Live - Wimbledon
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1139: Spooky alien-like whistles and bleeps coming from Centre Court. Maybe the large shadow that drifted across earlier wasn’t the roof…
From Stu, at work in Redhill, via text on 81111: “Re Mr Ornstein and his last Twitter post: It is not Murray Mount, it will always be Henman Hill. Tim may have retired but his legacy lives on! I didn’t enjoy last night’s match as much as a Henman rollercoaster, I always thought Murray would win and unlike watching Tim, at no point did I need to hide behind the sofa and not watch!”
1129: That’s two texts I’ve received about Cheesy’s Outside Court Golden Ticket. It’ll be in the Oxford English Dictionary before you know it. Since it’s my thing, I’m going to cheat a bit today and give you Court Two (which must count as an outside court now that we’re in the latter stages). First up, Petch and Ruser in the dream Brit pairing against a couple of Americans. Then you get to see 52-year-old ‘Quick’ Dick Norman in the men’s doubles and last up, future superstar Laura Robson.
From Claire, pretending to work but really just reading the live feed, in Cardiff: “Hello Miss Cheese. What’s Cheesy’s Outside Court Golden Ticket today?”
1126: Jamie may be resting up - and incidentally, he was spotted during Andy’s match doing something I think can accurately be described as canoodling - but there are a whole host of other Brits to pin your hopes on. That’s because the senior events start today. Jo Durie, Jeremy Bates, Annabel Croft, Mark Petchey and Greg Rusedski: your time is now.
1120: Keep up, anon (see below), Jamie Murray and American partner Liezel Huber are already on the march. They face Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round - tomorrow I would think.
From anon via text on 81111: “When does Jamie ‘I won a Grand Slam before my bro’ Murray’s mixed doubles campaign start?”
BBC Sport’s David Ornstein on Twitter: “Scores of sun worshippers have already pitched camp on Murray Mount. Plenty of flesh on show - get that suntan cream on!”
1109: Over on Court One, defending champ Venus Williams faces Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska. Then, unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone - WHO LIVES IN LONDON - meets fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who has dropped only 16 games so far without anyone really noticing. Only Venus has been as dominant.
1104: Second on Centre, spiky Belarusian Victoria Azarenka against second seed Serena Williams. During her three-set win over Nadia Petrova yesterday, Azarenka completely lost her rag when the umpire refused to overrule a line call. She marched up to the ump and accused her of “ruining the game” and then sarcastically shook the line judge’s hand. A yellow card offence.
1100: Right then, on to today’s matters. Dinara Safina will face Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the first match on Centre at 1300 BST. Unseeded Lisicki hasn’t won a match on grass before this tournament. We’ve also learnt that she knows Steffi Graf but has never met Boris Becker. Don’t know of her thoughts on Rainer Schuettler, we might hear later today.
1056: The Voice of Wimbledon recommends everyone has “plenty of water and sun cream on board”. Don’t get the bottles confused though. Could be nasty.
BBC Sport’s Piers Newbery on Twitter: “I’ve just met ‘the man with the hat’ - player box steward David Spearing, what a gent. Even The Mole was charmed by his nemesis.”
1051: The roof appears to be meandering across Centre Court. No idea why, it’s glorious sunshine out there and officially scorching. Back in your box, roof, you’ve had your moment of glory.
From boringoldblue on 606: “Re 0952: Moles wear pants?”
From Chip-In via text on 81111: “Check out Andy Murray’s profile when he gets excited - looks like The Mole (see 0952).”
1036: Hey, I’m well-known for clutching at hypothetical pro-British straws, and I think Stan Wawrinka played very, very well last night. But Murray did not, as ArgieWizard beautifully explains (see below), and I’m wondering how much of that was down to the conditions under the roof. I really must start talking about the women’s quarter-finals soon.
From ArgieWizard on 606: “Re 1012: Cheese, think you’re clutching at hypothetical pro-British straws there. I don’t know if anyone noticed, but Murray didn’t actually play that well last night - poor first serve percentage, plenty of unforced errors, and far too short with a lot of his shots which allowed Wawrinka to dictate points. Testament to the man’s grit and belief to win - I thought there was only going to be one winner after the 4th set, and it wasn’t going to be Murray.”
1026: All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie is on Radio Wimbledon now, talking about the decision to keep the roof closed last night. He says, basically, that they had no choice, because of the 70% risk of showers. In response to Andy Murray’s claim that he was not given enough warning that the roof would stay shut, he says: “Andy’s camp rang the referee’s office to ask and we told them, as it stood, it would stay closed but we would let them know if it changed.”
From Neville Neville, Neville & Neville on 606: “Re 1003: I still think it’s odd that the match should have started under the roof, however ticklish the circumstances. Even with the roof, Wimbledon is still, in principle, an outdoor tournament, so I reckon if there’s no rain, a match should start without a roof.”
1016: Also, does last night’s match give Murray a potentially crucial advantage as he bids to win his first Grand Slam title? He is the only player in the men’s draw who has experienced a match under the roof.
1012: I will get round to talking about the women’s quarter-finals… soon. Here’s a thought: Murray clearly struggled in the indoor conditions last night. If the roof had stayed open for the match, which began at 6.42pm, would Murray have won in straight sets, thereby finishing before the floodlights were even needed? Like I say, just a thought.
1007: Murray himself said he was surprised the roof stayed closed, but there probably won’t be any complaints from BBC television who pulled in a peak of 11.8 million viewers last night. Some consolation for the loss of Dom’s On the Case.
1003: So why did Andy Murray’s match against Stan Wawrinka begin under the roof, when it was bone dry outside? Here’s the official line from All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie (please note excellent use of the word ‘ticklish’): “We were always going to face ticklish decisions with the roof and the condition but you have to play the percentages. We had a forecast that said 70% chance of rain and thunderstorms, and we had a 6.30pm start meaning there was a reasonable chance the match might run into light problems. Take those together and that’s why we decided to do it. It was the right decision.”
BBC Sport’s Piers Newbery on Twitter: “In a cab with George, Heli & Seb from Farnham on their way to queue for tomorrow - brave murraymaniacs ready to bait some Aussies.”
0952: Just having a little flick through the papers, and they all seem to be preoccupied with the amount of BBC programmes that had to be put back or shelved entirely because of the Wimbledon drama last night. The One Show, Dom’s On The Case, EastEnders, Panorama, Crimewatch, News at Ten and Crimewatch Update, according to the Independent, all suffered as a result of the late-night finish.
BBC Sport Mole: “Tired and red eyes around Wimbledon this morning. At 11.15pm on the tube last night I was surrounded by tired, ratty and emotional public school kids apoplectic with rage that Murray’s match had forced them to work late in the Wimbledon food court and therefore ruined their social lives. Welcome to the real world kids. Least you’ve got your mum at home to do your washing for you - I am heading for a serious pants shortage and there are still six days left.”
0943: Apologies Karen, and anyone else who has been forced to find some work to pretend to do this morning. As you may have heard, it was quite a late one last night. I was half expecting to see Piers Newbery curled up under the desk in Commentary Box Four this morning. No complaints though: last night was very, very special, and not just for the sight of one of my colleagues almost being impaled by a fork lift truck on the way out at nearly midnight.
Karen, distraught in Newcastle, sent via text at 0904 BST on 81111: “No live text? All still in bed after last night’s epic? Am a supposed to do actual work today?! Please come back! xx”
0930: Did it really happen? Was it all a dream? A night match at Wimbledon… Never thought I’d see the day. It’s only a matter of time before they start playing Black Eyed Peas during the changeovers.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
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