TENNIS: Adjusting to grass

[feather_ghyll]

Queen's! I only managed to watch the tennis today, although I've been keeping an eye on the results, so I saw Verdasco comfortably manage to deal with an ill-at-ease Mahut (a shame for the latter, because he obviously comes to life on the green stuff, but I don't begrudge Verdasco at all). Then Tsonga breezed through Berrer, which seemed like wonderful news as that meant Nadal would be on the centre court to play doubles. But it seems as though the Beeb is not showing the doubles. I don't remember whether this is always the case. I know they pretty much stick to the centre court and this wasn't even on BBC2, just the red button, but they didn't show us the Murrays' doubles. Anyway, I got very excited (so Nadal feels he needs more practice time on the new surface. I love how serious he is about Wimbledon, but isn't he tired after the French> I know, he's a phenomenally fit specimen, but still). Anyway, as I didn't have a transporter or portal to physically take me to Queen's, I couldn't watch it. Well, Wimbledon will come soon enough with all its matches.

Like the players, there's an adjustment to be made by the viewer. Fewer sets, shorter rallies, the different colour surface and the different type of crowd. The intensity at the end of a grand slam has gone, there's more of a mix of players.

I heard four commenators, Andrew 'Ebb and Flow' Castle and Pat Cash (hooray), John Lloyd and the Scot who also commentates on rugby. I kept expecting Sue Barker to butt in at changes of ends and tell us what was going on on other courts.