The new look Wimbledon Centre Court

In 2006 I had a pair of tickets for Centre Court for the opening day at Wimbledon. As you can imagine I was looking forward to it for weeks, and the anticipation was heightened when we read the Order of Play over the weekend (Fed; home favourite Henman, among others).

Unfortunately, when we woke up that morning it was pouring with rain. It brightened up during the course of the morning, before chucking it down again. And so it went on for the whole day. Rain, no rain (but courts still damp so no play), and then rain again. Repeat for 8 hours. A hugely depressing day during which we saw NO TENNIS!!

In a way we were among the lucky ones. We also had tickets for ladies semi finals the following week. The weather wasn't great that day either but we got a full day's play (Justine v Kim in an all Belgium semi; Sharapova v Mauresmo, and then Bob Bryan and Venus Williams in mixed doubles on one of the outer courts) and it was Wimbledon at it's best.

So as someone who has seen the best and the worst and been burnt by the weather I'm all in favour of the new centre court roof. If you want to take a look here's a short film from the BBC

Want to know why Rafa is unbeatable on clay?...

... then take a look at the exchange between Rafa and Murray at 5-4 in yesterday's tie break in Monte Carlo. Formidable defence from the Spaniard sucks up the pressure from Murray, and then the World No 1 unleashes an awesome angled, cross-court winner.

It's 5 mins & 40 seconds into this clip from tennis24TV

Stat of the day

Andy Murray has yet to win more than two matches in succession on clay.

(hat tip: Paul Newman, The Independent)

Who is defending what on clay?

Monte Carlo Masters* (12-19 April)

Points to defend: Nadal 1,000, Federer 700, Djokovic 450, Murray 150.

Rome Masters (27 April-3 May)

Points to defend: Nadal 10, Federer 250, Djokovic 1,000, Murray 70.

Madrid Masters (10-17 May)

Points to defend: Nadal 1,000, Federer 700, Djokovic 450, Murray 150.

French Open (24 May-7 June)

Points to defend: Nadal 2,000, Federer 1,400, Djokovic 900, Murray 150.

Total: Nadal 4,010, Federer 3,050, Djokovic 2,800, Murray 520.

The numbers speak for themselves. If Murray - who goes into the clay season 170 points behind Djoko and 2,180 behind Roger - can get to grips with the dirt he has a massive opportunity to move up in the rankings.

* Monte Carlo is not a mandatory tournament so players do not have to include results in points total for their ranking.

Nice photo

Thought I'd ease myself in with this photo opp. It's the equivalent of warming up by gently hitting balls to each other from the service line.

As someone who works in Comms and PR I always love a great photo opportunity. One of my all time Favourites is Agassi and Federer on the helipad Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.

This stunt by Andy Murray to promote the Masters Cup at its new London venue, The O2, isn't quite as good but still very cool.

Getting my head back in the game

TopSpinTennisBlog has been in hibernation for the first three months
of this year.

There's been a lot going on - including the death of my Dad at
Christmas, plus work is as busy as I can remember - but as we emerge
blinking into the Spring sunlight it feels like time to dust down the
blog and get back on the tour.

I don't intend to post as often as I did last year but once I get
going again, who knows....

Quote of the day

"no disrespect to Jelena Jankovic, but it took Rafa five grand slam
titles to become No 1".

Roger Federer