Wimbledon Crisis Center, Day 3

By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor

Good morning. This is your daily meeting-place to discuss the day's tennis, or to match-call. Today's Order of Play takes us into the second round. The traffic on these posts is generally heavy, so we'd appreciate it if you could keep the topic of conversation on tennis - off-topic conversation is acceptable once the main event is over for the day.

I spent yesterday watching on Centre Court at Wimbledon, successfully adding to my Rafa Euro-spectator Slam tally (photos to follow). The court was unexpectedly windy, and I'd guess, from similar weather patterns predicted today, that we could see similar gusting there today.

One comment on yesterday - am I alone in thinking that the seats on Centre Court are smaller than at some other tournaments? I had the unfortunate experience of being seated next to what I can only describe as an extremely large couple, and it was enough to put me completely out of alignment with the back of my seat. It was extremely uncomfortable. I don't know exactly what I could have done about this invasion of my space - should I have complained to someone that I wasn't being allowed full use of my own seat? It also made photography a challenge, because I was being frequently, though not deliberately, elbowed.

Daily Weather Report:

The weather outside as I write is similar to that seen yesterday evening at Wimbledon - bright, with extensive cloud cover. There's quite a stiff breeze going on out there. Some sun is threatening to break through. It's very similar to what is forecast for Wimbledon itself today.

Player of the Day:

From yesterday, Benjamin Becker gets the award, for removing number four seed Nikolay Davydenko from the draw in straight sets, and reminding everyone of why, if performance on grass alone were the key to the Wimbledon seedings, Kolya probably wouldn't even have been seeded. It's not so much that his warmup on clay, in Sopot, looks like a bad idea - it seems that Davydenko has enough of an aversion to grass that he doesn't take it seriously enough to bother to tune up for the year's biggest tournament in spite of a R16 showing in 2007. Why bother to adjust to being off clay, if you expect to be back in action on it again so soon, right? As a result of this week's performance, Davydenko will surrender his number four ranking after Wimbledon, as whatever happens, he has lost enough points this week that David Ferrer will be ahead of him.

Match of the Day:

A large (nostalgic) part of me would like to think that today's match pick could be Novak Djokovic's encounter with Marat Safin, first on Centre Court. Safin is in fact 1-0 against Djokovic, but even though this was a one-sided encounter (6-0, 6-2, 6-1) it took place in the first round of the Australian Open back in 2005, so is pretty much irrelevant today. My choice might therefore lie with Olivier Rochus (who can play a bit on grass) versus last week's Nottingham finalist, Fernando Verdasco (Court 11). Or perhaps, Marta Domachowska versus fellow Pole Agnieszka Radwanska (Court 18). I also realise that there are a number of Tribe members who would love to see the upcoming encounter between Fernando Gonzalez and Simone Bolelli (also on Court 18).

Photos of the Day:

Both are from the match between Fabrice Santoro and Andy Murray that I was lucky enough to see on Centre Court. It was a match played with great spirit on both sides of the net. Like Andy Murray, I don't know for sure whether this will prove to be Santoro's last time in the spotlight at Wimbledon, but if so (and it seems likely), he couldn't have been part of a more entertaining match. Both players made use of the entire court, and showed many of the touches that only they are capable of. The Centre Court crowd showed wild enthusiasm whenever Santoro leapt to make a spectacular smash or a near-impossible volley, and although they were happy to see Murray win, there is no doubt that Santoro's contribution to the match was fully appreciated. He didn't make it easy for his younger opponent to put him away at the end - I had the sense that he was soaking up these moments of glory on the great court, and enjoying his powers.

After seeing Santoro's dismal experience of being dismissed by David Ferrer with just one game at his home Slam, Roland Garros, I couldn't help but be happy for him. The last picture I took yesterday shows Murray gesturing towards his opponent at the end of the match, as he takes his own applause. Murray has made it clear how much he admires Santoro, and I think this will be a  match to look back upon and savour.