Murray won't win Wimbledon

Andy Murray may have sent BBC1 ratings through the roof (no pun intended), caused mild angina in middle-aged women across the land and ultimately reached the quarter-finals, but his five-set struggle against Stanislas Wawrinka encouraged more doubts over his ability to win Wimbledon.

Murray has always favoured the US Open, but large swathes of British fans believe the tennis season lasts two weeks in June and July. The Scot could win six majors overseas, but still wouldn't be truly adored by the SW19-centric, face-painted flag wavers. Only a Wimbledon title will do.

But they'll have to wait at least a year longer. Juan Carlos Ferrero will provide stiff opposition on Wednesday and, if he wins that, either former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt or two-times runner-up Andy Roddick await.

Should Murray reach the final, the mere mortal that isn't Roger Federer provides the final obstacle - the sporting equivalent of scaling Snowdonia, then being faced with Everest. Murray has time to fulfil his and the British public's dreams; for Federer, Pete Sampras' record is just days away.

Can Murray win Wimbledon? Send in your thoughts using the boxes below.

Tennis: Stop handing out Brit wildcards

After eight British players from the 10 entered failed to reach the second round at Wimbledon, it's time to stop giving these losers wildcards.

The whole lot of them are an embarrassment, none more so than Alex Bogdanovic, who has now lost eight out of eight first-round ties at SW19. Not far behind is Anne Keothavong, who reached the top 50 this year, but then surrendered meekly to Patricia Mayr (ranked 29 places below her) before crying in her press conference.

Good grief. If this is the fragile mental state of our number one female tennis player, what hope is there for the rest? Not much, is the answer.

Katie O'Brien and Georgie Stoop both crumbled when the pressure was on at the end of the third sets of their respective matches while Melanie South lost two narrow sets. Thank goodness for Elena Baltacha, who turned in an impressive winnning performance against Alona Bondarenko. And there's always Laura Robson, who is surely a star in the making, unless her peers' loser mentality wears off on her.

It's no better in the men's section, save for Andy Murray. Dan Evans and James Ward were hammered, unsurprisingly by Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco respectively, but Josh Goodall blew his big chance to beat Michael Llodra.

When you think that each first round loser gets £10,750, the performances of these Brits is more scandalous than the MPs filing dodgy expense claims. It's daylight robbery, especially as players with some pedigree such as Xavier Malisse, Diminik Hrbaty and Karol Beck are forced to battle through qualifying.

Unless these Brit flops can get up the rankings and qualify for Wimbledon by right, they should not be allowed the privilege of stepping onto the hallowed turf.

What do you think of Britain's shocking tennis results at Wimbledon? Send in your thoughts below

Wimbledon...Your views

Grab your strawberries from the fridge, add some cream and get ready to watch non-stop tennis over the next two weeks.

It’s that time when British fans gather on Murray Mount (not quite the same ring as Henman Hill) to cheer on the fiery Scot but will he excel or collapse under the pressure?

One thing guaranteed to fall is the rain. The umbrellas will be up during the tournament which means we’ll be treated to some classic tennis from the past between some of the greatest players to grace the court.

But who do you think is the best Wimbledon champion of all-time? Do you agree with our number one choice of Martina Navratilova? Is there anybody we missed from our list?

Plus, who’s your money on at SW19? Can Federer win a sixth successive title or will Nadal finally triumph on grass? The women’s tournament is less predictable with a string of ladies in with a shout of being crowned champion.

Tell us who you think the greatest Wimbledon champion is of all time, add your volley of thoughts and serve us your predictions for this year’s tournament by filling in the boxes below.

Federer defies belief

By Mike Dale

Good Lord. I'm writing this just 10 minutes after witnessing the greatest Wimbledon final I have ever seen.

I have never before seen a match that produced so many spine-tingling rallies, so many moments that made you slap your head and gasp in disbelief. The winners, the finesse, the control, the withering power. It was almost surreal.

I've been thinking back and trying to compare it with great games of years gone by. Ivanisevic v Rafter in 2001 was possibly the only final to come close in my lifetime, but that was memorable mostly for the great story behind Goran's victory rather than the standard of tennis.

You'll probably remember than Ivanisevic had entered as a wild card that year and the final was pushed back to a third Monday due to rain, with raucous Aussies and Croat fans creating an atmosphere akin to an Old Firm derby.

That final had drama in the soap opera sense, but this year's simply oozed class - it was two of the sport's finest ever exponents at the top of their game. It was sport stripped of the hyperbole, the agents, the money-grabbing, the cynicism and all the nonsense. This was sport in its purest and most heart-pumping form.

Who said this has been a crap tournament? Hang your heads in shame!

Thrills scarce on 'Super Saturday'

By Mike Dale

Ticket-holders for Saturday at Wimbledon must have arrived thinking they'd got a bargain. They probably left feeling short changed.

With the bonus of two men's semi-finals on what is traditionally women's final day, there seemed to be a bountiful feast of tennis in store - especially with the rare sight of clear skies over south west London.

But after Friday's spectacular day of shocks and marathon matches, Saturday was something of a let down.

Venus Williams' straight-sets win over Marion Bartoli was a routine victory for a lady who the Wimbledon crowd have never truly taken to their hearts. Sadly, her French opponent could not summon the puff to repeat her thrilling victory over Justine Henin.

As for the men's semi-finals, Novak Djokovic denied the Court One crowd the contest they were hoping for by withdrawing injured midway through his clash with Rafael Nadal, while Richard Gasquet proved incapable of halting Roger Federer's serene progress towards a fifth successive trophy.

With the rain, scheduling problems, Andy Murray's withdrawal and other British failures, it's been easy to be negative about the last fortnight (and I've certainly hopped on that particular bandwagon!), but Saturday - like the tournament as a whole - has left me rather underwhelmed.

A slice of humble pie

by Mike Dale

Today I have mostly been eating humble pie. Three large slices of humble pie in fact.

The sun shone, Justine Henin lost and Britain's Jamie Murray (with the help of Jelena Jankovic) reached the mixed doubles quarter-finals. Wimbledon is officially great again.

So what can I pick on now? Easy - Wimbledon's tow-the-line decision to award equal pay for men and women for the first time this year.

Ahead of her astonishing defeat to Marion Bartoli, Justine Henin's entire tournament amounted roughly to the same on-court time as Novak Djokovic's five-hour, quarter-final marathon against Marcos Baghdatis.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal's average match length at SW19 is 157.4 minutes; the ladies second seed, Maria Sharapova, averaged only 82 minutes.

In what other profession do two people doing the same job earn the same money yet one works twice as hard as the other? Come to think of it, I imagine it happens at a lot places...

Wimbledon is rubbish

by Mike Dale

Right, that's it. I've had it. I've managed to bite my tongue, but after watching more 'classic' tennis repeats than a day's broadcasting by UK Gold (if anyone shows me that Borg-McEnroe final again...), I am finally prepared to admit that Wimbledon is, wait for it, rubbish.

I hereby cite the following three simple reasons:

1) Not one day has escaped the rain. Why the hell does it take two years to build a roof? Why is Britain such a miserable place to live?

2) British players are getting worse. Especially when they don't have a girl to hold their hand through the tough times (step forward Mr Bogdanovic who despite having a Serbian-sounding name, doesn't play like any of the other 'novic's that are doing so well elsewhere).

3) So predictable. Federer is going to beat Nadal in the men's final, Henin will win the women's. We knew it from the start. Why not just toss a coin for Henin's slayee on day one and play both matches on the first Monday?

When does the football season start?

Beauties could save Wimbledon

by Mike Dale

As the wettest, most disrupted, most lacking-in-British-interest Wimbledon ever heads towards a predictable Federer-Henin double, there's still time to revel in the one bright spot.

Yes, Thursday sees the most aesthetically-pleasing match of the tournament; Miss Ana Ivanovic versus Miss Nicole Vaidisova. Be still my palpitating heart!

The Serbian and Czech Republic beauties will do battle for a semi-final spot, but only real tennis aficionados will be too bothered about the result. For once, it won't just be women taking a great interest in dress sense.

The big difference between the likes of Ivanovic, Vaidisova and Maria Sharapova and the former great favourite Anna Kournikova is that the first three can actually play tennis. It means we can all use the 'I'm watching this game because the standard of tennis is good' argument when our partners catch us staring smuttily and open-mouthed at the screen.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the game of the tournament. It might be the only one worth watching.

World laughs at Wimbledon washout

By Mike Dale

We’re officially witnessing the wettest Wimbledon since 1982, and the tournament is fast becoming the laughing stock of the tennis world thanks to rain.

Play a quick word association game and compare Wimbledon to the other Grand Slams. French Open – what do you think of? Chic Parisian crowds? Aussie Open – beautiful blue skies? US Open – stunning floodlit stadia?

Now say ‘Wimbledon’ to an American, Aussie or Frenchman – there’s a good chance they’ll hit straight back with “rain” (or “pluie”). Not exactly what the All England Club would want to promote.

If the rain wasn’t bad enough, you’ve got the consequences. Never mind the backlog of matches, I’m talking about the desperate attempts to fill the breaks in play on telly.

Tedious biogs of Billie Jean King, wearisome chatter amongst old pros and ‘amusing’ montages of Wimbledon classics set to some precipitation-themed hit from the mid-70s, which run snooker’s ‘Entertainer’ patchwork of Dennis Taylor’s wobbly glasses and Cliff Thorburn’s waggly finger a close second in the ‘Sporting Montages So Crushingly Predictable That You Want To Smash Up Your Telly, Painstakingly Rebuild It And Then Smash It Up All Over Again’ stakes.

When the roof goes on Centre Court things may get better. But Wimbledon fortnight is this country’s one chance each year to show off to all those Americans, Aussies, Frenchman and nations around the globe just why Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.

The only answer to secure Wimbledon’s future and stop the rest of the world laughing at us is to build bigger, better courts with fully retractable roofs, and never lose another moment’s play to rain again.

Considering the Millennium Dome cost £758million, we could have the world’s best year-round tennis facility for half that - and I’d happily chuck in a fiver to save the nation from Cliff Richard singing again. The hat’s coming round - will you chip in?

Cynical Williams limps through

by Mike Dale

Call me cynical, but did Serena Williams' injury warrant either her 'I've just had my leg removed without anaesthetic' cries of agony or the sycophantic out-pouring of sympathy from commentators and fans?

Having burst into tears on court (left) and sulked off and then on for a rain break looking as if the worst thing imaginable had happened to her, Serena was soon serving aces, legging it here, there and everywhere and egging herself on with the most ear-piercing 'C'mon'.

When you've seen Terry Butcher lose about 42 pints of blood but still keep a clean sheet and Brian Close using his rib cage to block ferocious Michael Holding bouncers, Williams' moaning at not being allowed to go to the toilet to cynically give her time to nurse the leg injury which suddenly disappeared a game later falls on deaf ears.

Needless to say, she went on to win 6-2 in the third. Was it all a stunt to put off poor Daniele Hantuchova, who totally lost the plot in the deciding set? If so, it worked a treat.