CHANGED days for Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The 30-year-old American has been one of the stars of the Championships thus far, knocking out No.7 seed Ana Ivanovic to reach the third round of the singles and the No 3 seed in the doubles with Lucie Safarova. But there was a time when she was such a lowly figure on the tour that she actually stayed at the same less-than-luxurious hotel as one of your diarists.
It must be a decade ago now, but the memory is still vivid: a vivacious American turning up in the breakfast room wearing long white socks and other items of tennis clothing. Our immediate thought, we are ashamed to report, was that she must be one of those Full-Kit obsessives who now have Twitter accounts dedicated to abusing them. But no: as we found out later that day by discreetly inquiring (NB not stalking, not at all), she was wearing tennis gear because she was a tennis player.
The white socks were an unusual touch, however, as Bethanie tends to favour any other colour. This makes Wimbledon's 'almost entirely white' clothing rule a bit of an ordeal for her. "It's a little much," she said. "I mean, you can't even wear off white or cream. I was like, man, if you wash your whites too many times, they will be illegal. Better be washing it in cold water."
WE are humbled - no, make that proud - to learn that this diary is now read by one of the greats of the game. Or at least our item the other day about Scottish ESPN presenter Mark Donaldson was.
We described Donaldson as 38 on first mentioning his age, because he is, but changed it to 41 then 43 later in the item, just to tease him. This puzzled Fred Stolle, the Australian who won two singles and 10 Grand Slam doubles titles in the 1960s and still comes over to commentate on the Championships. "Mate," he told Donaldson. "If that article had gone on much longer you'd be the same age as I am." Fred Stolle is 76. Or is it 82?
WEATHER-related marketing mishaps. A day after Judy Murray and Toni Nadal refreshed dehydrated punters in the Wimbledon queue by handing out small, piping hot cups of coffee, yesterday it was the turn of bakers firm Greggs to dispense small umbrella-style hats to prevent the rain. The younger diarist was disappointed to learn that no macaroni pies were being dispensed.
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