A round-up of other Wimbledon news in brief

No room at the inn for Pironkova

TSVETANA Pironkova, who lost in yesterday’s semi-final was forced to send out an SOS, when her London hotel informed her she could not stay any longer as she had made no reservation. The 22-year-old had only booked it for a few days in the certain expectation she would be out of the competition after the first or second round. The world number 82 had to seek assistance from the Bulgarian Embassy, who provided her with a room that befitted this week’s most famous sportsperson in Bulgaria.

Federer drops out of top two

WHAT NOW for the deposed champion? For the first time in eight years Roger Federer has found himself with an empty calendar for the first weekend in July. Not only will another player be wearing his Wimbledon crown on Sunday after the men’s final but on Monday morning he is scheduled to drop outside the top two in the ATP rankings for the first time since November 2003. The king of the court will be looking up at Rafael Nadal as the world number one and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic at number two.

K eothavong left wondering

THAT THE Williams sisters can be a little bit eccentric was illustrated this week by British player Anne Keothavong, who was guesting on 5 Live Sports Extra. She told a story from her game against Venus Williams on Centre Court in 2008. During the match Keothavong struck Venus on the face with a ball. A few weeks later on the practice courts in Stanford, California, Serena approached the British player and said: “I thought you were a nice girl.” A bit perplexed Keothavong replied “I am a nice girl.” But Serena persisted: “You made Venus’s ear bleed. I though you were a nice girl.” As she walked off the British player was left wondering whether she was serious or winding her up. She still doesn’t know.

Murray recalls Dunblane days

ANDY MURRAY was a pupil at Dunblane Primary School at the time Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and one adult in a crazed gun attack in 1996. The victims were in a younger age group class than Murray, but he has discussed his recollections of taking cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about the event in interviews.

But, in his autobiography, Hitting Back, today's semi-finalist says he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother Judy used to give Hamilton lifts in her car.