MIDDLE Saturday is traditionally the day when leading sportsmen and women are invited in numbers into Wimbledon's Royal Box, and they were certainly out in force for Andy Murray's third-round match against Andreas Seppi.

True, their ranks had been depleted a little by the time the contest began a little after 6pm - Judy Murray had defected to support her son from her usual place in the players' box - but they were still there by the dozen.

Boxer Nicola Adams, cricketer Jimmy Anderson and former rugby player Bill Beaumont were just the start of the alphabet. In fact, Beaumont was just the start of a small pod of rugby names, which also included England coach Stuart Lancaster, former England scrum-half Matt Dawson and England captain Chris Robshaw.

The legendary Brian O'Driscoll from Ireland was there too, but you may be getting the picture: could we not invite the odd Scottish rugby player to watch the greatest ever Scottish tennis player?

Only the most genteel and diplomatic members of Vern Cotter's squad should be considered, of course. Someone like Jim Hamilton, for example.

If Murray gets to the final for a third time in four years, we can only hope that the All England Club will have learned the error of their ways and invite a host of his compatriots for the big occasion.

As it was, Scotland was represented by cyclists Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean, the aforementioned Judy Murray, Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, and athlete Jo Pavey's husband and coach Gavin. It should be said, though, that the famous figure who attracted most attention from the Centre Court crowd was the one in the front row who looked like a well dressed but sunburned turnip - Boris Becker.

"Boris, Boris, give us a wave," chanted a group of men dressed in pink T-shirts and with miniature Union Jacks sticking out their hats. Boris duly obliged with a little hand gesture - the sort of thing that had got him into trouble last week when he admitted making such encouraging signs to his player Novak Djokovic during matches, something that is at best a grey area under tennis law.

If you're wondering how we all had time to scrutinise the Royal Box - and Boris - the reason is simple: Seppi was pants.

After the "give us a wave" chant, other songs more commonly heard at football grounds could have perhaps have been given an airing. "You're not very good", for example, could have been directed at the Italian as he slumped to a 6-2 loss in the first set. Or, even more implausibly at a venue which always places a premium on polite behaviour, "This is so f****** easy" as he lost the second by the same score.

It should be said that, no matter how nervously Seppi was playing during those first two sets, Murray was playing extremely well. It was the same formula as in his previous match against Robin Haase, and perhaps it even caused some of the crowd to become a little bored and lose their focus, particularly with it being the third of the day.

But then came the drama of the two medical time-outs, first for Seppi then for Murray, which saw the players' fortunes seesaw.

As Murray clutched his shoulder on the way to losing the third set, there was a double worry. Firstly, if he kept playing like this he could lose the match. And secondly, if he scraped through, would it be with the sort of damage to his shoulder that fatally compromised his hopes of getting any further?

Suddenly, the bland simplicity of the first two sets became appealing. Neutrals might have been delighted by the massive momentum shift, but the rest of us decided we would rather have the security of the first two sets than the risky business of the third.

But, just as treatment to his leg had worked wonders for Seppi, so manipulation of his shoulder got Murray back on track. He quickly took charge of the fourth set, and ended it with an imperious ace.

By that time we had long stopped paying attention to the Royal Box. We had tennis royalty to applaud.