SW19 Diary: Murray delivers his take on Wimbledon hierarchy

Aside from the smooth progress of Andy Murray yesterday, there were two major talking points at the start of the day: the visit of the Queen for the first time in 33 years, and the Isner-Mahut marathon. It was interesting to note the order those events ranked for Murray when he posted this as his first tweet of the day yesterday: "Real buzz around Wimbledon with Isner/Mahut and the Queen being here today..." He did mention the monarch again later, however, adding: "Not everyday you come off court and meet the Queen instead of the press."

Her Majesty was also the subject of a tweet from Andy Roddick (above), who joked: "Met the Queen of England today... she said she loved me in the American Pie movies."

New McIntosh proves perfect fit for marathon

The Isner-Mahut match turned out to be a lengthy debut commentary for the BBC man Ronald McIntosh. He'd never covered Wimbledon before Monday and was sent to Court 18 on Tuesday for a gentle intro. He stayed the course and, as co-commentator Greg Rusedski told him: "You're going down in history, too."

The SW19 Diary can also reveal the BBC fearedthat its coverage of the marathon was going down yesterday. Crowds six-deep had gathered on the roof of the broadcasting centre to overlook Court 18, and so many feet trampling on cables prompted a Beeb official to run up the building and bark a warning to get off them, smartish.

Asda la vista, berry

For those of a gastronomic bent, the Queen dined royally at the All England Club. Starters for lunch was salmon millefeuille with Wye Valley asparagus. That was followed by chilled main course of orange and honey marinated chicken on fruity couscous with roasted vegetables. Pudding was Kentish strawberries and blackberries with Cornish clotted cream and mint syrup, followed by English cheese plate and orange chutney, then coffee and chocolates. The diners sank bottles of Meursault, Joseph Drouhin, 2006 and Barolo, Giovanni Corino, 2004.

The Diary would like to shed light on one thing, reported elsewhere earlier this week. It was said Wimbledon's strawberries are, essentially, from Asda, or at least from a farm that also supplies Asda, and yet are many times more expensive. Asda's website insists that "the exact same fruit" can be bought for a fraction of the price, but an All England Club spokesman, asked to comment on this important matter, informs us: "Our strawberries are bigger, plumper and tastier than Asda's."

Dismay, dismay

No poem, today.