I’m back in town. I have become quite a “man of the moment”after my diary on Monday about chicks. I have been asked to go on Loose Women, a TV show where five angry old chicks ritually humiliate younger men guests. I told them that I didn’t want to be on the show and they laid into me and called me “gutless.”

Boris Becker, the winner of six Grand Slams, calls on the British No 1 to appoint a new coach to find the 'something missing' – and reveals how a bad loser became so laid-back

With questions raised about the ghoulishness with which the media covered Raoul Moat's final days, a word of praise for two leaders of this frantic festival of broadcast Americana. Kay Burley, the Walter Cronkite du jour who so skillfully downplayed the horrors of 9/11 ("If you're just joining us, the entire eastern seaboard of the United States has been decimated ..."), added to her portfolio of triumphs on Sky News. She asked a criminologist: "Living rough for a narcissist must be tricky?" Well, it must. So hard to find a full length mirror. Speaking of narcissism, hats off to John Inverdale. With so sensitive a breaking story, what you really want at the helm is the sports guy, and John's transition from sipping Pimm's with Boris Becker at Wimbledon to spearheading Radio 5 Live's midday show was seamless. Watching the live feed from Rothbury, he touched on the paradox that, in the midst of all the horror, it looked so sleepily picturesque. "It's almost," he said, "like a scene from Midsomer Murders." He lost it for a bit after that, the sound of blood whooshing to his cheeks clearly audible, but recovered his sangfroid so well that he is said to be CNN's top target this autumn.

As a player, Andy Roddick's coach, Brad Gilbert, only once reached the last eight at Wimbledon. His quarter-final opponent was Boris Becker. "We were supposed to play on Centre Court and I was so pumped, but it rained all day and at seven o'clock we were put on the graveyard court [No 2 Court]. He kicked my ass."

A self-serving slice of greatness

We have Cyclops on Court Two," said Bill Threlfall. He was referring to the electronic eye that records whether a serve is in or out, but I had spotted an elderly man in the crowd wearing an eyepatch, and prayed that the cameraman would give us a mischievous close-up. He didn't. The cameramen at Wimbledon (BBC1 and 2), and every other sporting event for that matter, have close-ups only for pretty girls.

THOMAS ENQVIST saw off the challenge of Tim Henman 7-6, 6-4 to give Sweden a winning 2-0 lead over Great Britain at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf yesterday. Jonas Bjorkman had earlier put the Swedes ahead by destroying Greg Rusedski 6-2, 6-2.

NO 271: MERCEDES A-CLASS

Who should be the next England football manager?

"A-aa-aaa-choooo! Excuse me." My interviewee, just off a package flight from Ecuador, is looking a touch green about the gills. "When you spend your entire life on the equator, all this refrigeration is a bit of a shock. Aaaaaa-chooo!"

Boris Becker is winding down his career, but the three-times Wimbledon champion is still a magnet for the public when he plays in Germany.

The new No 1 Court, built at a cost of pounds 100m, has been warmly received. Offering a superb view, unhindered by pillar or post, in addition to plush shopping and eating facilities, it would be surprising if the verdict was anything else.

It was the same old game plan, minus the tumbling volleys and precision placement, as Boris Becker exorcised his recent torment at Wimbledon to breeze into the second round yesterday.

Boris Becker was forced to retire from his first-round match in the Romanian Open yesterday after he suffered a recurrence of the wrist injury that ended his Wimbledon challenge.