Highlights From The Actual Tennis

While I've commentated over the past two days on first the queueing at Wimbledon, and then the impact of the sunny weather at Wimbledon, I've mainly glossed over the tennis. So in summary, we saw two full matches and the tail end of a third, so this was what we saw:

The hope of Canada that is Milos Raonic, seventeenth seed, dispatched Carlos Berlocq comfortably in straight sets while looking mostly untroubled.

Untroubled is not what you could've called the ballgirl who was on the receiving end of a Raonic serve. The Canadian is one of the game's best servers, and when his opponent mised it, a lineswoman ducked and the ballgirl just stood there unsighted, it crashed into her arm. There was pain, tears, a shocking display of compassion from what had previously appeared to be an emotionless droid of a lineswoman and the subsequent appearance of a substitute ballperson - something I didn't know existed.

Berlocq didn't have a much better day; there was a louder cheer from the crowd to salute the efforts of a nimble ballboy - who lept salmon-like to pluck an errant ball out of the sky one-handed - than anything the Argentinian accomplished on the court.

Second match saw Karolina Pliskova against thirteenth seed Nadia Petrova, and was the first time I'd ever seen a seed knocked out. Truly, a momentous moment.

Petrova started off sluggish and was hopefully carrying an injury - if only as an excuse for her refusal to run for drop shots. Her power was impressive but it became clear that if the ball was significantly far away from her, there wasn't going to be much effort in getting it back. As the match went on, the effort dropped. It started with the drop shots. Then balls that wrong-footed her were too much effort to turn for and attempt to get back. Then balls that were in front of her but not quite within her reach. Then anything that involved movement. As a result, Pliskova won in straight sets.

The final match on the court was unscheduled - the other three having finished in double-quick time they moved one of the floating matches onto the court as a final treat. We got to see Daniela Hantuchova against 32nd seed Klara Zakopalova. In a topsy-turvy match featuring repeated breaks, the seeded Czech went through in straight sets.

Most amusing was the subtle photographer in the corner of the court - making himself discreet by using a flash in decreasing light. He only seemed interested in taking pictures of the players poised to recieve. And that only when the slender Hantuchova (as opposed to her slightly bulkier opponent) was receiving. Not that I'm casting any judgement on his motivation, of course, but it gave the impression of being less than pure!

From our seats we could see the large scoreboard on court 3, allowing us to track the progress of the game between Agnieska Radwanska and her opponent. We were curious about the prospect of a shock as the unheralded Yvonne Meusburger broke the fourth seed to take the first game - and were then amused as this had clearly riled the Pole, who went on to win the set 6-1. Undeterred, the unseeded Austrian had the temerity to win the first game of the second set, this time on her own serve. The lesson had not been heeded - the next six games all went the way of Radwanska for a 6-1 6-1 victory. If only she could turn up for the first game of sets ...

Overall there was a good amount of tennis that we did manage to catch once the queueing had passed, and it was worth all the waiting once we did get into the grounds!