A coachload of royals – perhaps a “carriageload” is more appropriate – embellished the Royal Box on Monday. Their Royal Highnesses The Duchess of Edinburgh and The Duchess of Gloucester were joined by King Frederik X of Denmark, a keen player and supporter of his nation’s racket sport talents.
All England Club Chair Deborah Jevans’ guests on Day 8 also included royal in-laws Michael and Carole Middleton, parents of the Club’s patron, The Princess of Wales.
There was great excitement to see tennis monarchy in the dapper form of Roger Federer back in the bosom of his Wimbledon admirers and reunited with the Middletons, who are family friends. The undisputed King of Grass arrived with his wife Mirka, who honoured the player dress code in a chic white cut-out dress.
The seats might be sumptuously comfortable up there in the prime viewing area, but one has to wonder whether the Swiss maestro, the record-breaking eight-time Wimbledon champion, might feel a tiny bit pained to watch his longtime rival Novak Djokovic walk out to play the Australian No.11 seed Alex de Minaur in his campaign to equal Fed's own record on the grass of SW19.
Do recently retired great players suffer the equivalent of back-seat driving in the
Royal Box? If Federer’s shoulders were twitching with phantom backswings and his feet
dancing nimbly with footwork drills, he had King of Swing, Sir James “Jimmy” Anderson,
to compare notes with.
The cricketer, who holds the record for the most wickets taken by a fast bowler in Test cricket and the third most wickets in international cricket, retired last summer from England duty, though he still winds up that formidable right arm for Lancashire.
Anderson was among distinguished peers from that other historic sport contested on grass that dresses primarily in an all-white kit. A round of applause please for Joe Root, currently the leading run-scorer among all active batters in men's Test cricket, and Mark Nicholas, Chair of the Marylebone Cricket Club, which has its palatial home at Lord’s.
MCC members are instantly recognised by their official “egg and bacon” tie, nicknamed for the scarlet and gold colours, not for breakfast predilections.
However, cricketers might be reassured to know that the Royal Box Afternoon Tea menu does showcase variations on that fare in its sandwich selection: Burford Brown eggs feature with cress mayonnaise and Baked Yorkshire ham with English mustard.
Fellow guests who certainly cut the mustard in stellar sporting credentials included Imogen Grant, the British lightweight world champion and Olympic gold medallist in the women’s lightweight double sculls, and Kenny Logan. The former Scottish rugby union player accompanied his wife, Gabby, who was on a break from presenting live coverage of the Women’s Euros in Switzerland.
The former competitive rhythmic gymnast has specialist expertise in assessing the hyper-athletic lunges, dives and inside-outside forehands for which Djokovic would most likely be countering the agility of De Minaur, aka “Speed Demon”.
Grand Slam fourth round matches are serious launch pads for players’ careers, rankings and potential sponsorship deals. Personality-wise, the contest between the driven teenage star Mirra Andreeva and the single-minded American No.10 seed Emma Navarro promised a tableau of intensity for spectators.
Who better to look towards to relieve the tension than stand-up comedian Michael McIntyre? His memorable skit on ‘too much faffing in tennis’ humorously parodied players’ pre-serve routines.
Sir Lenny Henry, a returning Royal Box guest, arrived this year as a mascot of underdogs at The Championships. The co-founder of Comic Relief has most recently played a Hobbit-like character in the TV adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, called The Rings of Power.
“Traditionally, the little people in this world provide comedy but also get to be incredibly brave,” he said in previewing his LOTR character. “You’re going to see us run the full gamut of emotions and actions in this adventure.”
Anyone who faces Jannik Sinner in his current form has to be considered the underdog, though fans of No.19 seed Grigor Dimitrov, now considered a veteran at 34 but once hailed as Baby Fed for his elegantly stylish play, might disagree.
Notable racket-wielders of the past included Roger Taylor, a former British No.1 and three-time Wimbledon semi-finalist who famously beat 17-year-old Bjorn Borg in the quarter-finals in 1973 at the height of Borg mania.
Despite Taylor’s hard-won five-set victory – and his matinee-idol looks (he had previously auditioned for Sean Connery’s replacement as James Bond) – he slipped unheralded out of Centre Court while the defeated Borg was mobbed by hordes of teenybopper fans and press photographers.
Taylor's peer and fellow Grand Slam singles semi-finalist, the Flying Dutchman Tom Okker – a notable exponent of topspin in his day (and 1969 Wimbledon doubles finalist) – was also on hand to take a close look at the extraordinarily consistent Sinner forehand.
Leon Smith, the captain of the Great Britain Davis Cup team who led the team to victory 10 years ago, completed the cohort of decorated tennis folk.