit wants to know what time play will finish tonight. I can see it being a nine o-clock-er. Tennis-tastic, today’s going to be. Djoker makes it 4-0 – he’s doing his bit to get us back on scheduled.

11.25 am: An 11 am start is when the warm-up starts, to answer a question a few of you have been asking. Djokovic is now two breaks up.

Jaap wants to know the difference between a “rain delay” – that’s for a particular match - and “play suspended” – that’s in general for the tournament.

Cat Cat from Qatar (what a fine name) wants to know if Maria and Venus will start again from scratch. (Cat – scratch – get it? Never mind). No, it will start at 30-15 to Venus, which is where it left off last night.

11.23 am: Angie wants to know whether I prefer the forehand to the backhand. No, give me a graceful backhand any day, since as a kid, it’s always the more difficult shot to hit. Give me a graceful backhand, a la Justine or Amelie, and I could watch it all day.

Charlotte from the UK asks about games being moved from one court to another. That happens quite a lot after rain delays, unless the players have any great objection (and in the case of Maria and Venus, they’ll be happy to be on Centre rather than No.3!).

A lot of you asking about Baghdatis. If we get a rain-free day and a few straight-setters, he could be up later. Serena is also scheduled to play alongside her big sis in the doubles, and apparently is fighting fit and raring to go.

11.17 am: PLAY BALL! And Novak the joker Djokovic breaks Kiefer to open the day’s proceedings.

11.15 am: Daniel is asking about when Amelie Mauresmo started. I remember her suddenly bursting onto the scene at the 1999 Australian Open, where she lost in the final to Martina Hingis after coming out of nowhere to beat Lindsay Davenport. She’s been top 10 or thereabouts since then.

Will Roger be too rusty? asks Vincent from France. Mais non, mon ami ! He’ll have been practising and he may well be up tonight if we can get through a few matches today. And yes, the Frenchies are doing well, which I’m pleased about too, if only to listen to “Ritchie” Gasquet’s southern accent in press conferences.

11.09 am: Rabia from Lahore wants my prediction for the shock of the day. OK, here goes… Soderling to beat Nadal. 7-5 in the fifth. There, I’ve said it.

A lot of you are looking at the schedule and wondering why more matches haven’t been programmed. There is a “waiting list”, so if we can get through matches quickly, there will be more to come. The weather should help us today, and we’re starting some matches already (Djokovic and Kiefer, for example, are already out. On court, that is – not out of the tournament).

11.05 am: Eyal from Israel is desperate to know whether I think Shahar Peer can make it into the top ten. Just about, I’d day, but there’s a heck of a lot of competition up there, and with the likes of Bartoli and Krajicek picking up lots of points here and Venus making a comeback, the competition is fierce.

10.57 am: Michael from Greece wants a repeat of yesterday’s “longest match” post, so here it is: “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.”

The invitational doubles draws have also been posted, and you can see them here.

10.52 am: Hager wants three-set matches for the men’s. Hmm, radical… The weather forecast for the remaining days is good and I reckon we’ll be near enough on schedule by the end of today. Susie reckons that Rafa always starts slowly after rain delays so could be in trouble today… I agree with Susie there – Soderling needs to seize the day, he’ll never have a better chance.

Jos “the boss” who predicted the Bartoli upset yesterday says Venus to beat Sharapova in two. Gutsy call, Jos!

Aymen fom Oz asks who serves first after a tie-break. It’s whoever received in the last full game (the one that went to 6-6) and that is also the person who serves the first point of the tie-break.

10.33 am: Lizzie from the UK has a crush on Andy Roddick and also tickets for Centre Court tomorrow. Hmm… I think you might be disappointed. I can see Federer – Ferrero out there tomorrow after a women’s semi. Silas from the Netherlands wants to know whether little Kraai, Michaella Krajicek, will make his countrymen proud. It’ll be a real battle since Bartoli has really raised her game and after all, she is in the top 20 in the world. Too close to call, I say, but if Kraai can serve to the best of her ability, then it could be semi-finalsville for her.

Sophie from Oz’s daughter has a tamagotchi called Marat. Now that’s dedication.

John from the UK wants to know why we don’t start matches earlier to clear the backlog. Well we are today – Noon on Centre and No.1, 11 am on the others. We also need to give time for the fans who have travelled from far wide to get here and get settled in.

10.22 am: One thing that I forgot to mention yesterday is that a wheelchair doubles tournament is again being held as part of the Championships this year.

Andy Roddick of course also has a tie to finish off – but that is of course already a fourth-rounder, while the ring-rusty Roger Federer will have to face Ferrero, most likely tomorrow.

Plenty of mails have come in overnight (you studious bunch!) so I’ll set about answering those right away.

10.15 am: Morning all, Drew Lilley here, the faithful Wimbledon retainer, always first to bring you the day’s news. And the news is GOOD! I cycled in through bright sunshine this morning. Sure, there are some clouds, but there’s enough blue in the sky to make a sailor a new suit, or whatever the old saying is. I reckon we’re set fair for a full day’s tennis.

Rafa’s up first, and we’ve got some early Maria-Venus and Djokovic-Kiefer action to finish off the ties that are running behind, then it’ll be men’s fourth round and women’s quarters. Mouth-watering ties, every one of them.

Written by AELTC