Wimbledon Diary

A round-up of other Wimbledon news

Loser O'Brien a financial winner

KATIE O'BRIEN lost her first-round match yesterday to Iveta Benesova. But you can see why the Federation Cup player chose to play with Britain.

With her father hailing from Ireland, O'Brien would qualify for this country, but why should she?

By losing in three sets on court 14, she took home £10,750 (€12,600).

There are not many tournaments where Irish players would pick up that sort of money for losing in the first match.

No silence on court for de Brito

GRUNTING IS good. Shrieking is bad. That’s the message. Teenage wild card Michelle Larcher de Brito, a 16-year-old from Portugal, caused controversy at the French Open with her shrieking and was warned by the chair umpire for distracting her opponent, Aravane Rezai.

International Tennis Federation officials spoke to her before Wimbledon in a supportive attempt to explain the hindrance rule. Now she’s grunting.

“I tried to be quiet for you guys,” she said after her first match. “Definitely if the matches are going to be tougher, I’m going to start grunting. I’m just here for myself. I’m not here to be quiet for anybody.” Quite right.

Federe won't deliver on birth date

ROGER FEDERER looks destined to be pestered throughout the tournament about the date his baby is due. Partner Mirka Vavrinec, who is heavily pregnant, can be seen in the players’ box supporting her man, but neither will he say if the baby is due during Wimbledon. The bookmakers might want to know.

After his first match, Federer was certain it should be a secret.

Q: When is the baby due?

Federer: I’m not saying.

Q: It’s the one thing you haven’t told us.

Federer: Well, I won’t tell you.

Q: Is it going to be this fortnight?

Federer: What did I just say? I’m not going to tell you.

That seems clear.

Some people are more equal than others at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON LIKES to be seen to be egalitarian.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has amassed over €10 million in prize money and was the first Russian woman to win the US Open in 2004, was asked for her identification going into the players’ restaurant.

Dressed in tennis gear for her match yesterday with Akiko Morigami and carrying a bag full of rackets, the fifth seed was made to search through her belongings for the ID.

Thirty seconds later, John McEnroe arrived wearing a crisp black suit and two-dollar black and white basketball sneakers. He breezed past with a wave.

Well, at least there’s equal prize money now.