LATEST ACTION (all times BST)
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By Piers Newbery at Wimbledon
1159: Marcos Baghdatis walks onto Court Two to a very British and genteel ripple of applause. The Woods could miss Open at Birkdale ...
Croatia beat Austria 1-0 at Euro 2008 ...
Live - Djokovic v Nadal ...
Court upholds life sentence for Czech double murderer ...
Czech court adjourns debate on health fees indefinitely ...
Olympic torch arrives in Pakistan ... Cypriot is up against Belgian Steve Darcis, which may account for the fact that the stands are half empty at the moment. They will fill up in the next few minutes though. Most of the spectators appear to be adjusting hats, rooting around for sunglasses or applying suntan lotion.
1147: Venus Williams leaves after her practice session to a shout of "I love you Venus!", which she wisely chooses to ignore. Anyway, she looks pretty relaxed - still got her luggage tag on her racquet bag though. And Maria Sharpova is causing all sorts of distraction as she bends over to put on a new pair of trainers. She has no time to talk to the BBC but is very nice about it."
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt
1140: "Surely your undercover reporter should be a Womble rather than a mole? That would surely be a far more subtle disguise for wimbledon."
From Alastair, Preston, via text on 81111 (And so it begins...)
1137: "Another Wimbledon, another chance to stalk Rafael Nadal. Down at the practice courts, he's looking very good as he practices chip and charge with large plaster supports on both knees. On closer inspection, he's also wearing a t-shirt with his own picture on the back."
BBC Sport's Sarah Holt
1130: The sun is belting down, Radio Wimbledon is pumping the unlikely sound of Shakira and Wycleff around the grounds, and BBC Sport's Caroline Cheese has just brought me a tuna baguette. Life simply gets no better than this. Although it does because in half an hour we get to see Vince Spadea in action.
1120: "BBC Radio 5 Live commentator and former tennis bad boy Jeff Tarango and a couple of umpires have a quick natter outside Centre. All seems friendly enough but they seem pleased he's here to commentate and not play. The parting shot is, "Keep it fair Jeff." I'm sure he will.
BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
1111: Where there is a Tim, so there must also be a Greg. Rusedski will presumably be showing new-boy Henman around the Broadcast Centre like it's the first day of school today. And while Tim is backing Federer to take the title this year, Greg says, "I think Nadal is seriously ready to win the men's singles and has to be the slight favourite going into the tournament.
"I would like to see Federer face Djokovic in his semi so, if Nadal's fresh without the tough schedule he had last year, he can go all the way as he really is the real deal." Hope he doesn't try and nick Tim's lunch money.
1104: "Piers I have just ordered a new tent for this years 4 day queue stint.... Exciting!"
From Heidi via text on 81111
1053: "Fed's cameo on Court 17 is over. Cue the clicks of 100 mobile phone cameras as he turns his cap the right way round, poses for some snaps with the ballboys, signs a few dozen autographs and makes his exit."
BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
1048: "Andy M for the semis. I know that means Rafa will have gone - but i predict his amazing 'purple patch' will come to an end by round 4."
From Phil, Baker St, via text on 81111
1042: "Plenty of people are already in their seats on the outside courts and some players are also out and about. A bit of a buzz about Court 17 and some investigation reveals it's Fed knocking up and practising his return of serve - which ain't looking half bad."
BBC Sport's Chris Bevan
1042: "Re Pavlyuchenkova (see 10000 entry) - We could shorten it to Pavlova."
From Colin in Brighton via text on 81111 (Very much the frontrunner so far. She has "a champion's charisma" you know)
1039: "The cheek of calling me dishevelled (see 0945 entry). Hello all. I'm your man/mole on the ground at the Wimbledon Broadcast Centre and for some reason I've been charged with the task of bringing you all the gossip and news from the mad, bad world of the media area. * Warning, most of it will be thoroughly inane. All the BBC commentators have arrived and are now deep in a high-powered meeting including Sir Tim, which is all extremely exciting. P.S. see I haven't got the new graphic I asked for, can I have a word with someone about this?
1032: While the two main show courts get under way at 1300 BST, play on the outside courts starts an hour earlier at 1200 BST, and there's some good stuff to kick us of. Smiley Marcos Baghdatis will hope to start strongly against Steve Darcis on Court Two, British fans should head for Court 11 and Elena Baltacha against Angelique Kerber, Nicola Vaidisova wll get plenty of attention on Court 19 as she desperately looks for some form, and I reckon Thomas Johansson and Vince "I ain't afraid aya" Spadea will be entertaining on Court Six
1027: While the old-style roof has returned to Centre Court there have been a few noticeable changes in the last 12 months, one of which is the new scoreboard that can carry video highlights and Hawkeye decisions. It's massive. What would dear old six-time champion William Renshaw (see 0850 entry) think, eh? Apparently they didn't even have telly then.
1019: Of course the real battle at Wimbledon is which of the women will be crowned queen of the tabloids. Long-time favourite Maria Sharapova has real competition this year and a mournful Sun carries the headline "Shaz shuns pin-up tag" on page 50. Maybe because of this, new world number one Ana Ivanovic gets on the front page to advertise their "Perfect tens of tennis" feature. However, no decision has been made yet as both Ivanovic and Sharapova get a "strawberry fruitiness rating" of five out of five.
1012: "If you're coming out of Southfields tube station, look out for the 16-stone man sweating profusely in a luminous yellow Chelsea away shirt by a sign that reads: "Taxi's (sic) to Wimbledon". He also has a megaphone, so be warned."
BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce
1008: "When is Andy Roddick playing? Im not a Murray fan!"
From Stephanie, Scotland, via text on 81111 (Disgraceful. And Roddick will be on tomorrow)
1000: I knew this day would come. Former junior world number one and text-based commentator's nightmare, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, has made the main draw as the youngest qualifier. The Russian will be acquiring a vey short nickname if she progresses far into the tournament. According to the statement from her media people, "Nothing can stop Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova."
0945: Great news. The BBC Sport mole has just arrived, looking as dishevelled as ever, and will be furnishing us with behind-the-scenes gossip and titbits just as soon as he's worked out how to turn his computer on. The accompanying graphic, for those of you new to us, is meant to represent a mole.
0938: And the official Wimbledon weather forecast is in: "A dry, bright and sunny day with some cloud turnig the sunshine rather hazy at times." And for Tuesday? "A similar day in propsect tomorrow with good hazy sunshine and remaining dry." Damn that hazy sunshine.
0930: For those of you already having Henman withdrawal symptoms, the BBC's newest recruit has been enjoying the less glamorous side of the media process by conducting his first ever interview. He spoke to Andy Murray. My first interview was a vox pop in Carshalton about chocolate.
0920: Sharapova on her new Wimbledon look: ""I'm going with the traditional shorts, believe it or not. I've never worn shorts at a Grand Slam. I'm gonna be debuting that. Call it menswear, obviously. It's kind of like a tuxedo look, very simple lines, classic."
0915: Federer on this year's outfit: ""I mean, look, I'm not going to go skirt yet. I'm not Scottish either. But, yeah, I mean, I'll have something. I'll have a cardigan. I'll make sure I'll be a class act on the court, yeah."
0909: "Some people have been in the queue since yesterday afternoon and the stewards tell me they think there are over 2,000 already. It has a bit of a different look this year as it no longer snakes along Church Road, and instead has been diverted through Wimbledon Park."
BBC Sport's Ian Westbrook
0905: Of course Wimbledon will have a different feel this year as there will be no Tim Henman on court to drive us all to the brink of madness - we've got Andy Murray for that now. Never fear though, Tim will be putting the golf clubs to one side for a couple of weeks to join the BBC commentary team. Here are his thought on the men's finalists: "I'm really going to go out on a limb here - Federer and Nadal. Roger's a good friend so I hope and I want Roger to win." And on the women? "I will go for Sharapova and...... Williams." When pushed? "Serena." So there you go.
0857: In the women's event we have a new look at the top of the rankings, with Serbians Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic in the top two places, followed by 2004 champion Maria Sharpova. And then there are the Williams sisters, who usually manage to find their form at Wimbledon no matter how disinterested they appear for much of the rest of the season.
0850: For the first time in a few years we have genuine doubt over who will be the men's and women's champions. Federer says he's still "the big favourite" as he aims for a sixth straight title, despite getting a hammering by Nadal at the French Open a couple of weeks ago and losing his Aussie Open crown to Novak Djokovic in January. Another win for Federer would see him surpass Bjorn Borg to become only the second player to win six in a row, after William Renshaw in the 1880s. Borg has "surprised" Federer by tipping Nadal this year. Still, Borg also tipped Federer to beat Nadal at Roland Garros and he only won four games, so the Swede's got dodgy form.
0841: "I'd like to see Nadal win here and Roger win on the clay some time, just to mix it up a bit."
Tracy Austin on BBC Breakfast
0840: There is a man counting blades of grass on Centre Court. BBC Breakfast's Chris Hollins has just interrupted him. That could be a bit annoying.
0835: As always on day one, the defending men's champion is the star attraction on Centre Court. Roger Federer will take on Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty at 1300 BST. He will be followed by the new women's world number one and French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic, who takes on Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios, before Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic plays Germany's Michael Berrer. We'll have to wait until Tuesday for Andy Murray's opener against Fabrice Santoro.
0830: Morning all. The sun is shining and the forecast is good, which means Wimbledon 2008 is already better than Wimbledon 2007. Centre Court is a hive of activity as Hawkeye boffins set up their gizmo, while several TV crews do their stuff from the sidelines. Hello, it's clouding over....
- 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.
(BBC)
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