SW19 Diary: Not coming to a court near you: Big Mac v Wee Mac
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Your support makes all the difference.The mooted match of the day, or rather the Mac of the day (ahem), does not look like taking place after all. Rory McIlroy, the hottest young sportsman in the world and a huge tennis fan (he has a court in his back garden), is due at Wimbledon today and there has been fevered speculation that he would have a knock-up with John McEnroe in a battle of Big Mac v Wee Mac, as the golfer is known. But as of last night the duo was not scheduled to clash, with representatives of the parties involved pouring cold water on the idea. It's not easy to get a court in SW19 in the last week of June.
Ndayishimiye – make a note of the name
Last week Nick Bollettieri noted how global the game of tennis has become over the last decade and yesterday another nation was added to the Wimbledon playlist. Hassan Ndayishimiye became the first Burundian to play at SW19 when he took to Court 17 to face Chile's Matias Sborowitz in a boys' first round match. The 16-year-old, who was given a wild card into qualifying, did himself and his country proud by winning 6-4, 6-4.
Jamie makes it played two, won two
Judy Murray (right) celebrated her younger son's emphatic victory yesterday with a Pimm's in the media bar, a venue that gives a perfect view over Court 14 where elder son Jamie was in action in the mixed doubles' first round. It ended played two, won two for the Murrays as Jamie and his Australian partner Jarmila Gajdosova prevailed in straight sets. Among the celebrating clan was Alex McLeish, the new Aston Villa manager finding himself in rather more friendly surroundings than he might in parts of Birmingham just now.
All England Club defies the downturn
There are economic downturns, and then there's Wimbledon. The queues yesterday morning were the biggest so far and the majority of them waited in the sunshine in vain on Melty Monday. After Full-up Friday last week – a record crowd for the first Friday of the Championships – and Squeeze-in Saturday came a heaving start to week two. The poor weather at the start of last week meant there were a couple of days where the attendance was down on the previous year, but as the days have brightened the crowds have poured in, giving the event a week-one total of 252,453.
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