There is nothing more warming, even amid the prospect of the hottest day at the Wimbledon Fortnight in the last decade, than a fairytale to make the heart soar. Preferably involving a young Briton and a wild card.
Step forward then, Liam Broady. The 21-year-old from Stockport was the talk of the opening day as he fashioned a remarkable comeback to win a five-setter against Marinko Matosevic, before telling us all how he hoped the prize money would now ensure he won’t have to camp out on his mates’ floors any more.
Writing the fairytale is one thing. Penning the sequel in a mid-thirties heatwave is the difficult bit. Broady, once the boys’ singles finalist here, has been rewarded with a date on No.3 Court on Wednesday but David Goffin, the gifted Belgian world No.15 who reached the final of s-Hertogenbosch’s grass court tournament only a fortnight ago, is ready to be the slimline killjoy.
After Tuesday’s rousing successes of Aljaz Bedene, James Ward and, more predictably, Andy Murray, Heather Watson will share Wednesday’s domestic billing with Broady, still buoyant at clawing her way into the second round after saving three match points against the No.32 seed Caroline Garcia.
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Playing for the third day in succession, Britain’s No.1 now graduates to No. 1 Court to tackle the vastly experienced Daniela Hantuchova, the 32-year-old Slovak who accounted for Watson in their only meeting at last year’s Australian Open.
Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, probably his country’s finest ever player, spoiled a tearful script when he outlasted the indefatigable Lleyton Hewitt and ensured there would be no Centre Court farewell for the 2002 victor against champion Novak Djokovic.
Instead, Nieminen, the 33-year-old leftie who has also been a welcome visitor to these lawns a dozen times and once reached the quarter-finals, now has his own chance for one last waltz on the sport’s grandest stage in what he has just announced will be his final season.
It takes a leap of the imagination to envisage him making further progress against Djokovic who, according to his last victim Philipp Kohlschreiber, is performing with the metronomic efficiency of a tennis ball machine. Look out too for the Serb’s new feathered friend, the blue tit he was convinced fluttered in from Belgrade on Monday to give him moral support on the court.
In the absence of Hewitt, the idol they have followed religiously around the grounds of SW19 for so long, his army of ‘Fanatics’ will now troop across to Court 18 to follow the young guns, Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios.
The first round adventure of the wildly entertaining Kyrgios, which featured him insulting himself majestically and bouncing a ball exquisitely off a line judge’s head, ended with his protestation: “I'm not trying to be anyone else. I'm just myself.”
How will the older stagers stand the furnace on Wednesday? As well as Nieminen and Hantuchova, Victor Estrella Burgos, the 34-year-old who became the oldest first-time ATP World Tour champion when he won this year’s Ecuador Open, has a crack at French Open champion Stan Wawrinka on No.1 Court.
Then, on the same court, there’s 37-year-old Tommy Haas, still going strong after more surgery than in an entire series of ER and fresh from becoming the oldest winner of a gentlemen’s singles match here since Jimmy Connors 24 years ago. He now comes up against Milos Raonic’s bullets.
Timea Babos is the latest to try to derail the seemingly unstoppable Serena Williams on Centre Court. The 22-year-old Hungarian introduces herself on Twitter as “smiley tennis player”. This may be exactly the quality she will need most on Wednesday.
