Wimbledon Diary:Anne Keothavong and Claire Curran made a brief appearance in the women's doubles yesterday, on show court 18, before departing the competition in two quick sets.
Curran, the former Irish Federation Cup player from Belfast, who changed allegiance in recent years to play with Britain, teamed up with Keothavong as a wild-card entry, only to be drawn in the first round against another wild-card entry, the former singles and doubles champions Venus and Serena Williams.
The two sisters played as we had expected them to play and won the match 6-1, 6-3.
Age concern
It's interesting to see that the 12-year-old golfer Alexis Thompson has qualified to play in this week's US Women's Open in North Carolina.
Tennis used to provide such stunts but soon found out that it is not a good idea to subject young girls to the pressures that go with playing against mature professionals.
In tennis, players under 16 are allowed compete but are limited to the number of events in which they can play each year. Jennifer Capriati, Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger paid the price of overexposure.
Doubtless those who run golf are aware of the pitfalls.
Dublin bound
Two of the first-round losers at Wimbledon will be the main draws when the $50,000 Irish Open gets under way on July 1st at Fitzwilliam, Dublin.
The defending Irish Open champion, Mischa Zverev, qualified for Wimbledon through the Roehampton tournament but tumbled out in the first round of the draw to Argentina's David Nalbandian, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Denmark's Kristian Pless, who is also in the Irish field, fell to Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, ranked 14 in the world.
Pless also lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, though he remains in the men's doubles at Wimbledon, playing alongside a former French Open finalist, Dutchman Martin Verkerk .
Spaghetti sauce
The surly millionaire Russian Marat Safin, who has earned around €5 million in career prize money, has struggled to stomach the food prices at Wimbledon; among other things, he complained about being asked to pay £12.50 (€18.57) for a bowl of spaghetti.
"Players complain a lot in the locker-room," said Safin. "But when it comes to speaking to the press, they always say how nice everything is.
"How can it be nice if you can't even buy a normal meal with our daily allowance here? A plate of spaghetti cost 25 dollars.
Where else would you see such outrageous prices?"
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