12 days to go
The Lawn Tennis Association is hopeful that the round 1 success of British "boys from next door", Timothy Henman and Gregory Rusedski will help to overcome the elitist image of tennis in Britain. The fact that average British joes Jamie Delgado, Alex Bogdanovic and Elena Baltacha all lost today may have lessened the effect however.
Baltacha, as I learned from the Daily Hun during Wimbledon 2002 is Scotland's great tennis hope, having once holidayed in Pittenweem. Apparently, her father played for St Johnstone - it's no wonder she lost then. 
Elena Baltacha lost today to Jelena Dokic, one of the much-publicised tennis babes. Interestingly (?!) both Elena and Jelena are of Eastern European origin. And in a further remarkable co-incidence Dokic also nearly chose to become a British player except that her father felt the Brtish police were Nazis. If you read the full article from that last link you will see that Dokic's father is quite a character - so that's another spooky parallel with Baltacha as you need a hell of lot of character to play for St Johnstone.
The male half of the world's ugliest couple was the guy who knocked out Brit Real Madrid fan Jamie Delgado today. Agassi may look rough but he is a marvellous tennis player and very enjoyable to watch. He is still remarkably fit for a 53-year-old.
8:27:02 PM 
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