LONDON (Reuters) – One lingering regret haunted Kim Clijsters during a 2-1/2 year maternity break from the women’s tennis circuit.

Although she has long been in love with Wimbledon’s lush green courts, the 27-year-old Belgian had never gone further than the semi-finals in seven appearances.

Clijsters, who won the 2009 U.S. Open only a month into her comeback, was offered a wildcard by the All England club last year after taking part in an exhibition to unveil the sliding roof over Centre Court.

“It was so tempting, because it is so lovely, I love Wimbledon, I just love the whole atmosphere,” Clijsters, who is seeded eighth for her first Wimbledon appearance in four years, told Reuters.

“But it was a smart decision not to play it, I feel I’m a better player obviously now then I was a year ago.”

Should Clijsters realise her Wimbledon dream, fans will be greeted by the unusual sight of a curly-haired toddler running amok on the hallowed Centre Court turf.

Clijsters’s two-year-old daughter Jada stole the show at Flushing Meadows last September when she scurried around Arthur Ashe stadium as her mother celebrated winning the U.S. Open.

LONDON (Reuters) – Venus Williams, a keen historian of tennis, would have noted that no woman over 30 has won a grand slam trophy in two decades.

Such a statistic is unlikely to strike fear into the statuesque American, who celebrates the milestone birthday this week.

Thirteen years after announcing her arrival at Wimbledon as a giggling teenager with a headful of colourful beads, Williams will be in hot pursuit of a sixth Wimbledon crown as she aims to become the first 30-something to win the grasscourt major since Martina Navratilova triumphed in 1990.

The list of those capable of tripping her up is a short one, with sister, title holder and world number one Serena being her primary foe.

The American siblings have grabbed the silverware at the All England Club in eight of the past 10 years and remain the ones to beat.

Between them, they have banked almost $60 million in prize money and won 19 major singles titles, have both topped the world rankings and have seen many of their rivals come and go.

Their appetite for success remains insatiable.

LONDON (Reuters) – No matter where Rafael Nadal goes at Queen’s Club, there seems to be no hiding place for the popular Spaniard.

His troublesome knees denied British fans a chance to see Nadal in full flow last year as he ducked out of defending his titles at Queen’s and Wimbledon.

Twelve months on and it seems that from the moment Nadal steps out of his silver courtesy car at Queen’s, he has a large group of fans snapping at his heels.

Children are rewarded for their patience with a pat on their heads and in case the seven-times grand slam champion had any doubts about his skills on the tennis court, one little voice told him: “You’re so good.”

The Pied Piper of Queen’s Club flashed his teeth at the observation but away from the crowd, the smile disappeared as he grumbled about the prolonged hardcourt season after making a winning comeback at Queen’s on Wednesday.

“For me, the worst surface is hardcourt; not grass, not clay. Hardcourt is very difficult, is very, very aggressive for the ankles, for the knees, for the back, for everything,” said the world number one, who was also forced to retire injured during his Australian Open quarter-final this year.

Unfortunately for Nadal, apart from the two-month claycourt swing which culminates with the French Open and the four-week run of grasscourt tournaments, the rest of the tennis calendar is predominantly made up of hardcourt events.

LONDON (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal’s day-glo outfit and his ferocious forehands lit up a gloomy Queen’s Club on Wednesday, the Spaniard marking his return to a grasscourt with a 6-2 6-2 demolition of Brazilian journeyman Marcos Daniel.

Second seed Novak Djokovic gave the fans who had sat through several rain break a thumbs up after he joined Nadal in the third round with a 6-3 6-3 win over Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.

Nadal, the 2008 champion, was unable to defend his title 12 months ago when his creaking knees ruled him out of playing any competitive matches on the manicured lawns of Queen’s or Wimbledon.

“It’s difficult to compare (how I felt this time last year) because… one year ago I was injured and now I am not injured. That’s the big difference,” the 24-year-old, who lifted a fifth French Open crown and regained the world number one ranking at the weekend, told reporters.

“My knees were not working well.”

On Wednesday, there was nothing wrong with his knees, his tactics or his confidence — but his outfit might have raised a few eyebrows in a country more used to seeing tennis players turn out in all-white.

Nadal bounded on to an overcast Centre Court sporting a luminous green jacket, bag and bandana and appeared to be in a race against time to finish off the match before the heavens opened over west London.

LONDON (Reuters) – Andy Roddick got a taste of his increased popularity in Britain when hundreds of fans squeezed on to a narrow pathway just to watch him practise at Queen’s Club on Tuesday.

The American, who was given a long standing ovation after losing an epic five-set final to Roger Federer at Wimbledon last July, arrived in London feeling jaded after yet another woeful performance in the French Open, where he went out in the third round.

However, as Roddick stepped on to the slick grass of Queen’s by clambering over the side hoardings, he was greeted by a female cry of: “We love you Andy, this will be your year”.

Roddick acknowledged the fan by comically raising one eyebrow before getting down to business with his hitting partner, as the throng of spectators jostled for space on the pathway beside the practice court.

Residents of the houses surrounding the leafy tennis club made the most of their vantage points by leaning out of their first- and second-floor windows to catch a glimpse of the Wimbledon runner-up.

“A lot maybe changed after Wimbledon last year. Why? I don’t know,” Roddick told reporters, referring to the final where he was finally subdued 16-14 in the fifth set by Federer.

“I feel like I’ve worked hard at what I do for a long time. For some reason it hit home during that tournament for a lot of people last year. I certainly think the sentiment is maybe a little bit different now.”

LONDON (Reuters) – After eight fleeting appearances at Wimbledon, British number two Alex Bogdanovic has paid the price for failure and has been left off the guest list for this year’s event by the All England Club.

Wimbledon’s wildcard committee finally ran out of patience on Tuesday with Bogdanovic, who at 166th in the world is ranked way behind British number one and world number four Andy Murray.

“I’ve had a lot of wildcards in the past, and I was always appreciated. Even though I did meet the criteria (of being inside the top 250) … they felt like I didn’t make use of the wildcards,” Bogdanovic, 26, told reporters at Queen’s Club after losing in the first round.

“I found out they obviously didn’t believe in me anymore.”

Having won only three of 27 sets contested at the grasscourt major from 2002-2009, Wimbledon officials felt he was no longer a sound investment and have instead handed the wildcard to Jamie Baker, who is ranked almost 100 places behind Bogdanovic.

To add insult to injury, Bogdanovic has also seen his funding slashed by almost 80 percent — from at least 19,000 pounds ($29,390) in 2009 to just 4000 pounds so far this year — and hence feels he is being singled out by the governing body of British tennis (LTA) for failing to follow in Murray’s footsteps.

“My money was cut. (LTA player director) Steven Martens basically said the reasons for that is I wasn’t working hard enough throughout the whole year,” said Bogdanovic.

LONDON (Reuters) – Champion Andy Murray and Andy Roddick whacked away the clay from their tennis shoes and began their build up to Wimbledon by taming little-known opponents on a rain-blighted day at Queen’s Club on Tuesday.

Murray, who last year became the first Briton to win the title in 71 years, kicked off his grasscourt campaign with a 7-6 6-3 win over Spaniard Ivan Navarro while Roddick was at his ruthless best in a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn.

Third seed Murray initially seemed taken aback at the sight of a serve-and-volleying Spaniard but once he had gotten over that shock he found his groove to book a place in the third round.

“Tricky play, not what you expect from a Spaniard coming forward on every point,” Murray said in a courtside interview.

That win, and the feel of grass beneath him, would have come as a relief to Murray who has endured a wretched run since finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open.

He has yet to win a title in 2010 and went out in the fourth round of the French Open. At times on Tuesday it seemed as if Murray had forgotten that he had left the claycourts behind as he repeatedly slapped his heels — as if trying to get the red dust from the sole of his shoes.

Murray would also have expected Navarro — whose stocky build would not have put him out of place on a rugby pitch — to hug the baseline since the world number 108 hails from Alicante.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – The Winter Olympics in quotes:

“We are all in deep shock, we don’t know what to do. We don’t know whether to take part in the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games themselves. I don’t know how he died but I can tell you one thing, the track was really very bad” — Georgian Olympics delegation head Irakly Japaridze after luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died hours before the February 12 opening ceremony in a horrific training crash at the Whistler Sliding Center.

“May you carry his Olympic dream on your shoulders and compete with his spirit in your hearts” — chief executive of the Vancouver Organizing Committee John Furlong told Georgian athletes during the opening ceremony.

“The International Federation said what happened yesterday was human error. With all due respect… one thing I know for sure is that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to death” — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

ALPINE SKIING

“We call them the Camel Bumps but suddenly they’re three and camels don’t have three bumps so I really don’t know where that third one came from but I certainly hit it” — Briton Chemmy Alcott on a tricky section of the women’s downhill course.

“You watch him ski, you don’t think he’s anything special, but then you look at the times” — American Ted Ligety on Switzerland’s Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Carlo Janka.

VANCOUVER, Feb 28 (Reuters) – The Winter Olympics in quotes:

“We are all in deep shock, we don’t know what to do. We don’t know whether to take part in the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games themselves. I don’t know how he died but I can tell you one thing, the track was really very bad” — Georgian Olympics delegation head Irakly Japaridze after luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died hours before the Feb. 12 opening ceremony in a horrific training crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

“May you carry his Olympic dream on your shoulders and compete with his spirit in your hearts” — chief executive of the Vancouver Organising Committee John Furlong told Georgian athletes during the opening ceremony.

“The International Federation said what happened yesterday was human error. With all due respect… one thing I know for sure is that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to death” – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

ALPINE SKIING

“We call them the Camel Bumps but suddenly they’re three and camels don’t have three bumps so I really don’t know where that third one came from but I certainly hit it” — Briton Chemmy Alcott on a tricky section of the women’s downhill course.

“You watch him ski, you don’t think he’s anything special, but then you look at the times” — American Ted Ligety on Switzerland’s Olympic giant slalom gold medallist Carlo Janka.

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Even before the Olympic flame is extinguished in downtown Vancouver, the inquisition had started into what went wrong for European figure skating at the 2010 Winter Games.

The continent, largely thanks to Russia and the Soviet Union, had dominated Olympic ice rinks from Innsbruck to Calgary and Albertville to Salt Lake City to bag 37 of 46 golds handed out since 1964.

In 2006 Russia came tantalizing close to becoming the first nation to sweep the board but had to settle for taking three golds after a slip-up by Irina Slutskaya allowed Shizuka Arakawa of Japan to nab the top prize in the women’s competition.

Four years on and the tables have completely turned as the score now reads Europe 0 – Rest of the World 4. The last time this happened was half a century ago in 1960.

“A change of guard is always a good thing. It takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you work harder. The Europeans have not delivered very well in this Games. We’ve got great skaters, they just haven’t delivered,” 1980 British Olympic men’s champion Robin Cousins told Reuters.

“The Europeans have to rethink (their strategy) a little bit, more power to the North Americans and the Asians.”

China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo started the victory parade for the teams that fall under the Four Continents umbrella by snapping Russia’s 46-year stranglehold in the pairs competition.