Wimbledon 2013 Diary: Serena's support thin on the ground

The Williams family entourage is normally a feature of Wimbledon but this year Serena has been supported only by sister Isha. Her father, Richard has stayed home following the birth of a son, Dillon, while the rest of the family, including Venus, have also remained Stateside. Serena is staying in the same house in Wimbledon where they have previously passed the fortnight and despite her big sister not being there, she is still sleeping in the smaller bedroom.

Laura’s fan club not quite enough

That Laura Robson is what Middle England has been waiting for was confirmed yesterday by the sight of Tim Henman’s parents in the Centre Court crowd (their expressions remaining unchanged, as they had throughout their son’s SW19 rollercoaster) and David Cameron leaping on the bandwagon from Kazakhstan. The Prime Minister sent a good-luck Tweet, claiming he would receive regular updates. “That’s nice,” said Robson diplomatically.

No doubles repeat for beaten Marray

You couldn’t move for Britons yesterday, 24 of them all the way from Andy Murray through Jamie Murray and Jonny Marray – and some of them came back for more. In all 29 matches had British interest. Marray’s defence of the doubles title he won last year – this year he teamed up with fellow Brit Colin Fleming instead of Frederik Nielsen – ended with defeat to Robert Lindstedt and Daniel Nestor.

Pole-veriser could be Qatar-strophe

Here’s another possible example of Qatar’s desire to have everything they want in the sporting world. When Jerzy Janowicz, the Pole-veriser, won his first international junior tournament in Saudi Arabia in 2006 he was approached by a man who offered the chance to switch allegiance to the Gulf state. Janowicz turned them down so they went after the World Cup instead.