Sport

Andy Murray must wait another year for a chance to reach the Wimbledon final after Rafael Nadal beat him in four sets.

Murray started brilliantly; edging the first set but Nadal kept a champion’s composure and came out fighting in the second. The crucial points came when Murray missed two relatively easy forehands that threw away any chance to dominate the defending champion. Nadal capitalized on Murray’s mistakes and from that point on the outcome of the match seemed relatively determined.

With a 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory, Nadal goes on to face the man who has commandeered his No.1 ranking, the Serbian Novak Djokovic.

Murray did extremely well to hold his serve in game 11 when Nadal’s returns and movement were excellent. He managed to break Nadal in the next game to forge a perfect start to the semi-final. However, the big turning point on the match came in the fourth game of the second set. Murray was 15-30 up and had two chances to break serve and win the game. He missed both of them and his form started to drop from that point on. Nadal broke his serve in the next game and cruised to take the second set 6-2.

Nadal went on to win 7 games in a row with Murray making 26 unforced errors to Nadal’s six. There was none of the visible anger and shouting we’ve come to expect from the Scot and the crowd seemed to respond to it by sullen applause as the Spaniard took complete control of the match.

There was a flicker of hope in the third set as Murray reached a break point point for the first time since the first set but Nadal was just too strong. That was Murray’s last chance to get back into the game. Serving up his fourth double fault he gave Nadal match point in the fourth set. After a consolatory ace Nadal took the match with an excellent forehand winner.

Prince William and Kate Middleton cheered on Andy Murray during his Centre Court victory over Richard Gasquet today.

The British hopeful served out the matched with an ace, completing the 7-6 6-3 6-2 victory in little over two hours.

The capture received rapturous applause as they took their seats in the royal box of the 15,000 capacity venue. Having originally sat down in the wrong place, William and Kate were directed to a central row with Kate taking a seat that Princess Diana once sat in.

Prince William was wearing a blue suit and kept his jacket on throughout the match despite the soaring temperatures. The other male members of the royal box followed suit. Kate was in wore an elegant knee-length cream three-tiered dress.

Kate and Will both wore sunglasses despite the extra shade provided by the new roof.

Other guests in the royalbox included Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, Princess Michael of Kent, and Tim Henman’s parents Anthony and Jane. The British No.1 told the Evening Standard that “It’s great for tennis to have people like that coming to watch.” And that he was “definitely not” nervous playing in front of Kate and William.

Although they were accompanied by numerous members of security, the Wimbledon visit had nothing to do with royal duties. The private visit comes just before the couple jet off to the US and Canada for their first official tour.

Venus Williams showed the spirit of a five-time champion to come from a set down to beat Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm on Centre Court.

Date-Krumm, the 40 year old and 1996 semi-finalist, took the first set after a nail-biting tie break forced by Williams fight back from 5-1 down. Williams then stole a break at the start of the second set and found her rhythm. She clinched the victory in just under three hours winning 6-7 6-3 8-6.

It was a frantic start with Date-Krumm breaking Williams in her first two service games in the first nine minutes, taking a 3-0 lead. She extended this to 5-1. However, Williams saved three set points and won five games in a row to take the set to a tie break. Date-Krumm couldn’t manage to serve out the set but took a 6-2 lead in the tie break with some fantastic return play. Williams attacked with her powerful serve and levelled up the tie break before Date-Krumm edged it to go one set up in the match.

After a breathtaking rally that involved Date-Krumm switching from right to left-hand play, Williams managed to force an error from Date-Krumm to break serve. Date-Krumm battled to claw back two break points but she couldn’t compete with Williams’ aggressive serves and conceded the second set.

Each game went with service in the third set with Date-Krumm demonstrating some excellent return play against Williams’ powerful serve. However, at 7-6 it was Date-Krumm who faltered. She lost two match points and gave the match to Williams after striking wide on a crucial backhand.

Those lucky fans who snapped up tickets for Andy Murray’s opening match on Centre Court were celebrating after camping out through the rain last night.

The arrival of the £100 million retractable roof meant the committed fans who pitched their tents two days ago will see the Scot play come rain or shine.

South African Ewal Smit camped out from 8am on Saturday, he was the first person to get tickets. He pitched his tent with his housemate Derek Human who brought along his parents Fred and Susan, and cousin Marlein Dewet. The 35 year old said: “It was raining on Saturday and not the most comfortable situation, but it’s all part of the experience. We thought it was going to rain, so we wanted to make sure we could get centre court tickets to make sure we’d get to see some tennis.”

The last Centre Court ticket went to a Mr. Alex Dunlop: “I just wanted to see Murray play. It’s going to be so hard for him to win the whole thing as Federer and Nadal are so good, but I got in and that’s all that matters – I’m glad I decided to get in the queue.”

Fred Human who travelled all the way from South Africa for Wimbledon said “The person I really want to watch is Nadal.” Nadal cruised through his first match today, dominating Michael Russell in three sets. Murray will follow Nadal playing against Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Not all of the campers were as happy as Mr. Smit and Mr. Dunlop. There were several complaints about people who had set up their pitch at Tent City, only to go away and sleep at home. A steward said: “Some people come on Saturday, pitch a tent, and then go and have a nice sleep somewhere else – but we can’t do anything about it as it’s not our jurisdiction until Sunday at 8am. It’s not in the spirit of the system but the stewards can’t act.”

1.2 million people found themselves without Olympic tickets today following the public ballot.

Sebastian Coe said he completely understood the disappointment, particularly as members of the public have injected £12 billion into the cost of the games: “We recognise that the massive demand for tickets has meant that many sports fans were disappointed not to receive tickets in the initial application,” he said.

A second phase of selling will begin next Friday, when 2.3 million of the total 6.6 million (Olympic chiefs have revealed this is actually closer to 5.5 million) will be sold. However, the majority of these are likely to be for events such as hockey or football. Locog, Sebastian Coe’s organising committee is concerned that members of the public will be put off by the low results of the first sale.

Editor of Which? Money, James Daley said: “This reinforces the fact that the system used has been a farce and has been unfair to millions who have missed out, while a lot of people have got tickets to multiple events.”

Lord Coe urged fans to re-apply saying that those applicants who missed out on tickets in the first round will get priority in the second round. “There are over two million Olympic tickets still available at a wide range of prices and our objective is to get as many of the original applicants to the Games as possible,” he said.

Released pricing figures show 1.5 million tickets at £50 or less, one million at £20 or less. Locog announced that most applications were for four to five tickets totalling £275. The ceremonies, cycling, gymnastics, diving, and swimming events are already sold out.

Female followers of fashion refused to let the wet weather make Royal Ascot a wash-out today.

Bold hats and extravagant dresses needed only brief protection as the sun eventually broke through the clouds in the afternoon.

Some ladies decided to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Royal Ascot using the outfits. Six friends wore hats shaped like birds as a tribute to 18th century fashion.

Some racegoers decided to pay tribute to the 300th anniversary of the famous Berkshire racecourse with their choice of outfit. Ann-Marie Sawdon, who travelled from Stockon-on-Tees and chose a hat shaped like a dove said: “Our friend is a milliner, and as we’re celebrating 300 years of Ascot we decided to go for a bird theme.
“In times gone by it was the fashion to wear stuffed birds on your head, so we decided to do the same – only not with real birds.”

Paula Iachetti-Gibson, 52, from Milan decided upon an extravagant wide-brimmed creation with a veil. It featured a caged toy rabbit, leaves, eggs, butterflies, and was topped off by the number 300. She said: said: “I wanted to make the hat in honour of the Queen, and my own country, Argentina, which is represented with the nature on it. It only took me one day, I made it yesterday.”

One woman, named Miss Ballooniverse, even pre-empted the weather by wearing a hat made completely of balloons. She even had an umbrella made using the same medium. She said: “I made the umbrella just as I was leaving the house. I would have been soaked to the skin otherwise.

Graham Taylor, former England boss, claimed today that FIFA officials encouraged him to make false expenses claims.

Taylor was manager of the England team between 1990 and 1993 and it is during this period that he claims he was egged on to claim expenses from FIFA for costs that were already covered by the Football Association (FA).

Taylor outlined the claims in his column for the Daily Express:

“For my first (technical committee) meeting I flew to Zurich and the cost of my flight was met by the FA.
“We had a meeting in the morning and in the afternoon and in between we had a five-star lunch. Prior to the five-star dinner the evening before flying home we were paid our expenses that amounted to about £100 per day.

“We formed a queue to claim our money and I was asked by a colleague on the committee what I was claiming for.

‘My 750 Swiss francs’, I said, to which the reply was a laughing query: ‘What about your flights? Your taxis? And anything else you can get away with?’

“Then I was further informed that everybody did this – whether their own association had paid for their flights or not. The next step, apparently, was to open a bank account in Switzerland and put all of the money claimed in it. I was informed that over the years I would have a more than tidy sum of money in my Swiss account.

“I was about eight months into my England job and I was petrified that, should the FA – or even the England press – find out, my life would not be worth living. I just claimed my 750.”

Bloomsbury insolvency expert has paid out £11,000 for Olympics tickets, after
talking over the cost with his wife.

Stephen Hunt, 42, originally applied for £36,000 worth of tickets for the 2012
Games, but was not expecting to make such a huge payment. There was initially not
enough money in his account to cover the £11,000 payout, so Mr Hunt was forced to
make the ‘horrible choice’ between increasing his credit limit, or losing the tickets.

The father-of-free from Hertfordshire said:

‘I checked my card and there was no debit and then I received a helpful email from
the ticket agency saying we’ve tried to take money, it’s been refused but we’ll give
you a second chance.

We agreed to go for it. We contacted our bank and the bank agreed to increase. It’s
about double what I was hoping for.’

Speaking to the BBC, MR Hunt added: ‘I’d rather scrimp and save for a bit extra then
be disappointed.’

Around 250,000 Brits are thought to have missed out on Olympics tickets after last
night’s midnight cut-off, including a number of famous figures. Boris Johnson, the
Mayor of London, said he was ‘cheesed off’ after realising he had lost out in the
online ballot.

Bradley Wiggins, Olympic triple gold medal-winning cyclist, revealed on Twitter that
his family had also lucked out: ‘No Olympic tickets for the wife and kids to watch
Team Pursuit. Oh well sorry kids going to have to watch dad on the telly!’

Fellow Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman replied that he had also missed out: ‘Same
here, nada’, he tweeted.

Olympic organiser Locog reported 20 million applications from 1.8 million people
bidding for 6.6 million public tickets.

Olympic organisers today announced that the Olympic torch relay would start in
Land’s End and travel as far north as the Outer Hebrides. The torch will arrive in
Cornwall from Greece exactly one year from today and continue for 70 days until the
opening ceremony of the Games on July 27, 2012. Members of the public can apply
to be one of the 8,000 torchbearers who will carry the Olympic Flame on its 8,000-
mile journey.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said:

‘The Olympic Flame will shine a light right across every nation and region of the UK
and showcase the very best of who we are and where we live. The first locations on
the route confirmed today give a flavour of the reach the Olympic Torch Relay will
have around the UK and how extensive the opportunity for starting to celebrate the
London 2012 Olympic Games will be.’

Organisers aim to bring the torch within an hour’s travel time of 95% of the
population, including visits to Dublin, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Shetland,
Orkney and the Isle of Lewis.

Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said: ‘The Olympic Torch Relay brings London
2012 to the doorsteps of the UK giving everybody the chance to celebrate the
London Games. It’s a magnificent showcase for the country and a chance to mark the
achievements of inspirational people in our communities.’

There will be no international torch relay in 2012 after the controversial Beijing
torch relay in 2008, where protesters used the event to demonstrate against China’s
human rights abuses.

Britain’s IOC member Craig Reedie believes that making the relay a domestic event
will benefit the Olympics:

‘People used the torch as an opportunity for protest when it should really be an
opportunity for peaceful celebration.

‘That’s why the decision was taken by the IOC to make it a domestic relay only and I
think that can only benefit London and Britain.’

The fierce debate over celebrity super-injunctions has hit new heights today after
Gabby Logan forcibly denied rumours that she had an affair with Alan Shearer.

There has been speculation on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook
that the BBC sports presenter had obtained a gagging order to prevent details of the
alleged relationship being made public, but Logan, 38, has condemned the rumours
as ‘devastating and hurtful’.

The BBC host of Final Score, who has two children with husband and former Scotland
rugby international Kenny Logan, said her reputation had been damaged by false
allegations that she had been unfaithful. She said: ‘I’m a happily married and faithful
wife.

‘It is devastating and hurtful that malicious lies can be circulated on the internet
without control when people who genuinely do have something to hide can be
protected by court rulings.’

On Twitter Logan denied that she had sought a super-injunction: ‘I have never had
a need or desire to use one. It’s potentially damaging for free speech and would
appear to be a tool for the rich.’

Shearer, former England captain, also appears on the BBC at a Match of the Day
pundit. There are a growing number of celebrities being wrongly accused on the
internet as seeking gagging orders to stop extra-marital affairs coming to light.

Fellow BBC presenter Andrew Marr has admitted obtaining an injunction to protect
details of an affair. Another high-profile footballer was granted an order against The
Sun today, whilst the House of Commons yesterday heard a sitting MP is rumoured
to have taken legal action to stop a paper printing a story about his personal life.
There are currently more than 30 super-injunctions protecting details about the
private lives of British high-profile figures.