Wimbledon 2010: Queen Elizabeth will be visiting the lawns after 30 years
Thursday June 24, 2010 will go down in the history books of the All England Club. It is on this day after thirty three years that Queen Elizabeth will be visiting the lawns of SW19 and watch, a few matches on Centre Court. Players who would have the opportunity of meeting the Queen are already busy taking time out of their schedules to practice the courtesy. Serena Williams is one such player who admitted to practicing the courtesy to perfection before meeting the Queen. The Royal Box proved to be lucky for British Virginia Wade thirty three years ago. Will the Queen’s presence be the shining star for Andy Murray who will make his appearance on Centre Court tomorrow? With a line-up of tennis aces scheduled to take the court tomorrow, it is predicted that it shall be an action packed day.
The two top seeds that will walk out on Centre Court tomorrow are Number Two seed Rafael Nadal and Number Four seed Andy Murray. The day will commence with loud cheers for Andy Murray who will face off against Jarkko Neiminen from Finland. Murray will have the home court and crowd advantage and the Queen as well as the public would be expecting Murray to shine. The last match on Centre Court will be between World Number One Rafael Nadal and the conqueror of James Blake, Robin Hasse. Nadal will be looking to continue his invincible form against the Dutchman. In a surprising move, Serena Williams will not be playing in front of the Queen. In fact it will be Number Three seed Caroline Wozniacki who will take on Kai-Chen Chang from Taipei. Williams will be hoping to meet the Queen to show off her practiced courtesy as she will be playing out on Court 2 against Anna Chakvedatze from Russia.
All eyes of the British will be on Centre court to watch their idol battle it out. Murray and Neiminen have played each other twice before and Murray has been victorious on both occasions. Murray will go into the match riding on an air of confidence and with the backing of the crowd. However, their last meeting was back in 2007, but the power of the player from Finland cannot be underestimated as he took Roddick to five sets in round one of the French Open 2010.
The last time Rafael Nadal played on the lawns of SW19 he snatched the crown from Roger Federer. This year he would be looking to do just the same. He feels this year the championship is more special as injury prompted him to stay away from the tournament last year. Nadal annihilated his first round challenger Kei Nishikori and will be looking to torture his Dutch opponent the same way. Nadal and Hasse have never faced each other before and Nadal will be looking to go one up.
A former Wimbledon champion that would be looking to prove her mettle on grass is Maria Sharapova. She has just come out of shoulder injuries and would be searching for the magic she had back in 2004 when she lifted the title. She will be out on Court One against Ioana Raluca Olaru from Romania. Sharapova would be aiming to give a spirited performance to prove to the world that she was not just a one hit wonder.
Curtseying to the Queen would be Dane Caroline Wozniacki who is due to play Kai Chen Chang from Taipei. Wozniacki who is seeded third this year, will be looking to impress the Queen and thump her opponent with a dazzling display of tennis.
Serena Williams will be out playing on the “graveyard of champions”. That is what Court two is known as, due to the fact that many seeds have perished on this court. Williams would be looking to overturn the curse of Court two.
However one match everyone would want to know the winner of is the postponed ten hour marathon between Nicholas Mahut and John Isner. The last set stands at 59 all and tomorrow a winner will finally emerge, but how much longer will the match take, only time will tell.
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