Doubles tennis may not float your boat as much as the singles but for what it's worth there is an unusually fascinating match looming on the horizon.

Belfast's Claire Curran (29), who jumped ship from the Irish Federation Cup team to take up a place in the British tennis establishment, joins up with Ann Keothavong for a place in the doubles as wild cards.

Their luck - or perhaps misfortune - is that they play the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, in the first round of the championship.

The Williamses were also granted a wild card when they decided to play doubles and were drawn with the Britons.

Trouble is that the Williamses have won the doubles title here twice, in 2000 and 2002, not to mention that Serena has lifted the singles trophy twice, in 2002 and 2003, and Venus has been crowned the women's single champion three times.

Mauresmo resists the temptation to splash out

We dote on the mild-mannered Amelie Mauresmo and see her as something of a culture vulture.

We don't envisage her adding a pimped-out Humvee with 20-inch woofers to her wheels collection when she wins a Grand Slam.

So it comes as no surprise that after last year's win at Wimbledon, the French champion, a connoisseur of wine, treated herself to a civilised €6,000 bottle of 1921 Château d'Yquem to add to the cellar at her home in Geneva.

Restraint is everything, especially as she had just picked up £625,000.

Blake swaps dreadlocks for a towelling halo

James Blake is one of those unusual Americans who not only likes leaving the States to travel around Europe but also changes his schedule each year to take in cities and countries he especially likes or particularly enjoys.

So of course when his agent let him know his dreadlocks were the most marketable part of his image, he decided to shave them off.

With a hairdo like that, however, you will always stand out, and Blake replaced the dreadlocks with a white towelling halo with a Nike swoosh on it.

Ironically, he now has one of the most recognisable heads in the game.

Centre Court still waiting for its new roof

There are a whole lot of whispers going on around SW19 about how long it is taking the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club to put a new roof on their old Centre Court.

As everyone knows, the original roof has come off. But we won't have the new sliding version in operation until 2009. By the time it is finished it will have taken almost three years. Why, that's about as long as they are proposing to take to demolish and completely reconstruct Lansdowne Road. Let's hope it doesn't leak.

Murray makes right call but others are a bit fishy

Andy Murray's departure because of his wrist injury has largely received support from various sources, not least of all the players. Murray seriously considered playing Wimbledon but decided against it at the last moment.

One player, however, who might have done the same is Mardy Fish, who was beaten in the first round by Rafael Nadal yesterday. Fish is an object lesson on returning too soon. He injured a wrist two years ago, ended up having two operations and saw his ranking plummet from 37 to 341.

By the end of last season he was back in the top 50 but it is only this year he has had any real success, with a quarter-final in the Australian Open.

Even monsoons cannot keep the crowds away

It is difficult to describe how enthusiastic people are here about coming to Wimbledon. Last year it rained on the first day and 32,272 arrived anyway. This year rain arrived again in buckets and 32,916 travelled to the London suburb.

Every day is like the staging of a Premiership match, but only a limited number can fit into the All England Club and see the matches on one or more of the 20 courts; the total capacity is 33,228 - and that includes 770 places where fans can stand.