Court circular

Webber Evans might not be the best known name at Wimbledon but to many of the the players Evans, the "agony uncle" of the All England Club, is indispensable.

Evans is the ATP Tour site manager and every male player in the tournament can call upon him and his team in their third floor office above Court One.

And they do. Be it travel problems, prize money queries or the venue for the next tournament, Webber has to come up with the answer.

"Those are the easy ones," he says. "But there are a few which really test you. I have been at Wimbledon since 1981 and probably the most bizarre request came a couple of years ago.

"One of the top players suffered rather a bad loss for him, went straight to the airport and took a flight to the next venue. That is not unusual but he rang us later in the day to ask us to send on a few valuables... all his belongings and his wife!

"That was a tough one. When the Australian, Scott Draper, came into the office yesterday clutching his prize money cheques from the last six weeks wanting to know what to do with them there were a lot more answers!"

Professional tennis players are well known for letting the ball boys and girls do all the tiring off-court work during the breaks - fetching all the drinks and towels but Andre Agassi seemed to go a bit far on Centre Court yesterday when his ears apparently needed a bit of clearing out...

'Average' debut for Martina

Martina Navratilova is making her debut at Wimbledon this week - in the HBO commentary box, alongside her friend and mentor Billie Jean King and, maintaining her usual outspoken style, the astute nine-times champion was noticeably forthright in analysing matches.

"It was fun being able to talk and being able to be more candid than when you play," Navratilova said. "On TV you can speak your mind a lot more. Still, I can't say everything that's on my mind. But it gave me the opportunity to say a lot more than I normally would.

Asked about her commentating skills, Navratilova reluctantly proffered an opinion. "Average," she said, laughing. "I didn't do anything spectacular, but I didn't screw up, either."

King was more generous to her newest colleague, saying, "I'd give her an A. She's articulate. And she has a very good memory, which is helpful in broadcasting and which I don't have."

n Boris Becker has spent pounds 6,000 to hire two courts from London University on which to practise his big booming serves.

n Despite the blazing sun sales of emergency rain capes (pounds 2 each with championship logo) are still brisk, with each stall selling half a dozen per hour.

n pounds 38 will buy you a silver-plated net measurer - a mini racket and chain for those moments when two rackets just won't do.

n There has been some sporadic drug-testing on the circuit, but samples are being analysed at Wimbledon in the first programme run jointly by the men's and women's associations. Around 100 will be tested, at random for the first week with full testing from the quarter-finals onwards.

Snap shots

Do you recognise the tennis player pictured here? If you do, you can win a bottle of fine port by phoning 0891-252630. Three winners will each be sent a bottle of Quinta do Noval 10-year-old tawny port, delicious chilled for the summer. Your call will cost about 25p. The winners will be selected at random from all the correct entries received before 4pm today. We regret the competition does not extend to the Republic of Ireland. Normal Independent competition rules apply. Answer and another competition tomorrow.

Yesterday's snap shot was of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and the three winners are: Philip Mason of London N1, Michael Ascott of Littlehampton, West Sussex and Alison Carpenter of Cambridge

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