A round up of today's other stories in brief...

Transport going down the tubes

THOUSANDS OF Wimbledon fans endured nightmare journeys to the championships yesterday after services were suspended on three Tube lines.

One of the lines where trains were halted was the District, whose stops include Southfields and Wimbledon - the two stations which serve the championships.

The problem - due to faulty communication equipment - also led to the suspension of the Hammersmith City line and the Circle line.

Talk not cheap for LTA's Phillips

BRUCE PHILLIPS, the Lawn Tennis Association's communications chief, has now established a burgeoning empire that includes media, commercial and events.

The canny businessman hopes to deliver a €32 million umbrella sponsor for the LTA by Christmas and has said that a number of companies are in talks.

Armitray has service down to a tea

THINGS ARE quite rightly less pressurised on the senior tour. Vijay Amritraj, who once appeared in a James Bond movie, was partnered by Gene Mayer earlier in this week's doubles event for old geezers. Midway through their match against Britain's Jeremy Bates and Anders Jarryd, Amritraj had a tray of tea delivered to Centre Court.

The elegant Indian then proceeded to make a call on his mobile phone before the umpire politely reminded him he was in the middle of a match.

Mauresmo to miss Olympics

FORMER WORLD number one Amelie Mauresmo said yesterday she would not play in the Beijing Olympics next month to concentrate on preparing for the US Open.

The 28-year-old twice grand slam winner lost to Serena Williams in the third round here last week after struggling with a knee injury in the built up to the tournament. The US Open begins on August 25th.

Nottingham event may be scrapped

THE LTA are planning to scrap their Nottingham tournament in order to beef up Eastbourne into a men's and women's event to be held the week before Wimbledon begins, when many big names will want to tune up their grass court games. However, given the Williams' attitude to practising on grass, maybe they won't.

Soft drink gives Nadal hard edge

THERE HAS been much made of Andy Murray's biceps growth spurt. When he posed after beating Richard Gasquet last Monday night, he had indeed added a few centimetres onto his arms but was still in the ha'penny place compared to Rafael Nadal.

And how does Nadal get his muscles big and the fizz into his game? Why 7-Up. "7-Up, that's all he ever drinks" said a barman in the players' restaurant.

Jay-Z kept under raps

SOMETIMES WHEN it rains at Wimbledon, stars have been known to take up the microphone and entertain the crowd with some of their best known hits. Cliff Richard was one such crooner.

Just as well the delays weren't too bad this week as Jay-Z had made his way from headlining Glastonbury to watch some tennis. One can only guess what the All England Club would have thought had the rapper banged out one of his favourites such as 2 Many Hoes.