Wimbledon Diary: Lack of drive has northern youngsters facing the sack

In his highly entertaining interview with The Independent, printed yesterday, boy-next-door Tim Henman memorably said "sack of crap" when he meant "rubbish". If it's good enough for him, then it's good for us. New research among 6,000 people shows a stark north-south divide in participation in tennis among youngsters and if the north is "a sack of crap" at getting kids to play, Yorkshire & Humberside is a veritable skipload of the stuff.

In the past 10 years, according to the British Market Research Board, there has been a 60 per cent decline in 7-19 year-olds playing tennis regularly (on a weekly basis). In 1998, 12 per cent played; now it's five per cent. The most "tennisy" region is the South-west (eight per cent), followed by the South-east (seven). The bottom three regions are East Anglia (three per cent), London (two) and Yorkshire & Humberside (two).

A BMRB spokesman claims the cause of the decline is "the money for professional sportspeople below the elite is no better than a good desk job". Taking that logic to a conclusion, either desk jobs in Yorkshire & Humberside are surprisingly well paid, or the claim is a sack of...

Justin sorry for being such a 'slime gob'

*Justin Gimelstob, the former player with the name that sounds like an attempt to clear the throat, is now an ATP men's tour official. He was forced to apologise yesterday for offensive remarks about women players including the opinion they were "sexpots" and that Anna Kournikova was "a bitch". The 31-year-old, who won two Slam titles in mixed doubles, said "female players lack social skills", and "[Kournikova] has a great body but her face is a five." An anagram of Gimelstob is "Slime Gob T", where T means twit. Or similar.

Organisers fail to know their photos

The Diary holds the sincere belief that Wimbledon is the world's best-organised sporting event. So it is with a heavy heart we point out that the prominent photo in the excellent official Championships' programme supposedly of last year's men's doubles winners, France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra, is, err, not them. Seasoned correspondents struggled to name whoever it is. And the big photo supposedly of Spain's David Ferrer on page 83, is actually . . . his compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero. Oh so close! Oh dear!

First in the Queue

Sleeping on the pavement is part of the whole Wimbledon experience. Each day we'll bring you an interview with the first person in the queue for the day's play.

Names: Aviva Herman.

From: Montreal, Canada.

Age: Not saying.

Occupation: Marketing.

Arrived in the queue: 5.30am Friday.

For: Saturday's play.

Who are you here to see? I'm just crazy about the whole tournament. But the prospect of Andy Murray on Centre Court is special.

Why? There'll be that whole British support thing going on.

Are you clinically insane? No, but I really am a die-hard tennis fan. I come over for two weeks from Montreal every year.

Today's random question: now that Maria Sharapova has no more use for her shorts and tuxedo outfit, can you pick a politician who might suit that look and could use the gear instead? Barack Obama.

If the All England Club served a feral pigeon that has been slaughtered at the Championships, would you eat it, if it was prepared nicely, perhaps in a yummy pâté? No, definitely not. But I'd like to add a PS on another matter. Greg Rusedski is a Montreal-er and always will be.

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