We’ve had an exceptional run of good weather and little interruption so far.
However, tomorrow may be a different story so various scripts have already been written in readiness.
But today, I was still able to take advantage of some of the quality on display here, watching the men’s doubles third round. Chilean Podlipnik-Castillo and Belarusian Andrei Vasilevski edged it over the pairing of the American Ram and South African Klassan on Court 7. It is no exaggeration to say the rallies left us gasping. I was impressed with the Chilean-Belarusian capacity to play each point, seemingly without pressure, to prevail.
There was a relaxed atmosphere and camaraderie in the seats. In the row in front, an elegant lady was eating chicken wings. I got chatting to John, a former diplomat and his two sons, Adam and James, on their way from the Philippines and the US via The Championships to a wedding in Corsica. They told me they had been queueing since 6 am to get in this morning, but had come prepared. John had a copy of The New York Times for the four-and-a-half hour wait, Adam made inroads into contemporary philosopher Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back.
Back at the forecast centre, I spotted tennis showman Mansour Bahrami signing an oversized pink tennis ball for a fan in the Grounds below our window so nabbed him while the going was good.
Mansour’s life story makes interesting reading. When tennis was banned in his native Iran in the 1970s, Mansour transferred his skill from the tennis court to the backgammon board, until he reprised the game in France, in which he has long since established himself as a master of the trick shot.
Working as a pundit for the Wimbledon Channel during The Championships, Mansour is predicting a Federer final. He thinks Andy Murray has been playing well enough to make the quarters but is concerned about his hip.
What about the ladies?
“Everything is possible …” mulls Mansour “… Venus Williams … Konta.”
Both women are through to the quarter-finals. The collective cheer on Centre Court when Johanna Konta won this afternoon was enough to raise the roof if it had been on.
Will we get a Konta-Williams semi-final?
Weather permitting, we should find out tomorrow.
