Live - Wimbledon day six
“There is a veritable feast of celebrities in the Royal Box today. Today’s Jimmy Tarbuck equivalent is Bruce Forsyth. Imagine being sat next to him, how annoying would that be? Likewise, French and Saunders, who are also here. Amongst some serious heavyweights from the world of sport is Tottenham’s over-priced striker Darren Bent. This is a Royal Box for heaven’s sake - what qualifications does he have to be there? Standards are slipping, I’m going to have words. He will be in the cheap seats before the start of play, don’t you worry.”
“The Brits have long gone, James Blake went out yesterday while fellow pseudo-Brit Alexander Popp retired in 1994 but fear not, the bottom of the home-hope barrel in the Wimbledon singles has not yet been scraped. Step forward Wayne Arthurs, who is second up on Court 13. His dad was born in Belfast and played Davis Cup for Ireland. OK, so it means cheering on an Aussie but beggars can’t be choosers…”
It’s official - there will be no play before 1200 BST at the earliest.
“The best game today will probably be Kiefer v Djokovic. Kiefer likes playing on the green stuff, Djokovic isn’t quite as surefooted but makes up for that with a bundle of natural talent.”
“Right here’s the deal. After knocking off to go the Twenty20 cricket last night, I got stuck on a broken down Victoria Line train for over an hour outside Stockwell. In a tunnel. It was hot. People were passing out. I missed 16 overs of a 20-over innings. That was the warning I needed, never leave the tennis. Wimbledon is my home now.”
We have an updated official weather forecast (see 0935 entry) and there is now “a 60% chance of occasional light rain or drizzle, increasing to 80% by 1500 when it will turn persistent and last throughout the rest of the day.” I can confirm that is is currently 100% raining. Persistently.
In the spirit of serious coverage, some highlights from last night’s news conferences:
- on golf: “It’s not relaxing for me. I go mental. The ball’s not even moving and I can’t hit it right. And I don’t have the pants.”
- on appearing on the Jonathan Ross show: “That’s definitely provided all my inspiration to doing well in The Championships.”
For those of you who were with us yesterday, apologies for the trivial nature of much of the discussion. It was ladies’ day in commentary box 4 and there was a lot of nonsense talked about boys and stuff. Rest assured, order will be restored today. The mole will be kept on a short leash too - if you keep moles on leashes that is.
Play is scheduled to start on the outside courts at 1100, although the prospects are not good. If things do clear up, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic will be among those in action early on. Later on we have Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal to look forward to, although we fancy a bit of Nalbandian v Baghdatis in the second match on Court 1. The tremendously grumpy Nalbo up against the ever-chirpy Baggy could lead to some pantomime-style crowd interaction.
“Bearing in mind that travelling across London today is a bit like being in an episode of 24, and that it’s raining and the prospects are gloomy, hats off to the thousands of people prepared to sleep overnight or get up at the crack of dawn and join the queue - evidence of the pulling power of Robin Soderling. If you’re out there, send us a text, and here’s hoping you get to see some play.”
The official weather forecast says it will be “a mostly cloudy day with a 30% risk of disruption, increasing to 70% after 1800 BST”. Looking out on Centre Court, we must be getting through a fair bit of that 30% right now.
Good day. The Saturday morning queue is already very long and getting longer, its full of Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans, there are Americans trying to buy umbrellas in the newsagent, free drinks/papers/tennis balls etc are being handed out, and the sniffer dog has been through my lunch. A normal day in SW19. Oh, and it’s raining.
We’ll be here throughout the day to bring you the latest news from around the All England Club, both on the courts and off, so whether you’re settling down at home, stuck in the office or queuing on Church Road, send us your thoughts.