I was looking forward to having a long(ish) lie in but woke at 5.38am (I sound like Big Brother). Probably too much adrenalin from Jamie's mixed doubles win against Zimonjic/Yan which finished in darkness at 9.20pm!
The worst thing about late finishes is that there's no food in the player restaurant. It closes at 8pm which is a real problem for those on court after that time. I heard Elena Baltacha say on radio after her cracking first round win on Tuesday that her match v Alona Bondarenko finished at 9.30pm and by the time she had showered, stretched, had a rub down and done her press it was about 11:30pm, and she had ended up eating an Indian takeaway at midnight because nothing else was open.
Athletes should start to refuel and rehydrate within 30 minutes of finishing their activity whether that is training or a match, so it amazes me that there is no facility for food after 8pm in the player restaurant.
It's been a great week for the weather though. Sods law that the roof has yet to be closed though rain was forecast on both Friday and Saturday. It's not been such a good week for the British players with 9 out of 11 going out in the first round of the singles events and the press has been pretty harsh. Even the Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe has expressed his concern over our inability to produce top 100 singles players. To be fair, most of the British players are not at Grand Slam level and should not have been expected to win anyway but the challenge now is to find a way to change that.
There have been some encouraging performances though, particularly from Laura Robson who led by a set and a break against former world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova. Remember Laura was the youngest player in the draw and making her debut in the women's event so at this stage, it's all about experience.
And I'm sure she learned a lesson or two about "delaying tactics" since Hantuchovas stalling between points surely disrupted Laura's rhythm and contributed to her defeat. It was refreshing to hear Martijn Bok (Laura's Dutch coach) say afterwards that "learning is more important than results". Couldn't agree more, if more coaches adopted this philosophy during the teenage years, we might start to get somewhere.
Best close encounter of the week?
I bumped into Chris Hoy on Monday as I was wandering towards Aorangi Park to watch the boys practice. Didn't recognise him at first coz he had huge Posh Spice shades on but we had a good chat and I met his lovely fiancee Sara. He was a bit gone that Andy wasn't scheduled Monday but he was back on Saturday with loads of other Olympians to watch the match v Troicki.
Worst close encounter of the week?
I came into Wimbledon very early one morning to do a radio slot and saw Hamish the Hawk for the first time. He's the big bird brought in to scare stray pigeons away. Nearly scared me away too. Don't worry though, he's only around for a few hours before play starts and long gone before the strawberries and cream come out :)
Justin Timberlake was in the player lounge on Saturday so there was a big buzz about the place especially among the younger players and guests! I have to admit that although I've heard of him, I've no idea what he looks like - Kim was appalled at that!
I've been doing a bit of commentary for BBC 5 Live which is good fun. I just do one match a day and usually the first women's match on Centre or Court 1. Most of them have been over in around an hour (perfect!), except for Sharapova v Dulko.
That was an interesting one for several reasons. Sharapova had a 9 month injury lay off from competition after undergoing shoulder surgery and is really still making her comeback. She's way off her best form in terms of consistency and match fitness and made so many unforced errors. But Dulko (former girlfriend of both Robredo and Gonzales) played a very clever game, mixing up pace, depth and height with slice and some fab drop shots. It was good to watch her disrupt Maria's rhythm with this play and as always I'm staggered how few of the women players can use slice effectively. Many can't play it at all and yet it's the easiest way to counter the big hitters.
Enough from me. I've got a dog to walk and some washing to hang out. Later guys :)