Wild card is no ace

Days like this when the crowd tries to gee-up a no-hoper and you think if only Ireland had come up with the idea of a world tennis event 100 years ago. Colcannon in the press diner, a Guinness pavilion and at least 10 players in action. In that scenario we'd be able to see matches like Andre Agassi's first game of the tournament against Britain's Jamie Delgado. Yesterday was wild-card Delgado's sixth Wimbledon. All but one of his visits have been as a wild card. He does not merit it on international rankings and he does not have to go through the qualification event at Roehampton. He's just told to bring his bags and to expect at least £8,630 for a first round defeat.

Delgado's first-round loss at the Nottingham event, which took place just before Wimbledon, was the 456th-ranked player's only tour-standard match this season, which is far from the level of Ireland's Peter Clarke. The Irish number one, who lost in the second round of this year's qualification tournament, is rated 285 in the world and has a higher ranking than all but one of the British wild cards, 180th-ranked Arvind Parmar.

Rubin retreats

Chanda Rubin, the American star who impressively retained her Eastbourne title last week, showed some neat footwork and made a good call when, at an adjacent table in a restaurant, the subject of glamour girl Anna Kournikova's lack of on-court success came up.

Chanda was having dinner with her coach when a large group of diners nearby elected one of their number to make a speech thanking the tennis tournament sponsors who had brought them out to dinner.

Soon the Anna jokes were rolling out including the one about her endorsing another new sports bra - the one that has plenty of support but no cups.

As the somewhat forced chuckles died down and dozens of eyes turned to Rubin, she pushed back her empty plate, called for the bill and said: "Time I wasn't here I think . . ." And with that she and her coach slipped quietly away into the night.

Dokic on tour

Where do you come from my lovely? It is a question for Jelena Dokic, the world number 12, which the Women's Tour Association really should be asking.

Belgrade-born Dokic is still listed officially as from "Yugoslavia" but, of course, there is no such place any more since the Serbian war and the break-up of the republics. And, yes, there is a new football team name, Serbia and Montenegro, officially recognised by FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.

But a WTA spokeswoman said: "We have heard nothing from the International Tennis Federation about this nationality question and so Dokic will continue to be listed as from Yugoslavia until we have an official directive."

The same applies, of course, to other Wimbledon 2003 entrants from the country like Vanja Corovic, Ana Ivanovic and Vojislava Lukic, but the often-temperamental Dokic has always seemed to be struggling to find her identity.

Not so long ago she was, in tennis terms, officially Australian after she and her family emigrated there from her war-torn homeland.

But a huge row with the tennis authorities Down Under when Jelena's notorious dad, Damir, accused them of treating her "disrespectfully" resulted in another change of allegiance.

Ironically, Jelena has since split with her father and also sacked two coaches in the last year. She is currently under the charge of a Croat.

She is rumoured to spend some of her off-court existence in the tax-haven of Monte Carlo but refuses to confirm information of that "private" nature. Whatever the case, her voice has now lost the broad Aussie accent it once had and she now speaks English with a typical mid-Eastern European accent.

Boys from Brazil

You have to feel sorry for Scotsman Alan Mackin - and not just because he was the first Brit out of Wimbledon. He could not even win the battle for support in his first-round exit to Brazil's Flavio Saretta.

Mackin might have regarded it as a good omen when he avoided unlucky-for-some Court 13 which housed compatriots, Lucie Ahl, Arvind Parmar and Lee Childs on the opening day.

But Court 14 was even worse - packed with Brazilian fans wearing their country's famous yellow football shirts.

So the huge cheers that were heard from outside whenever a point was won were not for the home hope at all. Yet another sad commentary on the state of the game in Britain.

Going bananas

The tournament's overnight queuers were given a fruity experience to mark the start of the championships, awaking to a barrage of free bananas hurled from a passing lorry in a retailer's promotion.

A Calypso band also serenaded them and a good time was had by all.

But nobody has yet discovered the significance - if any - of the motorised settee which was the next "vehicle" to pass by the happy campers.