Adam Moulder blogs from Wimbledon as the Olympics Tennis event takes place featuring eight members of Team GB...
Day 3 - Human yoyo
If you've never been to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, you may very rightly presume that courts 17 and 18 are right next to each other.
You'd be wrong.
I know this because I now know every step of the walk, or run, between the two courts after a manic Monday afternoon here at the Olympic tennis.
The reason for this mania was that Britain's 'bambinas' Heather Watson and Laura Robson were on courts 17 & 18 respectively, at the same time, which made it tricky for this reporter who is only able to be in one place at any one time!
I plumped for Heather to start, with the 20 year old British No.1 taking on Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa, and while the players were warming up I started to regret this decision. The reason for this was that the roars from Court 18, which as previosuly mentioned is not that near to court 17, were clear as day across the grounds as Laura Robson had got off to a stormer against Lucie Safarova, going up 5-1.
So, the first switch of the day took place as I legged it over to Court 18 assuming I was most likely going to miss Robson wrapping up the first set with ease. Unfortunately I arrived as an omen on bad luck for Laura as she proceeded to lose the next four games under my watchful gaze.
Then, as you may have guessed, what did I hear but loud cheers echoing across from court 17. It turned out Heather had also got off to a flyer and I was missing her take a 4-1 lead against SSE. Luckily I decided to stick it out on 18 and saw Robson clinch the first set tie-break which was met by a wall of sound that that court hasn't heard since a certain match went to 70-68 in the final set!
Watson immediately then won her first set as well. Life didn't get any easier in the second sets though as both players went ahead at the same time and were about to close it out at the same time.
Cue yoyo two. I ran back to 17 to try and see Hev's matchpoint. I ran, Chariots of Fire played in my head, did I make it? No. I missed it. I saw the crowd applauding and Heather waving and promptly turned on my heel to go back to 18 just as Robson earned a match point. This time I made it. I may have missed getting a snap of Heather's match point but I got this one of Laura which isn't bad considering how out of breath I was.
The carnage didn't end there as both players arrived in press at the same time. Luckily they worked together this time and a joint pose meant only one photo was necessary!
Anyway it was a nice position to be in as both players recorded strong victories over players ranked higher than themselves and are into round two. On Tuesday Hev and Laur are scheduled to be second on and fourth on respectively so at least this problem won't crop up again. Hang on, Heather's second on Court 1. Who's second on Centre Court and likely to be playing at exactly the same time? Andy Murray. Oh well, here we go again.
Finally, a word on Bally & Anne whose "first and probably last" (Anne's words not mine) Olympics came to an end on Court 2 after defeat in the doubles. Both players were soaking up every minute on court after the match and were in no hurry to leave Wimbledon.
Credit to the winning German pair and their small pockets of vocal fans. Including this lady who had a German flag but may have been wearing the wrong hat. I didn't say anything, they were winning.
More tomorrow where more yoyoing awaits!
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