When Andy Murray hobbled out of Wimbledon, it left Johanna Konta as the only remaining British player in the women’s or men’s singles draw. The 26-year-old has been a staple of the nation’s front and back pages as she has crashed into the mainstream. So it was somewhat of a surprise to find the cheapest tickets for the women’s semi‑finals – of which Konta’s match against Venus Williams is the biggest attraction – were going for £850 each on the secondary market on Wednesday afternoon, while the cheapest men’s semi-finals were four times that at £3,400. And that was after Murray was knocked out. Clearly the Federer effect still lingers.
McHugh learns from the best
Though Murray is out of Wimbledon Aidan McHugh, a 16-year-old from Glasgow who is making his debut at the All England Club, has clearly benefitted from regular practice sessions with the world No1. On Wednesday McHugh progressed into the quarter-finals of the boys’ junior singles by beating the sixth seed Marko Miladinovic 6-0, 7-6 (4). McHugh, who began playing aged five, showed impressive power and accuracy on both sides and hit an impressive 10 aces. He is clearly one to watch, whatever happens during the rest of the tournament.
Murray cooks up family feud
Speaking of Murray, he was recently asked by children on BBC’s Breakfast whose cooking he preferred – his gran’s, his mum’s or his wife’s? “I have tasted your gran’s cooking at the Dunblane tennis courts, it’s delicious,” added his young interrogator. Murray’s response suggests he isn’t angling for a job at the diplomatic corps. “Lucky you! It’s definitely not my mum,” he replied. “She doesn’t cook well – I don’t like my mum’s food. It’s a really tough question. My gran has a lot of experience cooking so I would say it would just be her, but Kim is also a good cook.”
Reid happy with higher billing
Britain’s Gordon Reid, who won the men’s wheelchair title last year with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Stefan Olsson and begins his defence against the Swede on Thursday, is delighted Wimbledon are planning to move Sunday’s wheelchair final from Court 17 to the larger Court 3 because of its popularity. “After last year a lot of people said they were disappointed because they couldn’t get on the court,” he said, “so obviously the tournament has listened to that feedback and it is a great sign of the way the sport is growing and hopefully we get the same sort of numbers as last year.”
Traffic stalls ballboys and girls
There was mild panic at Wimbledon on Wednesday morning after an accident on the A3 at Tolworth Junction left about 80 ballboys and girls as well as numerous line judges stuck in a six-mile tailback before the start of play. One member of the communications department said it had taken her three hours to travel 10 miles, while the Guardian understands that the manager of the ballboys and ballgirls was also caught up in the jam. “It was all fine in the end but we were certainly a little concerned in the morning,” a Wimbledon spokeswomen said.
Tarango on best behaviour
Jeff Tarango, the American who stormed off the court in his singles match at Wimbledon in 1995 after accusing the umpire of being corrupt and telling the crowd to “shut up”, was back on Court 6 on Wednesday playing with Patrick McEnroe in the men’s invitational doubles. Tarango’s waistline is a little looser these days but his tennis skills remain impressive. They weren’t quite enough to avert defeat on a super tiebreaker against the Dutch pair of Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis. Still, the old fox appears to have mellowed. After clouting Haarhuis with a point-blank smash Tarango was the first to apologise and was a model of decorum throughout.
