WIMBY, DAY 2: GREAT SCOT

Yesterday afternoon, Murray, the men's 12 seed, faced off against the ultimate wily veteran, France's Fabrice Santoro, in a highly entertaining match on Centre Court. I attended with our trusty researcher, Beret Remak (stay tuned for a new daily installment in our blog, to be entitled "Remak's Remix"). I should clarify here that Beret is not "my" researcher, she's more like Ted Robinson's and Mary Carillo's and John McEnroe's and Jimmy Roberts'.

Anyway, it was a brilliant match. Murray, 21, missed last year's Wimby with a wrist injury. He's tall and athletic and hits the big serve. Santoro, short and slightly pudgy (for a world-class tennis player) but extremely quick, plays like that uncle of yours in table tennis who puts a wicked spin on every shot. Santoro, once nicknamed "The Magician" by Pete Sampras (wasn't that an old NBC drama starring Bill Bixby?), used the court as his personal chessboard, hitting wicked drop shots and lobs. It was like watching a great junkball pitcher frustrate Alex Rodriguez.

Murray also played with some guile, though, and he never allowed Santoro, who was making his Open-era record 64th appearance in a Grand Slam event, frustrate him too much. In the end the Scot -- who is also a Brit by virtue of this entire U.K. setup -- prevailed, and so the Royal Box remains pleased.

The Wicker Men (and Ladies)

Speaking of the Royal Box, yesterday Beret and I had our first up-close glimpse of the enclosed area where Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip (or you can just call him The Duke of Edinburgh) take in the championships. First, it's a lot larger, in terms of seating, than we'd realized. There are about two dozen seats inside the box, which is loocated behind the south baseline. Second, as Beret noticed, all the seats are made of wicker. Wicker. As if you were sitting on the veranda sipping tea.

Third, almost all the men wear stylish straw hats with a purple-and-green (Wimby's colors) striped band. The uniformity of the hats made us wonder whether the gents are handed the hats just before they enter the seating area. "Here, wear this. It's classier than wearing Oakleys."

Finally, while the Royal Box is guarded by smartly-dressed soldiers from different branches of British military service, we noticed that they only stood up and stared down those of us seated behind the Box during stops in play. If you go to the U.S. Open, on the other hand, security has the agonizing duty of keeping their backs to the court and watching the crowd at all times (frustrating, I am sure; better for them not to be tennis fans). Here, though, the soldiers watch the match along with you and the royals during play. It's almost as if they are thinking, Who'd be so uncivil to attempt to assault a VIP in the midst of such an exciting volley?

Tuxedo Junction

Those folks from Nike are very, very smart. The first few days of Wimbledon have been overtaken by chattering about the fashion faux pas of Roger Federer (cream-colored cardigan), Serena Williams (white raincoat on a sunny day) and yesterday, Maria Sharapova (tuxedo shirt top and blazer). While everyone rushes to be the first to trash the styles, they also, in a week where competitive matches are wanting, hand over the headlines to the shoe-and-sportswear monolith.

As I am doing this moment...so I'll stop.

Roger and Rafa

Had my first in-person gawk at No. 2 Rafael Nadal yesterday. The Majorca native is in seriously sick shape. And he claims not to lift weights. It's no coincidence that the two men who have most impressed me thus far in terms of fitness ("Know how I know you're gay?" "You watch men's tennis for the fitness factor -- and listen to Coldplay.") are the two top players in the world, Federer and Nadal. Two men who have met in both the last two Wimbledon finals (Federer winning both) and the last two French Open finals (Nadal winning both).

It may not be that the championship goes to the best-conditioned player,  but it may  be that the player who imposes on himself the greatest discipline to be in shape transfers that same will to be the top player on the court. Mental strength is absolutely huge in this sport.

Maria

Had a chance to watch Sharapova win in straight sets on Court 1 yesterday. A superbeing physically (pro tennis is so Gattaca), Sharapova is relentless and superserious as well. She barks out "Come on!" whenever she hits a big winner and pumps her right fist. Watching Sharapova helped me see the contrast between Federer and so many other championship-level players, past and present.

Sharapova comes off as high-strung, as do so many players here while on the court. And you can't blame them. But Federer is so cool, so--what's the opposite of self-absorbed?-- that it allows him to be one of the few dominant players whom the crowd pulls for nevertheless. Usually the audience gets behind an underdog just because they want to see the unexpected. However, with Federer, his humility and devotion to the craft is such that he never becomes the villain. That's a difficult trick to pull off for someone who smotes opponents so routinely.

British Word of the Day: Chuffed

Meaning "happy" or "thrilled", as in "Richard Gasquet is chuffed at beating Mardy Fish in straight sets"

Wednesday at Wimbledon

-- Match of the Day: Men's 3 seed Novak Djokovic, the reigning Australian Open champ, meets Russian Marat Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champ who at 28 is trying to quell whispers that his career is on the wane.

-- No. 1 men's seed Roger Federer faces Robin Soderling, whose fractious match at last year's Wimby against Nadal seemed to last half the fortnight due to rain delays.

-- No. 1 women's seed Ana Ivanovic faces Nathalie Dechy of France. Don't blink or you'll miss it.

-- No. 6 women's seed Serena Williams, consigned to Court 2, a.k.a., the Graveyard of Champions, meets 17 year-old Ursuzla Radwanska of Poland. Both ladies have older sisters also entered in the ladies singles, Venus and Agnieszka, respectively.

Eye Candy of the Day (an entirely non-sanctioned endeavor in which JDub and Beret play hypothetical matchmaker between a male and female player here at Wimbledon)

Women's Draw: Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, 25 

The No. 10 seed Eastern Euro hottie advanced to the 2nd round where she will play Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Thursday. Suddenly, Bratislava seems like an ideal tourist destination.

Men's Draw: Tommy Haas, Germany, 25

The unseeded stud moved into the second round and will face Tommy Robredo. A match where both players will receive many "I love Tommy" cries from the crowd.

Vestigial Tennis Quote of the Day

"In about 10 years every woman will play topless" -- Anna Kournikova, 1998 (or 10 years ago)

Just Wondering

As you may already know, they don't say "line" here, they say "queue". As in "form a queue". I'm just wondering about the spelling. Do you really need the extra "-ue"? And why couldn't someone spell it "queueueueue" ad infinitum? Oh, because that's redundant? As if "queue" is not? Why not simply "q"?

Off The Grounds

Looking back at yesterday's entry, and attempting to head off faithful Johntourager G.A. at the pass, I will acknowledge that not all deer are wild, as evidenced by former Milwaukee Brewer Rob Deer and comedian/musician Gary Muledeer, though, to be fair, I've never hung out with either and I'm guessing both have a wild side.

Still chuffed about the bucolic utopia that is Richmond Hill--one aspect of it that I neglected to explain: it's a park three times the size of Central Park but it has no ballfields or courts of any type. So, except for the cycling and running paths, it feels as if you are out on safari. Last night I went for a run inside Richmond Park, McConaugheying it ("alrightalrightalright") for half the time, drawing curious and contemptuous stares from the locals.

And now it's time for our first installment, of many, of Remak's Remix (Kermit-like clapping of hands and cheering ensues), from NBC Sports researcher extraordinaire Beret Remak:

While the stir around his cardigan continues, Federer could possibly have his hands full on Centre Court with Robin Soderling. The talented Swede lost to Nadal in the third round last year after five tedious sets that spanned over 5 days. Head-to-head: Federer leads 6-0.

Life is short, eat dessert first