Credit: cc: James Boye/Flickr
Serena is in the pink now Wimbledon is here
Serena Williams made her return to Wimbledon yesterday, not wearing pink I might add. She returned to the tournament after a year of injury, determined to defend her title, and she made a good start. It was a bit shaky towards the beginning of her first match, and she did drop a set, but overall, Serena showed the crowds that she is in the hunt for a good result at SW19 this year.
It was a big day all round yesterday, with Roger Federer easing through to the second round, the big battle between Isner and Mahut over in straight sets, and Sharapova also making a great start to her Wimbledon campaign.
That was yesterday, though, and today there are even greater things in store (potentially). The schedule shapes up something like this:
| Court | Ladies/Men | Player 1 | vs Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | L | Date-Krumm | V. Williams |
| M | Nadal | Sweeting | |
| M | Hanescu | Roddick | |
| No. 1 | M | Benneteau | Berdych |
| M | Murray | Kamke | |
| L | Kvitova | Keothavong | |
| No. 2 | M | Fish | Istomin |
| L | Vesnina | Zvonareva | |
| M | Del Potro | Rochus | |
| L | Dulgheru | Kuznetsova |
Schiavone is also in action on Court 3, whilst the outer courts begin to play host to the first round doubles matches.
What does the weather hold in store? There are likely to be showers for the rest of the week. Play was suspended quite early on Monday, but yesterday saw plenty of action and the schedulers have not dropped too far behind yet. It may be a tricky week for them, but hopefully the skies will stay clear long enough for the crowds, and us at home, to see some good tennis.
ooh I've been waiting for this post so I can ask someone to go buy some strawberries and cream sandwiches and report back how they taste :)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2005828/Wimbledon-2011-Tesco-launches-1-strawberries-cream-sandwich.html
Wimbledon has bees
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/5178475/Freak-bee-swarm-at-Wimbledon
That makes me pleased to watch from my bed.
That looks gross!
I wonder if Heather Watson will be any good today.
it sounds gross. But clearly strawberry jam sandwiches are awesome and jam and cream are awesome on pikelets and scones. Maybe its a mental blockage. Maybe they're just gross.
I'm tempted to pop out and find some. I need something for lunch anyway. Hmm.
and only £1!
It could even count as one of my Try New Foods.
thats win/win
You've convinced me. I shall report back. Don't tell Mr C, I'm meant to be writing.
it's ok, as a non tennis watcher he shouldn't be in the wimbledon thread :D
Camilla is there today
It's a disgrace that those seats aren't full....
i might forgive you if you get me some.
I bet none of the people who queued overnight aren't there! Probably the debenture holders. I am jealous of them.
It's silly they can't give the seats away to people at the gate on the day if the people aren't there to sit in them... Even if it's just for one match or whatever.
they do returns where people who are leaving put their tickets in a big box and they distribute/sell them to other people, the problem is some people with tickets might only want to see Nadal or Roddick so they won't be willing to give up their tickets for the whole day.
You'll never get a stadium full for all the matches which is a shame.
"apparently this dress is known as a onesie"
well done commentator man.
I don't see why they can't give them away for just one match even if you're running late/busy etc. I just think it's such a shame there are so many people outside wanting to get in and that there's empty seats inside. If you're not attending then maybe you should be barred from getting further tickets.
I am back. It's very bad that Tesco are taking over the country, but equally, it means you're never far away from a strawberries and cream sandwich.
once people get in though its really hard to make them leave when the rightful ticket owner comes back.
They have this issue at the AO since centre court has day and night sessions. One of my friends is an usher there and she says making the day crowd leave is the hardest part of the job.
my anticipation is high.
Hey all!
Christine you're having a strawberries and cream sandwich?...
I am indeed.
its the only proper Wimbledon watching snack.
This clearly isn't proper Wimbledon though. What's wrong with Venus Williams?
she hasn't played since January?
woah! do tell me if it's as sickly as i imagine :)
Well, except for Monday.
Kim Catrall! yaay
Maybe give the seats to people with the grounds passes then. It's quite easy to get people out of individual seats because it's instantly clear where the problem is.
oooh Lou now that youre here, if by some miracle there are Olympics tennis tickets available to me on Friday a) do you want me to get any for you and b) if so, whats the maximum you'd be willing to pay because if there are any they'll be in higher price categories.
Initial thoughts: It's not too sickly, it's not bad. It is just like a scone like Amy said, but still feels out of place somehow.
Will blog the rest.
ohhh you raise a very good point. I'm home alone atm so will have to discuss with mum if she wants one, but do you have a link to the prices? :)
I converted them all into British Dollars for my other friend I'm looking for http://twitter.com/#!/amyfulton/status/83421163585417217 :)
British Dollars!
Yep.
I want some!
stop choking old lady!
Hehehe how is she so good??
she seems to randomly go on these amazing streaks once a year or so when she impresses everyone, then she fades away again
I don't know if you saw the comment I made in yesterdays Wimbledon thread earlier today but you got my Serbs mixed up and I just had to correct that :D
I did! My apologies.
I think I thought it was Jankovic because she always looks quite miserable, so I can see why someone wouldn't like her.
I stand corrected though. I'll have to get Mr C to hug her instead of Ana :)
heheh fair enough, I just like her because her and Jamie were like the cutest mixed doubles pair ever.
I see Lou said she's awesome. INCORRECT. :D
Hehehe.
Uh oh, Bruce Forsyth.
oh.. why?..
Wait, I know this one! She fist pumps too much, and... too pretty, I think.
shes like the most inconsistent player ever and its so frustrating to watch. People fawn over here and she has a massive fan base, mostly because shes pretty. Kournikova syndrome.
Adidas were all 'oh you played rubbish enough to drop out of the top 50 in the world? here have a LIFETIME CONTRACT' at the same time they were saying to Safina 'oh you played rubbish enough to drop out of the top 50 in the world because you have a serious back injury? DUMPED! LOL!'
That really annoys me.
oh yes the fist pumping, how could I forget. I know many people who call her Ana Fistpumpovic.
I got it right!
ah.. okay :)
pay attention to her ball toss and try not to cry.
okay, i'll look out for it :)
it has improved a bit this year but I'd bet it's not permanent :D
In 2009 she only won back to back matches six times. SIX. IN THE WHOLE YEAR. GAH.
I really don't know why there's a hole in the back of her dress like that. Very odd looking.
Woah also what a comeback....
that isn't great at all..
defintely not awesome :D
:D
#Amyisthetennisguru
I certainly never have an opinion on a tennis player until Amy tells me what to think :)
https://twitter.com/#!/maggiemay_hem/status/83519373020639233
cute!!
that is dangerous!
i have learnt my lesson :) but will always support Murray...#sorryamy!
Hehe, not 100% true. But you do have all the gossip.
this reminds me, Amy when are you writing a wimbledon daily post! :)
The guy Murray is playing next gave an interview where he came across as dangerously in awe of him, and it got sent up by the s***playerssay twitter (which I love)
TOBIAS KAMKE: If I leave Wimbledon with nothing but Andy Murray's autograph, I'll consider myself truly blessed.
TOBIAS KAMKE: I can't wait to lose. I just want to shake His hand.
TOBIAS KAMKE: Andy Murray is the reason I was born. I was born to lose to Andy Murray, and I consider it my duty to do so.
TOBIAS KAMKE: The whole world is sleeping, so I will keep tweeting. No one can stop me. Except Andy Murray. But He is sleeping too.
TOBIAS KAMKE: I bet Andy Murray looks cute when he's sleeping. Andy Murray is the best. Like God, if God had ugly hair.
That last line killed me
ooh can I bags Saturday? By the time the OOP and stuff for the other days comes out I'm at work and can't really do it.
:D
Hehehe!
Noooooo come on Venus!
Looou I know some people who queued today, got there at 9am and were #4900ish in the queue which was enough for ground passes. Just in case you're thinking of rescheduling your visit :)
For Amy: http://mrschristine.com/2011/06/22/taste-twenty-trial-7-strawberries-cream-sandwich/
yay!
Saturday would be awesome. I think I've got Simon doing Monday as well.
excellent :)
my commentators appear to be having heart attacks
That woman is properly dripping.
Here too :D
My goodness me...
thanks amy! I've worked out that with travel getting a ground pass and getting up early is almost the same money as buying a court 3 ticket (if there are any online) and getting their a bit later. ridiculous really. if i was in farnham it would cost me next to nothing to get to london early. stupid kent.
I just realised I was no longer watching tennis and instead was watching some British comedy from the 70s.
This must be what it feels like when F1 moves from BB1 to BBC2 :)
Our tennis moves around a lot too. You go to get a drink and come back to cash in the attic.
does.not.compute.
I shouldn't whine, just it being on free to air is lovely.
I'm being hypocritical clearly though because I like Verdasco and he's a bit inconsistent. And very pretty :D
Henman Hill looks bigger on TV
my commentary has switched to the bbc. more and more like f1 every minute.
I hope you're not expecting anything sensible. They're mainly impressed by a big ring at the moment.
i miss pat cash and andy castle :(
yay covers going off!
It's very silly to say you need the "same playing conditions" so they won't open the roof. It's not like you get the same conditions if you're playing with it open then close it because of rain. What a silly thing to say.
They could just say, we don't want to stop the momentum for ten minutes. That would be a better excuse.
I understand why they don't want to open it. It's just unnecessary delay and they'd look really really stupid if it started raining again. It was just a ridiculous excuse.
heheh the open-close-open-close-open-close thing in Melbourne makes me laugh every time when it's normally so obvious it's going to rain again
Aussie commentators most upset there are no cameras on the courts where Australians are about to play.
This pleases me because it means I don't have to watch them :)
Oh dear. Old lady is getting angry.
i feel its going to be another late night and i am scared i'll sleep through night 4 again because i missed ALL of roger, nole, isner, many matches I wanted to see last night :(
I was mostly commenting to myself and Mr C said where's Amy, and I pondered whether you were sleeping for thirty hours or not.
The Isner match was not so exciting in the end.
9.9 hours! I think on the Amy scale thats about 30
I didn't think it would be, but I always like to watch his matches anyway :)
Federer was good. It was easy really, but the other guy wasn't scared to death and hit good points, which doesn't always happen in the first round matches. I don't think I saw much of the Nole one.
oh Bethanie, why are you wearing a tennis ball jacket, the tennis ball dress was enough of a fail :(
Tennis ball dress?
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/17/article-1308296482895-0C99FE2300000578-76577_466x619.jpg designed by Gagas designer apparently
like I'm sure you could make a dress with tennis balls on it and have it look kooky but cute, that one was just ugly.
Oh my... there are no words.
her jacket has lots of fringing and white half tennis balls all down the sleeves and possibly on other parts of it that I missed when they showed her on TV
The shoes don't even match properly.
This I presume?: http://img.ly/5lV9
Good grief.
oh its worse in a still picture!
Apparently the Wimbledon folk were trying to stop her wearing eyeblack, looks like they didn't win that fight. Maybe they'll fine her like the time she wore a cowboy hat :D
She is one of my favourite female players though, I like that she lightens up the seriousness a bit :)
Guy behind me wonders what the crowd is gathering for. "American lady that wears funny dresses" is the entirely accurate answer
Hehe, I love Cheesey.
heheh she doesn't often wear dresses! but she does often wear purple. whats not to love?
70-68 here we come
DRINK!
Ooh, there's the jacket!
Match points, match points.
phew! sooo not staying up for all of rafa and roddick :D
She's 40?? Blimey.
Yeah good going.
just leave the roof closed and get the next match started! silly people.
@Wimbledon Sorry folks, starting to rain at #Wimbledon again. #annoying
looks like that's made the decision about the roof for them :)
The weird outside court camera angles make the court look ten times longer.
In case those following the saga have not realised, Wimbledon is being smarter than Roland Garros and releasing transcripts after a 24 hour delay.
Mr Castle!!! he's back! McEnroe must have found him!
hehe setting McEnroe straight about the Jokervic things. :) He comes back and puts things in order. just what i like to hear :)
my tv has moved onto Fish and Istomin with commentators who say NOTHING. It's odd.
sounds like the perfect excuse to provide your own commentary! :)
that'd mostly be 'hehehehe his name is Fish' because its been years and it's still hilarious.
Back on centre now though and this Mr Castle man. I don't know who he is but I'll take your word for him being good.
Former British No.1.. used to play doubles apparently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Castle
I like his commentary lots :) Mr Castle and McEnroe's commentary at Roland Garros was brilliant, pretty funny too. Gotta love Andrew! :)
I missed the news Querrey is out, boo
:(
The Swedish lady playing Heather Watson is very angry. She dropped her racket and there was shouting and everything.
hehe Andy doesnt the the shirt either Amy! :)
Poor Heather.
Heather Watson has hurt her arm. The trainer on doing a bit of speed taping.
Is that just happening for you? She's already on court again.
Oh I think my stream has gotton a bit behind.
Either that or I've gone forward in time. Which would be fun.
"What's coming back from the other end of the court, it's inspiring Heather Watson that she can win this, with virtually one arm."
Harsh on the other lady, but quite true!
Brucey looks confused on centre court...
Brucey looks confused a lot :)
thats Sir Brucey to you
Oops.
ohhh how can i choose?.. Murray on Court 1.. Andrew Castle and Nadal on Centre court! nooo!!
I bet you choose Murray.
...i'm so predictable.. :(
Off to a grumpy start, that Murray :)
ohh Tim and Boris!
but gets a break quick enough :) yaay!
ah, starting to see why i'm so predictable :)
Hehe. I have switched to see the end of Heather's game. Lemme know if Murray needs my, erm, support ;)
of course! i hope Heather wins!
She's hanging in there, but serving is a real problem.
John Inverdale's voice really annoys me and i can't work out why.
My goodness, she is as well. I went out to post a letter and get some food. Score is much better than expected. #goheather
'Serve volley serve volley! I don't believe it!' calm down mr Becker.
wohoo!! 1-0 Andy :) first set over in around half an hour :)
Saved two match points. How long can she hold on for?
'so far the most exciting part of the first set has been Borris having a sneezing fit... he's alright'
John Inverdale's commentary is .... alright..
Gah, rubbish.
did she loose? :(
Yeah.
:(
She did so well and the other woman was playing so badly. Stupid elbows.
:( that sucks!
Oh is thaaat John Inverdale. I had a different voice in my head when you said the name before. No I don't like him either....
heheh after the other day it looks like Murray can't be trusted with the fridges!
Helloooo all. Have just got in to see Andy Murray shaking his head like a crazy angry dance.
Hello world, hello Lukeh :)
I am one of the happiest men in the world, because today I've started my holidays! Three-months-break before I come back to school :D
Oh dear. Strange dress lady is very unhappy.
Stan! #nothere
Why didn't they let her keep the ball? MEAN.
shoo! ;)
Questions:
Anyone writing tomorrow's Wimbledon post? Happy to do it, but throwing it open for anyone else.
Also, Lou, is it okay to use your pictures in them?
of course! :) it's always okay for people to use my pics in SPC posts :)
Yay!
i'll write one for Fridays play? :)
Excellent.
if i don't seem able to contribute to my own blog the least i can do is contribute here! :)
ohh Murray please chill out a bit. it isn't that bad.
hehe yay for Murray! finally a break in this set!
That was a heavy landing just now.
i got all confused and thought it was the other guy.. and then realised poor murray :(
match point!
yaaaaaaayyyy!!! :D
mexican wave on centre court!
Is the tennis that bad?
roddick's opponent had a medical time out due to a thumb injury.
Lots of injuries today.
I feel a little bit bad that I only started watching Robson vs Kebner because Laura was about to lose and was up against a match point, as then I could see that match and it'd go to another match then...
now Laura has recovered, won the second set and is 4-1 up in the final set and kicking bum quite a bit. oops... i think.
*Kerber even
Although now you've jinxed it.
Uh oh. #sorrylaura
Oops indeed. You've spoiled it!! :D
Yay! 5-3 now, I hope she wins this!
Stop it!
Lukeh!!
Hehehe, poor Lukeh.
Maybe I should just watch something else to spare her the drama :)
Phhhhhhhheeewwww!
Woooooo!!!
Excellent.
Oh, she faces Sharapova next. Bummer.
Might have to tune in at the end of the second game again.
Second set, even. I really need to get better with my terms.
I don't like tennis so I am only in this thread because God tweeted about it. :)
For @serenawilliams @venuseswilliams, Your resilience & commitment is brilliant; if you were blindfolded, I wouldn't count you out. Rock on!
- @MarioAndretti
Hehehehe. :)
I'm going to have to watch the highlights on Venus' match. I hear it was a really, really good match
Am hoping the Roddick match ends quickly so I can watch the del potro match soon..
Mum just said 'murray wasn't very good today was he.. '
Me 'he won in straight sets?'
Mum 'but he was a bit rubbish...'
Mum is a bad example of a Murray fan lol
#confidentialfromandy
I just don't want him to get any more annoyed :)
Monfils won! What a dude :D
Roddick finally run! Yay that was a brilliant match. Woah he did good today, his serves were amazing! a game in under 3 minutes with a challenge ! woah.
Oh boo. del potro is going to be finished tomorrow. silly light
hehehe! i love Judy on twitter -
'@judmoo How's this for street cred in SW19? :) http://yfrog.com/h24dawsj'
Heheh!
going back through my queens pics i found a pic i got of Mo the umpire! http://www.flickr.com/photos/loujohnson/5860446057/in/photostream