| Friday, 27 June 2008 Scores
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Join the Wimbledon facebook group 9.39 pm: What a day! I can’t remember a tournament which has lost so many high profile players within the first three rounds (and we’re only half way through the third!) Thanks as always for reading and posting – I say it every day but this is your blog, you’re the ones who make it what it is. I’ll be back tomorrow, same time, same place. Always a pleasure, never a chore… 9.32 pm: Marat won 140 points, Andreas (who was No. 29 seed, let’s not forget) won 137. Such a little thing makes such a difference. 9.30 pm: Tomorrow’s schedule – read all about it. And Keothavong and Hutchins have won their opening mixed doubles match – land of hope and glory! 9.27 pm: Marat tosses almost everything he owns into the ecstatic crowd, who give Seppi generous and indeed well deserved applause. Marat signs a raft of autographs then heads home. 9.25 pm: Another Marat match point. Second serve, again. Seppi nets and Marat is through to the fourth round! He’ll face Stan “the man” Wawrinka. 9.21 pm: My oh my! Two break points for Marat to save! Seppi nets the first on a backhand and does likewise on the second. Deuce, then Ad Marat as Seppi wiiides one. Second serve… Marat nets! Deuce!
9.17 pm: Ancic kisses the hallowed turf in delight! He’ll face Verdasco in the fourth road, most likely on Monday. Seppi meanwhile rallies from 3-5 15-30 to hold serve in what I am charitably going to call twilight. 9.16 pm: Ferrer chip and charges, Ancic nets. 6-3. Ferrer needs to serve big. Second serve, Ancic returns and Ferrer nets! Ancic wins! 9.14 pm: Ferrer hits a passing shot that Ancic nets. 5-2. Safin serves out to love – 5-3 to the big man. Two Ancic serves to come: the first one sees an Ancic volleyed winner and a Ferrer racquet pinged angrily off the turf. Four match points. 9.13 pm: Great sliced volley makes it 4-1 Mario. Seppi meanwhile gets it back to 4-3 but ain’t happy. Make that 5-1 at the change-over to Super Mario! 9.11 pm: A Marat slice kicks up chalk-dust and keeps low. A wrong bounce in the gloaming that we currently have makes for an unreturnable winner. Ancic gets a mini-break and will serve at 2-1. 9.10 pm: Ancic again gets to 15-30 but again fails to seal the deal. Tie-break… Safin meanwhile leads 4-2 in the fourth (and potentially final) set. 9.04 pm: Safin arches his back, serves big and holds to lead 3-1. Big move. Ancic also holds so Ferrer will serve to save the match again. And he’s asking the question of Ump. Keothavong about the light but the show must go on. Ancic is still buried beneath his towel, as he does at every change-over while the crowd goes wild out there. (Ancic-esque player towels available here). 9.01 pm: Ancic two points from victory at 15-30. Then gets no luck from that infamous Centre Court net cord! 30-30. The next one goes wide, 40-30 (ooh, meanwhile Safin has broken – again! Breakbackup mountain!) and Ferrer serves out to hold. 5-5. 8.58 pm: Ferrer’s about to serve to stay in the match – that merits a change of shirt in his book. 8.57 pm: Marat finally thwacks his racquet on the deck. We’d been waiting for that for nigh on three hours! 8.56 pm: Marat’s trying to clip the outside of the line every time with his slicetastic shots and it’s a risky business. One drifts out to give Seppi another break point, a serve goes just wide (confirmed by our old mucker Hawkeye) and Seppi pounces on the second serve. Breakback mountain. 8.54 pm: Safin’s got the wind in his sails – he’s broken to open the fourth and just saved a Seppi break point with a big serve. Ancic – Ferrer is still going with serve, 4-3 (so Super Mario won the psychologically important seventh game). 8.45 pm: Ferrer-Ancic is 3-3. Marat hits another one long, 4-3 but he has two serves. First one kicks, Marat finds the line twice and Seppi’s lob goes out. 5-3. Marat has an easy one to put away at the net next up but hits it out. Challenge… and… it clipped the outside of the line! 6-3! And then Seppi nets to make it 7-3, and a 2-1 lead in sets for Marat. 8.40 pm: Another Seppi forehand finds the net. 4-0. Second serve from Marat, he sends Seppi hither and thither but looongs one. 4-1. Ditto next up on the Seppi serve, 4-2 Safin at the change-over. 8.38 pm: Marat opens with a big serve, 1-0. Seppi nets an easy forehand, 2-0. Ancic holds after coming to the net and seeing Ferrer whip a passing shot way wide. Safin clips the line and it’s 3-0 to the big fellah. 8.35 pm: Seppi again to serve to stay in the third. Will they come off after this (either this game or the tie-break?) Ancic and Ferrer are again playing deuces wild in the fifth game of the fourth set, on Super Mario’s serve. Ah, Seppi holds to love – tie-break! Ooh, the tension! This is what Grand Slam tennis is all about. Come on ladies and gents, let’s have you on the edge of your seats please. 8.28 pm: Seppi serving to save the third set. Marat looking grumpier than ever as the Italian hits two efforts that the lofty Russian can’t quite reach. Marat loooongs one (well actually it was only just long so let’s say that he loonged it) and then a good serve makes it 5-5. Job done. That’s the way to handle pressure. 8.17 pm: The opener in the fourth set between Ancic and Ferrer is a deucalicious battle. On the Ancic serve as well – is he tiring? Is the tide turning? Safin – Seppi is 3-3 as dusk begins to envelop the two main show courts.
8.11 pm: Hmm… a power failure on Centre Court (announces chair ump James Keothavong, brother of Anne who put up a brave fight against Venus yesterday). Will that affect Hawkeye? Ump’ll have to be extra vigilant therefore in that Ancic-Ferrer match. 8.04 pm: Great rally, Ancic comes to the net and puts one away to make it 5-5. Another big serve, Ancic hits one out and challenges. It’s out. Ferrer to serve for the set. And he does! This match is still alive! 8.01 pm: Ferrer serving at 5-3. He needs a big ‘un here. And it isn’t – Ancic pounces and mini-breaks back. 7.59 pm: And that’s one-set all in the battle of the Ss – Safin and Seppi, the latter taking the second set 6-3. Meanwhile Ferrer is 4-2 in the tie-break, fighting to stay in the tournament. 7.48 pm: Feliciano Lopez wins in four sets. The last of the Americans is out, in the men’s singles at least. No. 31 seed Lopez will face Baghdatis on Monday most likely. Ooh, Seppi’s having it all his own way in the second – he leads Safin 5-1. 7.39 pm: Come on then, who wants to be the first to predict an all-Williams final? (I think one or two of you already have on blogs past). Ancic is quite a force on grass you know. I’m watching him here against Ferrer (who’s more of a clay pigeon than a grass snake admittedly) but Mario is looking very impressive. Coming to the net – a rare treat in these days of base-lining. Ooh, Seppi breaks again, to the chagrin of the Marat fans around me. 7.34 pm: Seppi breaks to open the second. Safin says “Nyet!” and breaks back. To 15 as well. The tall Russian is moving about court well. 7.32 pm: Baghdatis serves, volleys, chips, charges and smashes his way to a straight sets victory. He removes his bandana, kisses the cross around his neck and smiles warmly to the crowd. They love ‘im out there. He’ll face “Jennifer” Lopez or “Burt” Reynolds in the next round. Most probably J-Lo, as she, sorry he is a two sets to one up and has a break in the fourth. 7.27 pm: B. Reynolds (perhaps it’s Burt as opposed to Bobby) is trying to go on a cannonball run back into contention. He’s taken the third set against Lopez to stay alive. Ooh, Safin wins a first set tie-break! Much drooling and doe eyes around the office. 7.20 pm: I thought they made these players of sterner stuff – Simon Stadler is taking a medical treatment time-out and the doc is kneading his right thigh. Ah, fair enough, up he gets now and he’s ready to rejoin the battle with the stubbly, bandana-sporting Cypriot. Super Mario Ancic meanwhile has taken the second set in the same way that he bagged the first: 6-4 stylee. 7.13 pm: Doubles experts Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur have won in three sets over Shvedova and Tanasugarn. Lisa and Sammy have Grand Slam titles a-go-go between them. Benneteau and Mahut also won their tie with Johansson and Melzer, so despite the defeats of Mauresmo and Bartoli, things aren’t looking all bad for France. 7.08 pm: Ferrer passes Ancic at the net – a shot which draws applause from Super Mario. The Croat is still a break up in the second, however, with the Spaniard about to serve at 3-5. Baghdatis took the second set from German qualifier Simon Stadler. Baghy actually seems to have the same amount of stubble as he did the other day. Perhaps he comes off court and has a shave straight away, in order to have that designer stubble look the next time he plays two days later. 6.59 pm: Zrerev withdraws! Wawrinka is through to face the winner of Safin and Seppi next up – it’s 3-3 with serve in the opener but the handsome, broody Russian has just double-faulted in the critical seventh game. Ah, Safin holds. Zrerev had already benefited from Ferrero retiring! Oh, the irony! That’s nine retirements in the men’s and coupled with a few on the ladies’ side, that’s a Grand Slam record. 6.50pm: Va-va-voom! Wa-wa-wrinka races to the second set over Zrerev 6-1. The pieces are slotting into place for an all-Swiss semi-final between Federer and Wawrinka. Cheese-alicious! Cuckoo clock-tastic! Chocolate-mongous! In other Roger and Stanislas news, it turns out that Federer himself chose to play Olympic doubles with Wawrinka as opposed to his usual doubles buddy Yves Allegro. “I’m glad I had some say in the matter otherwise Yves and Stan would probably have chosen to play together and elbowed me out!” chuckled the big fellah. 6.43 pm: Aggie Radwanska has a house in Miami, I’ve seen the photos of it! (In a magazine, I hasten to add). I don’t know how much time she spends there so I’ll cease to refer to her as being Miami-based for fear of setting off another avalanche of posts down below! Super Mario – the last man to defeat R-Fed here on the hallowed lawns – is a break up in the second, but he has just had his left calf heavily strapped. Can Ferrer seize the day, carpe the diem? 6.39 pm: Drew again. Thanks Sally – doubles-tastic stuff there. So, Ivanovic out. I blame myself. Whenever I leave my desk, to report on a Chakvetadze or listen to a Federer, something happens. We have five singles matches going on at the moment – Stan “Roger’s doubles partner at the Olympics” Wawrinka is a set and a break up on Zverev, “Super” Mario Ancic has just taken the first set from No.5 seed Ferrer (argh! The seeds are a-struggling this year!), Baghy and Stadler are 2-2 in the second set (the increasingly more hirsute Cypriot having taken the first), Felithiano Lopeth (as I like to pronounce the Thpaniard’s name) is two up on Bobby “last USA! USA! USA! representative in the men’s” Reynolds and finally Marat “eye candy” Safin and Andreas Seppi are one game all. How’s about that for a round-up? 6.30pm. French pair Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, the 16th doubles seeds have pocketed the first set on a tie-break, against Thomas Johansson and Jurgen Melzer. Eighth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett, are one set up and into a tie-break in the second set. They’re playing Italian Flavio Cipolla and Dennis Gremelmayr of Germany. Ancic is serving for the first set. 6.21pm. Petzschner and Peya have won their doubles, which is a nice birthday present for Peya. The ‘other’ Swiss, Wawrinka has taken the first set 7-5 against Zverev. In the ladies’ doubles, Azarenka and Peer are through against Fusano and Haynes in straight sets. Safin is out on Court No. 1 warming up, opposite Andreas Seppi, and Baghdatis has just won the first set on the tie-break. 6.11pm. Ancic and Ferrer have just started on Centre Court; Ancic with the early break, up 2-0 already. Jie Zheng wins 6.08pm. Jie Zheng serving for the match. 6.06pm. Lots of doubles matches going on. Serbian pair Tipsarevic and Troicki aren’t doing so well against Petzschner and Peya. It’s Peya’s birthday today. More about the doubles later…Ivanovic is serving to stay in the match at 3-5. 6.03pm. Lopez has taken the first set against Bobby Reynolds. Wawrinka and Zverev are even-handed, but Baggy has just broken Stadler to serve for the first set. Zheng is holding on to her break, now serving 4-3 up. 5.55pm. And probably time to draw breath momentarily. Bobby Reynolds, the only USA chap left in, is 4-5 down against Feliciano Lopez, who’s just about to serve for the first set. 5.47pm. Ivanovic has broken back to level it up at 2-2.
SERENA VICTORIOUS 5.44pm. Zheng has broken the Ivanovic serve to go 2-1 up. Amélie has got one break back. I did say there was excitement afoot. 5.39 pm. Amélie is struggling against Venus, who’s now 5-0 in the second, and she’s already got the first on tie-break. Baghdatis and Stadler have just started out on Court No. 2 and Zverev and that other Swiss tennis player, Stanislas Wawrinka, are one a piece just now. 5.34 pm Hello, Sally here. It seems to be quite an exciting time here at the green, green grass of Wimbly-don. Zheng has just taken the first set against Ivanovic. 5.23 pm: Ana loses her serve again and Zheng’s now serving for the first set. One feels that Ivanovic was fortunate to survive against Nathalie Dechy but she may well come undone against Zheng here. 5:18 pm: Another shock’s on the cards – Zheng’s now 4-1 up. 5.15pm: First shock of the day: last year’s ladies’ runner-up, Marion Bartoli has been knocked out by Beth Mattek 6-4, 6-1. It’s all happening on Centre and No.1 Court – Serena takes the first set in her match against Amelie on a tie-break, while Zheng now has a 3-1 lead over Ana. 5.12 pm: Agnes Szavay wins and will face the winner of Ivanovic and Zheng next up, with the Chinese lady about to break the Serb serve! Ame and Serena are now locked at 5-5. 5.10 pm: Serena wins a battle at the net and secures a mini-break. It’s 4-2 to the American at the change-over. Berrrrdathco is now two breaks up and Beth Mattek leads Bartoli by a set and 4-1. 5.04 pm: We’ve got some match reports in for you. Chakvetadze, Kuznetsova and Vaidisova. Amelie (with that dodgy thigh of hers still all strapped up) charges to the net and takes it to a tie-break. Ooh, Butterfly Beth Mattek breaks – last year’s finalist Bartoli is three games away from an ignominious ouster. 5.02 pm: Big bold Beth holds after saving eight break points in that game! Serena makes it 6-5, Nando Berrrrdathco (as I tend to pronounce Verdasco) is a break up in the third and Ana Ivanovic is out on court against Jie Zheng (the latter having held serve to open). 4.54 pm: Agnieszka Radwanska straight sets it over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The Miami-based Pole will play birthday girl Sveta Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Beth and Marion meanwhile are going deuces wild, and Amelie has just held, with a little help from Hawkeye, to make it five-all. 4.50 pm: Nando Verdasco takes the second in the same way as he took the first – 6-4 – from Tomas Berdych. Serena saves a break point with an ace, while that nice Hungarian lady I watched earlier (Agnes Szavay) lost the second set to the somewhat irascible Iberian (Ana Medina Garrigues) but is a break up in the third. 4.45 pm: The Hew is through – C’moooon! Hewitt aces to take the tie-break 7-2 and win in straight sets over Italian heart-throb Simone Bolelli. And guess what his reward is? No doubt a peck on the cheek from Bec Cartwright, his wife who’s in the players’ box, but also a fourth round clash with that man Roger Federer. 4.44 pm: Catalogue of errors on Centre. Serena breaks again and then opens her service game with a double fault. A beaut of a whipped one-handed backhand (I thought those had been outlawed, they’re such a rare commodity) gives Amé two break points, but Serena paints the line twice to save them. A netted forehand gives the Frenchie another one and it’s third time lucky (and a fourth break in succession). 3-4, Amelie to serve. Over on No.1, the Hew leads 4-2 at the change-over, while A-Rad was two breaks up but A-Pav has snaffled one of them back. 4.37 pm: Bartoli bounces her racquet off the turf as Beth Mattek takes the opener 6-4. The 2007 finalist had put her sweatshirt back on, presumably to keep her shoulder warm. Amelie watch: she’s broken back and is serving at 2-3. And serving badly at that – a second double fault makes it 0-30. A-Rad is a break up on A-Pav in the second, while the Hew and Bello Bolelli are into a tie-break. 4.30 pm: Second medical time-out for Bartoli. She’s now getting her right shoulder massaged (I could do with some of that as well – stuck at this desk for 12 hours a day!) Poor Beth Mattek, her opponent, is wrapped in a towel and rubbing her thighs, trying to keep warm. On No.1 court, Bello Bolelli saves a match point, and it’s 5-5 in the third set of his match with the Hew. Amelie holds but is still a break down, while Agnieszka Radwanska (A-Rad) took the first set from 16-year-old prodigy Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (A-Pav). 4.26 pm: No wonder Bartoli has lost the last three games – she’s currently having a medical time-out and getting her left calf rubbed (I could do with some of that, having to cycle up and down the SW19 hills morning and night). Papa Bartoli is looking on concernedly – he is not only Marion’s coach but also a qualified doctor, so I’m sure he’d rather be down there on court with his offspring. Centre Court watch: Serena saves two break points and leads 3-0. 4.24 pm: From 4-2 up to 4-5 down. Take your eye off the ball for a minute and you could be in trouble and this is exactly what has happened to Marion Bartoli, who now has to serve to save the set against Beth Mattek, whose butterfly tattoo seems to have disappeared from her sternum. It appears to have fluttered over to her upper arm – she must have those rub-on ones we all had as kids. In the battle of the former champions, it’s first blood to Serena who held to open and then broke. 4.18 pm: The Drewster is back. Thanks Beci, blog-tastic work there. I’ve just been up to the roof terrace overlooking courts 18 and 19 and Henman Hill. I had a great view of the Szavay – Medina Garrigues game (Aggie won the tie-break) and also of Anabel’s friend Vivi Ruano Pascual, with whom she won the French Open doubles earlier this year and who was watching her buddy. Szavay seems to be a very nice player – smiling at the ball-kids when they give her new balls to serve with rather than just glaring and pointing at a towel and expecting the youngsters to jump to attention, which you see a little too often these days. The roof terrace is also a prime place to spot the great and the good of the tennis world, past and present. John Lloyd, Michael Stich, Nicole Vaidisova and Casey Dellacqua all up there. So, onto Serena .v. Amelie. I’m asked below whether I think the Frenchie can carry it off. I’d be surprised, but yes. It depends on whether Amelie can play consistent tennis and what Serena’s mindset is. The younger Miss Williams starts favourite, but I’m hoping the 2006 champion can sneak into the second week. Alison Lang is the ump in the chair for that one. 4.09 pm: Melo and Sa have lost the third set 4-6 against Brunstrom and Feeney. It's 2-2 in the fourth so it's nicely poised. Cermack and Kerr have beaten Berlocq and Schwank 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in the second round of the men's doubles. Bartoli is now a break up against Mattek, 4-2. She appears to moving well and hitting the ball very hard today. But she'll have to up her game in the next round if she wants a repeat of last year. I just looked at the draw and she'll face either Serena Williams or Amelie Mauresmo in round four. 3.59 pm: I take my eyes off Centre Court for five minutes and I find Federer's about to win. Blimey. Actually, he's just won. He's whizzed through that set with the loss of just one game. 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. My colleague Nigel who watched the game, said Federer was in 'awesome' form and 'got better and better as the match went on.' Mauresmo .v. S. Williams is up next and that's a tough one to call. I've got a hunch Serena might just do it as I saw her practising the other day and she was hitting the ball so sweetly. Who do you all reckon? Again, it's a shame these two are meeting so early on. 3.55 pm: Lleyton's also two sets up, 6-1, 6-3, 1-0 to be exact. It's a shame it looks like Lleyton and Roger will meet so early on in the tournament - but Adrian reckons Hewitt might have a chance. "Can Hewittt beat Federer at his most vulnerable point in his career right now? Who knows? Hewitt is also fairly vulnerable with his hip, but his hunger and drive to win is way stronger than fed's. Although fed is probably in better physical condition and posesses a greater adv." 3.48 pm: The rain delay certainly hasn't affected Mr Federer. He's now two sets up after 65 minutes and cruising. Last year's surprise women's finalist Marion Bartoli is now up on Court 11 against Bethanie Mattek. 1-1 there at the moment. It will be interesting to see how her tournament pans out. Julia has offered a couple of very welcome nicknames for Kuznetsova (KUZIE) and Anna Chakvetadze (CHAKIE). Thank you! I reckon they'll help Drew out on Monday when he is blogging. Magdalena has also suggested calling Kuznetsova, Sveta. Why didn't I think of that? Magdalena also correctly pointed out that Sveta means light. On another note, I'm very glad to see Kuzie has not opted for a repeat of the dodgy hair braids she sported last year. 3.32 pm: Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, one of my personal favourites, is due on Court 2 against Tomas Berdych very shortly. I'd love it if he could reach the fourth round. He did it in 2006 so why not again? And he's very easy on the eye ... And O'Brien and Delgado are through the second round of the mixed doubles. Well done guys. Speaking of Brits on form, I thought Chris Eaton did brilliantly yesterday. I know he lost in straight sets but I reckon his big serve should stand him in good stead for the future. 3.24 pm: Hewitt and Federer have both achieved breaks early on in the second set of their matches. Fed leads 3-2 and Hewitt, 3-1. Makarova and Sfar were in impressive form against Camerin and Dulko on Court 14. They've just secured a 6-3, 6-0 victory in no time at all. 3.18 pm: No problem for the Russian seeds today. Chakvetadze and Kutzensova have both sealed victories at almost exactly the same time. 6-2, 6-4 to birthday girl Kuznetsova and 6-4, 6-3 to Chakvetadze. Blimey, these names are proving to be quite a handful. Does anyone have any good nicknames up their sleeves? 3.14 pm: Melo and Sa are now two sets up against Brunstrom and Feeney 6-1, 6-2 - definitely no repeat of their momumental match last year then. Over on Court 11, Rodina has got one break back against Chakvetadze. However it appears the any attempt of a comeback is too late as the classy Russian will soon have a chance to serve for a place in round three. 3.09 pm: Hewitt has well and truly hurried through the first set against Bolelli. 6-1 in just 31 minutes and his serve is looking good. The Fed Express has also stormed through the first set 6-3. They'll face each other in the next round on Monday if they both win today. Now, that might be interesting judging by Hewitt's form today. Zahlavova has now broken back against Kuznetsova and the second set is now going with serve, 5-4 to the Russian. 2.59 pm: Wow, that didn't take long. Vaidisova has wrapped up her third round tie and will now face the winner of the Chakvetadze v Rodina clash. Looking very much like Chakvetadze at the moment. The Russian leads by a set and 4-0. Whooohoo. Good news for the Brits. Delgado and O'Brien have levelled their mixed doubles match at one set all after taking the second set 6-3. And it's now 5-1 to Hewitt in his third round clash. Many tennis fans had doubted Hewitt's credentials but I reckon the former Champion might be quite a threat at this year's tournament... Do you agree? 2.52pm: Hewitt has got off to a flier - 3-0 up already. As usual there are lots of Aussies courtside cheering him on. Talking of support, his lovely wife Bec is in the crowd and looks as stunning as always. 2.47 pm: Fed holds to love, as if to damn the Frenchman’s earlier insolence. And Anna Chaka Tadz is out playing again, so this time I really am off and leaving you in Beci’s capable hands for a while. She’s on set point as well, the Russian No. 8 seed. And… she takes it! 2.46 pm: Gicquel saves a break point. Hurry up Beci, I’m jinxing the Fed-ster! Ah, that’s more like it. Rog “carves out” another one (what else can you do with break points? Fashion them, I suppose) and there we go, 1-1, Rog back on level peggings. 2.42 pm: Retirement question down below (“Dear Drew, when oh when oh when are you going to retire?”) I do believe that with Lindsay Davenport, we are now up to ten players withdrawing which matches the “record” from the US Open 2002. Ooh, Marc Gicquel has carved out two break points against Federer! And Gicquel takes the second one! Federer! Broken! I’m so stunned I’m going to go back to my Anna Chakvetadze match report and see whether Beci can turn the tide… 2.35 pm: Roger’s out there, cardigan-ed up. Lovely weather now. You were asking me below what the shocker for me has been so far. Probably the Djoker, but as Roger himself said, it had to happen some time. You can’t be that young and that Grand Slam-ly consistent and his run since Roland Garros 2007. Maria looked wobbly at the French and didn’t play in between so she was almost an upset waiting to happen. 2.20pm: To quote the late George Harrison, “Here comes the suuuuuuun”. Nets are being posted back up and we’ll be under way again any minute. Match refs are out, inspecting the grass – one has to be careful on grass as any moisture can obviously make it slippery when wet, to quote Jon Bon Jovi. At the French, the clay just gets a bit heavier and slower (to quote er… me). Official announcement – play on Centre and No. 1 as of 2.30 pm. 2.08 pm: Rain questions coming in down below. Last time there was a totally dry and uninterrupted Championships was 1995. 2004 was the last occasion of play on middle Sunday. Aha. There’s action out there. Covers coming off! 2 pm: Ah yes, right on cue. Spots of rain and the temperature feels chillier than the 19 degrees Celsius (that’s two metres forty in metric) that the gauges are showing. 1.50 pm: Weather report: another brief shower expected at 2 pm and then that should be that, so we’ll get back on court as soon as we can afterwards. Richard Williams, Dad of you-know-who x2, isn’t letting the temporarily inclement weather get to him – he’s strolling around, chatting happily to anyone who approaches him. 1.39 pm: Drew back here, thought I’d better apologise. As soon as I set foot outside, it rains. All my fault. So, I want you all posting in below saying what is the biggest shock of the tournament so far – Djoker? Maria? A-Rod? Who is the pleasant surprise of the first four days – Marat? Alla? The weather up until now? Post in and let us know. 1:20pm: The covers are on again ... sorry folks. 1:16 pm: Seeing as I've got a bit of time here is a catch up on scorelines from around the grounds that I've yet to mention. Castanon and Kanepi lead Guillickson and Uhlirova 6-5. Kohlmann and Scherrer lead Anderson and Lindstedt 6-6, 4-3 in the tie break. Parrott and Polasek lead De Voest and Kubot 6-4. Makarova and Sfar lead Camerin and Dulko 4-1. 1:08 pm: Ah... It looks like it might just be one of those days. The rain delay lasted just 10 minutes and the covers are coming off. Still at least the changing climate is giving the court coverers a run out. Obviously I'm not pro the rain. It's just that coming in to work at my fifth Championships, the rain has always been part of the fun and I felt a little lost without it. 12:58 pm: Bad new guys. While the rain is still fairly light, the covers have come on and play is suspended for the time being. Still, I suppose it's not too bad. It's the first rain delay of the tournament. So far ... As it stands, Kuznetsova has taken the first set 6-2 and is currently leading 2-0 in the second. It's going to take a monumental effort from the increasingly frustrated Zahlavova Strycova to come back from that position. Vaidisova is a break up, 4-3, in the second set of her match against Dellacqua. In the doubles, the British pairing of Jamie Delgado and Katie O'Brien are holding their own (3-2) ahead, in the second set of their mixed clash with Wassen and Razzano, after dropping the first set. Brazilian pairing Melo and Sa (I'm not sure if you remember but they beat Australian Paul Hanley and New Zealander Kevin Ullyett in the second round of the men's doubles competition last year 5-7, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (7), 28-26 in the second longest match in Wimbledon history) are a set and a break up against Brunstrom and Feeney in the men's doubles and Czech-Aussie pairing Cermak and Kerr are leading 6-3, 2-2 against Berlocq and Schwank. 12:54 pm: Chakvetadze and Rodina are involved in a tight battle on Court 11. It's currently 5-4 to Russian 8th seed Chakvetadze but play is going with serve. 12:38 pm: Right, David has calmed down now. The panic is over and the worry lines have disappeared. The drizzle hasn't actually interrupted any play and Kutzensova has broken her Czech opponent to lead 4-2. Meanwhile over on Court 18, Vaidisova is in no mood to hang around and has already stormed through the opening set against Australia's Dellacqua 6-2. 12:34 pm: My boss David Bates has just charged in and informed me it's raining! Well, I guess it had to happen at some point didn't it. It's actually only spitting so the play is currently still in progress, however the covers are on Centre and No.1. 12:28 pm: Former US Open champ Svetlana Kutznetsova is currently in action on Court 2 against Zahlavova Strycova. It looked a pretty tricky on paper and it's proving to be just that. It's 3-2 to the Russian at the moment, however everything is going with serve. As far as I can see there are only three singles matches going on at the moment. Vaidisova V Dellacque and Pavlyuchenkova V Radwanska. Elsewhere, there is a lot of doubles going on. Will strive to keep you up to speed with that all of that also. 12:15 pm: Anna Wintour, the editor of US Vogue magazine, is in the Royal Box on Centre Court today. I wonder what she thought about Maria Sharapova's tuxedo style outfit? Pity her performance yesterday didn't match the hype. Still, if you missed it you can read all about it and see pictures of it here. 12:05 pm: Hello guys, Beci here. I'll be attempting to keep you up to date with all of the action from around the courts this afternoon. If you've got any pressing questions post your comments below and I'll try my best to help. 11.57 am: Star watch this morning: Anabel Medina Garrigues (doubles winner at the French earlier this month) hanging around outside the press area, and my mate Kader Nouni, the ump who is the epitome of cool, but then again I tend to bump into him every day. Right, I’m off to watch one of my Facebook friends, none other than ladies’ No. 8 seed Anna “Chaka Khan” Chakvetadze. Here to bring some sun into your day is the lovely Beci. 11.45 pm: Nationalities now. There were 18 Russians in the ladies’ draw and nine of them are still around. Davai (let’s go), ladies! USA are now up to second place with three (two Williamses and “Butterfly” Bethanie Mattek) while the Frenchies have taken the worst hit: 13 to begin with, only two left, but a pretty good two they are – last year’s finalist Marion Bartoli and 2006 champ Amelie Mauresmo. Can’t really argue with that. And as an adopted Swissie (I’ve been living there for seven years), I’m delighted that the Helvetic Confederation as we call it now has more men’s players left than USA – Bobby Reynolds is the last man standing there while we’ve got Rocket Roger and Stan the Man Wawrinka. 11.24 am: Fast facts – always a good way to start the day. Who’s ace-alicious and who’s in danger of getting three points on their licence for speeding on the service? Alisa Kleybanova – the lady who knocked out Dani Hani (Hantuchova) last night – leads with 16 aces, level with Emilie Loit who was eliminated yesterday. Serena’s on 15 so let’s see how many she fires down against Amelie. Eliminated Serbian lucky loser Ilija Bozoljac still leads the men’s with 52, and Andy Roddick (second on 44) obviously isn’t going to overtake him! Super Mario Ancic is up today and is a mere 16 off the lead. One record Roddick may well hold until the end of the tournament is the fastest serve. 227.2 kph (that’s three pounds eight shillings and sixpence in old money, errr sorry 142 mph). The fastest lady is Venus – 125 mph (200 kph on the nose). Serena’s fastest to date is 120 mph – maybe she’ll crank it up later on. 11 am: Morning one and all! Drew Lilley here, ready for another day’s cracking tennis! As always, let’s start off with the weather. We got the rain out of the way yesterday evening once play had finished, so I think you’ll agree that that was very considerate of us. It’s overcast and a little humid here this morning but we should be set fair for a full day’s play. And what a day it promises to be! Five-time Federer up against dangerous Frenchman Marc Gicquel, the battle of the former champions between Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo and then the likes of Mario Ancic (last man to beat Federer here) against No. 5 seed David Ferrer, Lleyton “C’mooon!” Hewitt and then two players who are very easy on the eye – Ana Ivanovic and Marat Safin. As always, this is your blog – you can post down below and tell us who you think will triumph in the day’s battles. We’re waiting to hear from you…
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