MurrayWatch 2009: Is that a mustache?

Andy Murray is through to the semifinals, despite some questionable decisions he's made this week regarding facial hair.

Outside Centre Court, Murray's Mount continues to stay packed all day...it's great watching people rush the hill as soon as they open the gates in the morning, just to get a seat on the ground so they can wait 4 hours to watch a match on TV. I happened to be standing on top of the broadcast center at 10:30 this morning when they let everyone in, and it's always a pretty hilarious scene - the security crew marching in a row, holding a ribbon, behind which hums the most orderly mob you've ever seen, walking at a perfectly relaxed place until the ribbon gets dropped and everyone dashes to get the best seats available with a grounds pass.
If this were the US Open people would have probably been trampled by now. For the record, although you need tickets to Court 2, you can see 2 from the top row of seats in 3 - a good tip.

In the overlooked universe of doubles, lots of good stuff today - Williams sisters dominated again on their way to the ladies semifinal, and James Blake and Mardy Fish won their quarter as well. I never used to pay attention, but it's refreshing to watch singles players who've already lost at singles play in the doubles tournament - they're relaxed and have a good time, and don't take the game as seriously as they would otherwise. Blake said today that he's obviously disappointed with his singles result here, but that often having some success in doubles will give a player confidence to turn his game around when it's in a downward spiral. Mardy Fish is fun to watch because he perpetually flies under the radar, hanging out with guys like Blake and Roddick, and not really caring that he's not getting any of the attention. Or at least he doesn't seem to care. Both guys were very candid about the fact that
to singles players, doubles isn't "real tennis," which I was surprised to hear. In general I think everything about doubles is underrated - even their press conferences are better, because the only people in there actually know tennis and ask real questions.

Also in Doubles - Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands (of weird tube sock outfit fame) and Mike Bryan lost to Jamie Murray (Andy's brother) and American Liezel Huber in the Mixed tournament. Jamie Murray has won the mixed title here before, so I'm hoping we get to see USA-GBR combo bring home a small piece of hardware.

In other news, I knew this Hewitt/Roddick match was going to go five. Should have gone on record yesterday.

- Lena M. Glaser