A round-up from the All-England Club.

Impressive operation

WHAT NORMALLY impresses people when they first arrive at Wimbledon is the breadth of the operation. The Centre Court is just a small part of the All England Club, which drew in 40,881 people on Thursday.

The Broadcast Centre is 5,000 square metres and the BBC acts as host broadcaster to more than 30 other international networks in what has become the largest annual outside broadcast operation in the world.

They also commit to nine courts, which amounts to nine separate outside broadcast operations.

Not the same without the rain

IT WAS a good week weather wise in London, where no matches have been lost to rain so far.

But the covers were finally pulled at 12.55pm yesterday, just five minutes before the matches in the bigger courts were due to start.

The heavy shower arrived less than an hour after announcements over the public address system informed people that there was a 30 per cent chance of rain.

Eaton says goodbye for 'Hello'

CHRIS EATON, the plucky Brit who was beaten on Thursday by Dmitry Tursunov, had an important decision to make yesterday.

He was due to arrive in Dublin over the weekend for the Shelbourne Irish Open Challenger at Fitzwilliam.

But having starred for two rounds at Wimbledon in tandem with having a girlfriend, Emma, who happens to be a model, he was asked to do a two-page spread in Hellomagazine.

Goodbye Dublin, Hellomagazine.

Alien bet better than British odds

THERE HAS been a spate of UFO sightings this week around England, which have attracted a significant amount of interest in the tabloids. Never ones to miss an opportunity, bookies Skybet have added a Wimbledon twist by offering odds of 200 to 1 for an alien spacecraft to land on Centre Court during this year's championships.

To the British tennis establishment's horror, the odds for a British woman to win Wimbledon in the next five years is 250 to 1.

Clement keeps options open 

ARNAUD CLEMENT, who has also entered Dublin's €47,645 ATP Challenger event, is probably hoping he won't make it to Fitzwilliam.

Because that means he is doing well in London.

The Frenchman is still in the Wimbledon draw and faces Austrian, Jurgen Meltzer, in the third round today. If he wins that match he'll have Sunday off as there is no play scheduled and then he'll play the fourth round on Monday, which is when the main draw action begins in Fitzwilliam.