The build-up to Friday's second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.

Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray's party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.

Roddick never stopped playing like a man on a mission, contesting every point while Murray's more subtle, patient approach was not coming to fruition as many had predicted.

Murray produced glimpses of magic and he stood up bravely to return many of Roddick's meteoric serves, which hit a staggering speed of 143MPH, but his own first serve let him down too often and the passing shots he regularly makes went amiss.

On paper, this was a match Murray was meant to win, but in reality the world number three was outplayed by sixth seed Roddick whose recent good form has coincided with a much fitter physique.

At 22-years-old, a grand slam semi-final still represents progress for Murray and the defeat will by no means damage his confidence or reputation -- British fans will just have to wait a little longer for a homegrown Wimbledon finalist. After all it has been 71 years already.

However, tennis fans will not begrudge Roddick, a former world number one and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, another chance to renew his rivalry with defending champion and overwhelming favourite Roger Federer in Sunday's final.

If Roddick serves like he did on Friday, he has a chance, don't you reckon?

ANDY 1: Andy Roddick seems scarcely able to believe his won over Andy Murray in their semi-final at Wimbledon, July 3, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

ANDY 2: Murray's expression says it all. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Andy Murray's brutal straight sets victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero took him through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in his career on Wednesday but while the centre court fans and the Henman Hill mob did their Mexican waves one man was singularly unimpressed by the Murraymania.

Murray himself is doing his best to let the media frenzy pass him by. He may have received notes of encouragement from the Queen, Sean Connery and Cliff Richard, and he knows he will be all over the front and back pages of the newspapers again on Thursday, but to say the Scot is staying cool would be a massive understatement. Here's what he said after the 7-5 6-3 6-2 win over Ferrero:

"It doesn't make any difference the way you perform, the hype. If you spend the whole time, if you work in the media and spend a lot of time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, getting said all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it.

If you ignore it you don't realize it's happening. You don't take anything that's being said about you. You know, I don't read it because 90% of the stuff's gonna be pretty much untrue anyway."

Ouch.

Murray didn't sound too impressed to hear that Kate Winslet had been in the crowd either, although he did concede it might be good for the sport.

"I think it's good for tennis any time you get, you know, big stars or celebrities coming to watch. It makes it, I guess, cooler for kids and stuff, which is important in this country."

PHOTO: Andy Murray returns the ball to Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain during their quarter-final at Wimbledon, July 1, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Royal Bank of Scotland is not best known for backing winners.

So the Scottish bank must be savouring Andy Murray's run at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

World number three Murray is one of the "sports personalities of present and past" sponsored by RBS during the heady days of Sir Fred Goodwin.

Murray must count as one of Sir Fred's more inspired investments. Murray's play has literally gone from strength to strength -- all the time with the RBS logo emblazoned on his shirt sleeve.

Stephen Hester, Goodwin's successor as chief executive of RBS, must be hoping Murray maintains his winning streak and goes all the way to the Wimbledon men's final.

It's about time RBS employees -- and shareholders including the British government -- had something to cheer about.

No doubt British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will also be willing fellow Scot Murray to victory -- they could both do with the "feel-good" factor of a British Wimbledon win.

Like a man who comes back from the shops with a dirty big power tool and immediately decides the pictures need re-hanging, Wimbledon just couldn't resist putting their expensive new toy to use ... even if it wasn't completely clear they needed it.

A little piece of sporting history was made on Monday as the new roof over Centre Court at Wimbledon was put in place for the first time in a match at the Championships.

Tournament referee Andy Jarrett took the decision to shut the roof while top seed Dinara Safina and former champion Amelie Mauresmo were contesting their match at the famous grasscourt championships and the two sections locked together at 1547 GMT.

It was, to be charitable, a bit drizzly but it certainly didn't look like the rain would continue long. And sure enough, pretty much as soon as the roof went up, it stopped.

It's always the way...

PHOTO: Officials stand on the grass as the roof is closed over Centre Court at the Wimbledon tennis championships, in London June 27, 2009. The roof was opened for the first time during an actual match on Monday, June 28. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

As chief executive for a company that is 70 percent owned by the government, a 9.6 million pounds pay package is quite a tidy sum.

It is a package that makes Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester almost as well as paid as the Real Madrid-bound Cristiano Ronaldo.

True the package has caveats - it is dependent on targets including shareholder return and absolute share performance - and is line with other British banking chiefs.

But in these more frugal post-global downturn times does that make it right? In trying to get itself shipshape, RBS has slashed over 15,000 jobs as it received its £20 billion pounds government bailout.

As details of the pay package were revealed it also emerged that RBS, which has been pilloried over the pension awarded to Hester’s predecessor Fred Goodwin, will be spending £300,000 on corporate entertainment at Wimbledon over the next fortnight. Doh!

Given the taxpayer-funded bailout of RBS is Hester worth £9.6m?

As Wimbledon closed its new retractable roof over Centre Court for the first time in a drizzly southwest London on Sunday, the gap between the haves and have-nots grew wider.

Spectators and organisers hailed the new innovation, which will ensure Centre Court ticket holders will never again go away without seeing a match, but the rest of the soggy Wimbledon grounds provided a stark reminder of what it will be like for the majority of players and fans who walk through the All England Club gates next month.

Until this year, there was not much a player such as world number 100 Sergio Roitman would have in common with the likes of Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. Except when it rained that is. No matter who you were, if it rained you were stuck in the locker room.

Not anymore. The chosen few lucky enough to be scheduled on 15,000 capacity-Centre Court will never again have to wonder exactly when the rain gods will let up. But since Wimbledon has another 18-odd courts that are used during the two-week long championships, the majority of players who make up the 128-strong singles draw will be left high and dry -- or in this case soaking wet -- when the heavens open.

Andre Agassi, who was given the honour of being one of the first players to test the conditions under the new multi-million dollar structure, dismissed suggestions that the roof would create a class divide.

"From a players perspective you could argue that those scheduled on centre court have a distinct advantage but you could also argue that those who have been scheduled on Centre Court have earned the right to have that opportunity," the American told reporters.

While the roof will ensure television viewers will also be guaranteed daily live action, Wimbledon organisers would do well to invest in a pair of earplugs as they will undoubtedly be on the receiving of some harsh criticism from those left out in the cold.

IN SYNC: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf during their mixed doubles match against Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters under the newly completed Centre Court roof at Wimbledon in London May 17, 2009. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

    **** For full Wimbledon coverage click here ****

Richard Williams cannot bear to watch if his daughters Serena and Venus make it to the Wimbledon final on Saturday — he will be flying back home to the United States instead.

Venus and Serena, who have six Wimbledon titles between them, are currently on course to clash for the third time in a Wimbledon final — and Venus is looking for revenge after twice losing to her sister.

Their father, who nurtured their careers from an early age, is happy to cheer them on in their semi-finals on Thursday but the clash on the biggest stage in tennis is too painful for him.

“If your kids got into a fight with each other, could you stand to watch that?. That’s the way I feel,” he told Reuters at Wimbledon.

“I feel that they are fighting against each other so I wouldn’t watch it. I will be on a plane at 36,000 feet,” he said. “It is too emotional for me.”

Both Serena and Venus have won plaudits for slowly sharpening their skills from round to round at Wimbledon, which for them has always been a number one target.

Richard Williams agreed: “In their first matches they were struggling and then they were struggling a little less and a little less. I think they are peaking as they go.”

What always intrigues Williams is how different Serena and Venus are — both as personalities and as tennis players. One is introverted, the other an open book with her heart on her sleeve.

“When Venus is playing, you never know whether she is winning or losing. Venus just never lets nothing bother her.”

In sharp contrast, he said Serena “could throw the racquet down and break it up. She gets to talking to herself.”

Asked the inevitable question about which of the two could emerge triumphant on Saturday, he quickly retorts “The winner, the one that makes the least amount of mistakes. Whoever steps up and takes the ball first is going to win.”

Enraged and insulted by any suggestion whatsoever that they might contemplate deciding the result in advance, he said “When Venus and Serena play each other, they do the best they can.”
 

Serena Williams glides across the ice rink. Ana Ivanovic leaps to the net in beach volleyball.

Roger Federer poses as a fencer. Rafael Nadal fulfils his boyhood dream as a soccer player.

To celebrate 20 years at the modern Olympics, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) persuaded 40 of the world’s top players to dress up as athletes from other sports.

The result, launched at Wimbledon this week, made for some intriguing choices in a glossy coffee table book “Journey to Beijing: Tennis Celebrates the Olympics.”

 As befits a truly international sport, the photo shoots spanned the globe.

Chile’s Olympic champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzales became marathon runners on the streets of Santiago. Maria Sharapova tried rhythmic gymnastics in Los Angeles while Serena Williams went ice skating at her local rink in Palm
Beach, Florida.

Sharapova recalled dressing up as a child in the team’s white beret and marching beside the television as the Russian team appeared at the opening ceremony.

Nadal, glued to the television as a six-year-old, will never forget Fremin Cacho winning the 1500 metres in Barcelona. “The last few metres were unbelievable,” he recalled.
While playing at The Masters in Shanghai, Nadal snatched a few quick minutes to pose as a footballer playing in the streets down a back alley.

He was the first player to commit to the book and others swiftly followed.

ITF spokesman Nick Imison told Reuters at the launch “Every one of the men players wanted to be a footballer.”

“For the modern-day player, the Olympics is a real career goal,” Imison said of the top-ranked players who now need much less persuading to appear at the Games.

The millionaire players, who jet round the world leading a cocooned lifestyle from one five-star hotel to another, rave in the book about the joys of mingling with other athletes in the Olympic village.

But Serena Williams did admit that she and her sister Venus could not stay in the Sydney Olympics village too long in 2000 because “It was crazy …  Everyone came over and overcrowded us. There’s a lot of excitement.”

Federer can perhaps lay claim to the fondest of Olympic memories — he met his long-time girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics.

Little wonder that the Swiss champion, who happily signed autographs for three hours at the opening ceremony, said of the Games “I loved every minute of it.”

**** For full coverage of Wimbledon click here ****

Andy Murray made a great show of pointing to his bicep after his 5-sets win over Richard Gasquet but when it comes to muscles, his next opponent, Rafael Nadal wins hands down.

Widely regarded as the fittest and strongest man on the professional circuit, Nadal has been in powerful form on grass over the past month and is a formidable barrier in the way of Murray’s ambition to become the first British men’s singles winner since 1936.

Murray is aware of the task ahead but says he has had chances against Nadal before on fast surfaces. All is not lost.

Do you think the stronger, fitter and apparently more focused Murray can beat Nadal this time?

       **** For full coverage of Wimbledon click here ****

Thank heavens colour television was up and running in Britain when we had our last Wimbledon singles winner.

Virginia Wade it was, 41 years ago to be precise (and if memory serves she was wearing a cardigan at the time. Plus ca change.)

British tennis doesn’t have to suffer the indignity heaped upon fans who have to watch black and white TV clips to relive the last time we won anything big in soccer — the 1966 World Cup.

The flickering images accompanying Kenneth Wolstenholme’s famous “they think it’s all over,” line look like something from an early moon lander nowadays and just ram home the fact that it was all so long ago. Viewers of the 1977 women’s final, complete with Dan Maskell’s rapturous “Oh, I say, Virginias,”  could at least see that Wade’s cardigan was pink.

But even so, our losing streak at the All England Lawn Tennis Club must have broken all kinds of laws of averages. Surely a nation of so many millions should statistically have thrown up another men’s champion by now instead of us having to look back to Fred Perry in 1936.

Its dismal failure to do so, despite some worthy efforts in the 1960s, perhaps in part explains why the cheery Wimbledon crowds and their determination to get behind the British players come in for so much sneering. With their “Henmania” and now, apparently, their “Andymonium,” they represent the triumph of hope over experience and, as such, an easy target — like flat-Earth believers. 

They should not take the stick lying down. They should point out that even if we can’t win it, the world still regards Wimbledon as the greatest tennis tournament and one that, for all its inbuilt snobbery, still lets people in without pre-booked tickets at reasonable turnstile prices and refuses to sell out to advertisers by splattering the court surrounds with hoardings and logos.

They should remind the knockers too that the world’s best players want to take part so much that they leave behind their fancy coloured gear and grudgingly conform to the tournament’s “predominantly white” clothes rule, even at the risk of making some of them look like ordinary public court hackers.

There are reasons to be cheerful, the tennis pendulum will swing back our way from eastern Europe one day – and before global warming has turned the lawns of SW19 into dust, there will be another British champion.

You read it here first