Simon Austin and Mark Jolly
With all the pre-Wimbledon gossip from Queen's Club |
Perry's latest London appearance |
Friends in London Actor Matthew Perry is becoming a familiar sight at tennis tournaments and he turned up in the crowd to watch his fellow American Andy Roddick play Rik de Voest on Tuesday.
Last year Perry, who plays Chandler Bing in Friends, was spotted at the French Open watching Jennifer Capriati, which led to all sorts of rumours about a romance.
This time he brought actress Minnie Driver with him. The connection there is all too mundane. Both are starring in the West End play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago".
Perry was a decent tennis player in his youth, reaching the giddy heights of number three doubles player in the Canadian juniors.
Interviews with him reveal there was a time when he was torn between treading the boards or wielding a racquet for a living.
Judging by some of the reviews Sexual Perversity has had he might be having second thoughts, though the $1m per episode he is paid for his Friends work may tip the balance.
Henman forced to adjust
Tim Henman came about as close as he is ever going to get to controversy after his win over Davide Sanguinetti.
The British number one tested out his grasscourt game for the first time this season on the lush lawns of Queen's.
But he found that when he rushed to the net for what he thought was going to be an easy volley, the ball whistled past him.
It cost him the first set and has him worried that the groundsmen at Wimbledon have slowed down their courts as well.
It might make it better for the majority of top players, who hardly ever play on grass, but it had Henman furrowing his brow.
He drew an analogy with cricket, saying pitches were almost always prepared to suit the home team.
"You look at the conditions at a lot of tennis tournaments around the world and they are prepared favourably for the home players," Henman said.
"I approached Wimbledon about the conditions last year and their response was that nothing had changed, which I found a bit surprising.
"There is no point complaining about it. I just have to get on and adjust to the conditions. I am not going to say any more. Draw your own conclusions."
Boggo's mixed fortunes
Britain's Alex Bogdanovic is still not guaranteed a place at Wimbledon, despite beating Arvind Parmar, one of the men awarded a wildcard for SW19, here at Queen's and reaching the final of the Challenger event at Surbiton.
That win pushed Bogdanovic, 19, up 143 places in the world rankings to 361. The victory over Parmar will see him soar even higher, to say nothing of the possibility of winning his next match, against Anthony Dupuis.
Bogdanovic is hoping for a Wimbledon appearance |
But short of reaching the final stages at Queen's, Bogdanovic, the national champion, is still reliant on the authorities at Wimbledon handing him a wildcard, even to get into qualifying.
Boggo, as he is known to his pals, said: "I can't complain because I am right behind the decision to have a play-off for the Wimbledon wildcards.
"It makes it more competitive. It was just unfortunate that I had to play my match right after the final at Surbiton - I was exhausted.
"As it stands I am going into the Wimbledon qualifiers but still hope to get a wild card into the main draw."
Land of the giants
At one point in tennis history, Marc Rosset, at 6ft 7in, was the tallest player on the professional tour, but on Tuesday he must have had something approaching small-man syndrome.
He won his match, against John van Lottum, easily enough, but in the locker room he may well have come across the giant Belgian, Dick Norman, who was able to look down on him from a height of 6ft 8in.
After reaching the Wimbledon fourth round in 1995, Norman, now 32, returned to the top level last year after a long spell in the lower ranks and a time away from the game altogether.
And if Rosset was not exactly delighted to be looking up at Norman, imagine how he would have felt when Ivo Karlovic, at 6ft 10in the current holder of the tallest player title, then strolled in.
Not that Karlovic had much to laugh about. He had just been beaten in straight sets by Xavier Malisse, a mere 6ft 1in in his stockinged feet.
MMIX
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