By Piers Newbery BBC Sport Online at Wimbledon

Monday's diary

Singing in the rain

There was further evidence on Tuesday that the British actually enjoy bad weather as the Centre Court crowd was forced to entertain itself during the rain breaks.

After Justine Henin and Monica Seles scurried back to the locker room at around 1700BST, the crowd called for the only man who could ease the crisis.

"Come on Cliff," one plucky punter shouted at the singer, resplendent in mauve in the royal box.

Sir Cliff was amused by the crowd's efforts

"Do it for the Queen Mum," shouted another.

When it became clear that Sir Cliff Richard was not about to give an acapella rendition of Devil Woman, the crowd took up the reins.

In a bizarre scene, several thousand spectators began twirling their umbrellas as one while singing Rule Britannia, prompting the unusually shy Sir Cliff into a round of applause.

Girl talk

Xavier Malisse revealed after his victory over Greg Rusedski that his chosen hairstyle is simply a ruse to fool his coach.

The Belgian began working with Craig Kardon at Queen's last month, and he admitted that his new coach is not too familiar with the men's circuit.

"All women," said Malisse when asked who Kardon had coached before. "But I have a ponytail, so I look like a woman."

Henman makes TV history

It may not do much for the nation's nerves, but Tim Henman's annual rollercoaster ride through Wimbledon is reaching new heights of popularity.

The rain delay did not help Britain's number one in his match against Michel Kratochvil, but it allowed those getting home from work to catch the dramatic finale.

And Monday's tennis on BBC One peaked at 13.2m viewers - the biggest TV tennis audience for a decade.

Serena aims for knockout blow

Some might say that the Williams sisters already look pretty imposing when they step onto court.

Daniela Hantuchova's next opponent

But it seems that Britain's heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis has inspired Serena in her pursuit of a Wimbledon title.

"Every time he walks out into the ring, I can tell he's going to win because he's really focused and he has this look in his eyes," said Serena.

"I saw on TV before he fought Tyson that he looked really much more focused than Tyson did. He's a good boxer.

"Tennis is like boxing. If you lose your focus in boxing, you could be knocked out. I think maybe also in tennis, before you know it you could be down 5-0."

Pity poor Daniela Hantuchova when she steps into the ring with Serena on Wednesday.