Wimbledon, Day 1

I had the pleasure and the privilege of going to Wimbledon today. My Dad and I had Court 2 tickets and enjoyed a better than expected day as the weather held off for a good five hours of tennis. We saw a resurgent Venus Williams beat giant, 6'3" Uzbekistan, Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-3 6-1. A very entertaining and impressive Gael Monfils defeated Germany's Matthias Bachinger 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 in a great and sometimes highly competitive (especially in the second set) match. Next up was number 4 seed Victoria Azarenka against Rybarikova. They scrapped and screamed through a tight first set, Aza eventually claiming it 6-4, and it was on serve in the second at 3-2 when the rain started. I haven't been at Wimbledon where rain stops play for a significant amount of time for a number of a years so it felt a little alien at first. But then the brollies went up and the cloudy sky turned that solid wet blanket of grey... and I knew I'd seen that before. My Dad waited for half an hour with his restless leg jiggling up and down before he turned to me and suggested we go home. I have to say, I'm glad he convinced me as it's still raining now (at 8pm) and play has been suspended on all courts apart from Centre until tomorrow. Phew. So we popped into the incredibly packed shop, bought some lovely tea towels and oven gloves, new grips for my raquet (in pastel shades - very pretty) and three Wimbledon dampeners and a sweatband, and trekked across the soggy golf course to the car and drove home.

A great day all round, despite the rain.

Ray-ray, fresh off his Queens title (the second British man to win two since 1914), is playing under the roof on Centre Court right now and after a shaky start - losing his first set - he's looking very much in command at one set all and 4-0 up. Make that 5-0.

Ray-ray is the only one of the top four to have won a competition on grass this season. GoNads was knocked out in the quarters of Queens and neither Djoko nor The Fed played their pre-Wimbledon grass competition due to injury/fatigue. Does this bode well for Andy Murray?

Time to bite the bullet and commit my predictions to computer screen:

Men's final - Ray-ray v. The Fed and The Fed to win in four.

Djoko/Fed semi with Fed to come through a tight tight match. And Ray- ray/GoNads in the other with Ray-ray to beat a fatigued and sluggish Nadal.

Women's final - Wozza to win in three tight sets and get that first Slam she's been dreaming of. Serena and Venus to get nowhere past the quarters as they are both under fit and over hyped.

GOLF

Rory McIlroy won the US Open and became the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods won at the masters in 1997. Watch out for this guy - he's going to become a golfing great.

Day 2 of the womble tomorrow and I'm dragging the anti-sports boyfriend for a day of fun in the (fingers-crossed!) sun!

I'll keep you blogged...