Perfect Combo

Should think after yesterday's events at Wimbledon, this morning will be rather like the day after the party!  Well done Murray. Seventy-seven years on from Mr. Fred Perry and finally there's a British Men's Singles Champion. Followed play on the ticker tape equivalent of the BBC website, as the match wasn't shown on TV here and we just have French tv. Tour de France is on at the moment so most people's attention is focussed on that. 

The atmosphere must have been extraordinary and the pressure. Remember watching Virginia Wade play Betty Stove ages ago. Partisan? Us Brits partisan? The mental as well as the physical strength of anyone to play on that court in the final of a Wimbledon championship is quite something. Of course the rewards are great. But to go out there knowing that 99% of spectators really don't want you to win, and play the top of your game in excessive heat, requires some pre-match preparation. Djokovic clearly helped make the match a stunner.

We haven't been to Wimbledon for ages. Used to go regularly. Mike's parents had debenture seats, so we wafted around in a degree of comfort. Mind you we were all big tennis fans, so it was fabulous to be there. We saw some cracking matches. Those on the edge of your seat type encounters, where the light is failing, the board lights are glaring and no one - players or spectactors - wants the match to end unfinished. There is an atmosphere at Wimbledon which is very special. And yes the Pimms were good.

A friend of ours Tony Iles, sadly no longer around, was a film man for Kodak and Wimbledon was part of his remit. He took us behind the scenes. One year we were helping him make a film promo for Kodak, which was set in various places in and around the courts. Sitting on the then Wimbledon centre court roller and seeing things from the sidelines was strangely very exciting. It is a slightly high-rised atmosphere to be chatting to top cameramen like Mike Fox or going into the sound box with Virginia Wade. Lunch in a particular wimbledon house was also very interesting. Houses round the courts are frequently rented out - they make a lot of dosh. Kodak had rented a room in one of them for entertaining, so we were based in there. Every other room in the house had also been rented out for interviews, meetings and deal making. It was a fascinating experience and to see these well known players wandering in and out.

So now, Wimbledon is done for another year and we find ourselves in the perfect situation, of having a British men's singles champion and a French ladies singles champion. That will go down well with the neighbours.