SW19 Diary: Scot's hopes on a razor's edge
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Your support makes all the difference.Andy Murray's facial hair has attracted much interest over the last two weeks and it's expected to be in place for this afternoon's big match.
Bjorn Borg famously didn't shave during one of his victorious Wimbledon campaigns – and Murray's wispy stubble isn't all that different to the Swede's – but when it comes to hairy omens, the Scot need look no further than Tim Henman. Mr All England may have a clean-cut image but in 2004 he didn't shave during the French Open and enjoyed arguably his best ever Grand Slam campaign, given that clay was a surface he rarely thrived on. Tim and his stubble, though, did exit at the semi-final stage, so perhaps it is time to reach for the razor after all.
Auntie hoping for late-night thrills
Andy Murray is second on Centre this afternoon and there will be fingers crossed in the BBC base camp here that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's meeting with Novak Djokovic goes the full five-set distance – because the later it gets, the more bums on sofas it means for the BBC. Murray's win over Feliciano Lopez knocked the Six O'Clock News on to BBC 2 and peaked at a respectable 7.3 million viewers. His best of the week was the 8.8 million peak against Ivan Ljubicic, a match that stretched to 10pm. But that falls short of the 12 million peak for his late-night thriller against Stanislas Wawrinka three years ago.
Typical Aussies. No respect for protocol
The powers that be here like the ballboys and girls to blend into the background – like a football referee, they've had a good game if nobody notices them. But on Court 14 yesterday they were centre of attention after Darren Cahill, part of Andy Murray's coaching set-up, was injured during a senior double's game. Mark Woodforde, the great Australian doubles expert, plucked a boy out of the crowd, handed him a racket and then ushered all the ballboys and girls on to court and began an impromptu coaching session. Meanwhile, Pat Cash, Woodforde's partner, worked his way around the crowd signing autographs for the legions of middle-aged female fans that follow him around – everyone went home happy.
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