Tennis: Wimbledon - Ivanisevic is on the ball

THE CROATIAN Goran Ivanisevic is thrilled his tennis is peaking at the same time as his fotballing compatriots have hit form in the World Cup.

"I practiced last year with the team in Split and I love football," said the lanky big server who contemplated football as a career before opting for tennis.

He also loved taking a gentle dig at the English football team - "They are really playing bad" - at his post-match press conference.

The fresh-faced Swiss girl Patty Schnyder, the 13th seed, sat proudly in the post-match press conference room ready to bare her soul to reporters. But it was a lonely wait, prompting the Wimbledon announcer to bark out: "There is nobody in the interview room. Where are the Swiss Press?"

Within minutes, Schnyder was all smiles. The press posse duly arrived and she shook hands with each reporter to welcome them.

Pat Cash and the Wild Colonial Boys are ready to party at Wimbledon. The Australian, who broke with protocol and clambered excitedly into the stands to hug his family after his memorable 1987 Wimbledon win, is taking to a local stage for a two-night rock gig with his band.

Cash, who now works as a BBC television commentator, will be joined in an all-star line-up by fellow tennis stars Jim Courier and John McEnroe.

Wimbledon even lays on a special seamstress to help out any lady players whose outfits may come unstuck at the last - and potentially most embarrassing - moment before they stride on court.

But the seamstress left her security pass behind on arrival at the tightly guarded ground. When she came back to claim her sewing machine, she found it had been handed over to police as a potential security risk.