Wildcard Brown

As usual, yesterday morning consisted of a frantic rush to get some work done by lunchtime so I could laze in front of the telly in the afternoon. I'd already had a look at the hallowed order of play and decided I could probably survive without watching Andy Roddick's second-round match, but that Henin and Henman were both essential viewing.

I switched on BBC1 at noon to get the latest from SW19, watched Tim arrive and be interviewed, then strolled back to my desk to deal with emails. About an hour later, I discovered Sue Barker and John McEnroe had been replaced by two new sports reporters called Hugh Edwards and Nicholas Witchell. They were discussing a live match between Anthony Blair, who has been champion for the last decade, and the unseeded wildcard, Gordon Brown, who was challenging him for the title. Interesting player, Brown - he has no record on grass and prefers hard courts. He had spent most of yesterday afternoon in the royal box instead of warming up on the practice courts over the road.

I flicked over to BBC2, where the only match showing was a very sweaty and out-of-breath Serena Williams struggling against Alicia Molik. I returned to the coverage on BBC1, where I discovered Blair had thrown in the towel. I expected Sue Barker to opine on this dramatic development in the tournament but there was still no sign of her. Hmm...

Obviously, a power handover is headline news, but News 24 was already providing full, streaming, live coverage. I was disgruntled enough to complain to Aunty about the unscheduled extra 2 hours of news on BBC1. I was even more fed up when the rain came. I didn't see a single full match yesterday. This WILL be rectified today, otherwise I might actually be forced to do some work...