A nail-biting British battle

Emma Raducanu once lost all her toenails playing tennis. Some of Andy Murray’s have dropped off in matches. That tells you more about tennis than any manicure ever will. 

Katie Boulter’s painted, Wimbledon-themed fingernails – decorated with mini strawberries and the All England Club colour scheme of green and purple – are a bit of fun, which is why they have been getting some attention. But you shouldn’t be thinking that preparing for The Championships centres on popping into a nail bar in Wimbledon Village.

This is a brutal sport. Expect Boulter’s second round match against Harriet Dart – a meeting of the two leading British female players – to be an illustration of the intensity required on the grass. Seeded at Wimbledon for the first time, Boulter is trying to make the last 32 for a third year in a row. 

Scots serving up a treat

There’s a Monty Python sketch about a blancmange that almost wins Wimbledon by ensuring its opponents are from Scotland, “well known as the worst tennis nation on Earth”.

It’s a joke that will look even more outdated on Thursday when three Scotsmen play on Centre Court, starting with wild card Jacob Fearnley, who faces seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round of the gentlemen’s singles.

Later, Murray will do something new for his Wimbledon finale, partnering his elder brother Jamie in the doubles when they play the Australian duo of Rinky Hijikata and John Peers in the opening round. 

Box office Ostapenko

Steve Carell knows his tennis. The American actor played Bobby Riggs in ‘The Battle of the Sexes’ about the 1973 exhibition in Houston, with Emma Stone as Billie Jean King.

Visiting the All England Club the other day, Carell disclosed that his favourite player is Jelena Ostapenko, a former Roland-Garros champion and past Wimbledon semi-finalist. Perhaps, the Latvian has said, that’s because of her emotional, expressive nature, which might look as though she’s “acting in a movie”.

Another reason – and this should be evident when she plays Ukraine’s Daria Snigur in the second round – could be that she likes to go for her shots. Ostapenko is seemingly incapable of playing a boring tennis match. Carell and Ostapenko aren’t that different; they’re both well aware they’re in the entertainment business. 

Back-to-back Brits

Even before the first can of balls is opened on Thursday, we already know that there will be British interest in the third round of both the ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles. Boulter against Dart will be followed on No.1 Court by Jack Draper versus Cameron Norrie.

As with the women, this match features the two highest ranked men from Britain - Draper is the new British No.1 and seeded at Wimbledon for the first time while Norrie, a former semi-finalist here, is unseeded this summer. 

Wild card watch

When you see ‘W’ in brackets next to someone’s name in the draw it stands for ‘wild card’ but for a quartet of women this summer it could also mean ‘winner of a Grand Slam’.

Four of the wild cards in the ladies’ singles have been awarded to former Grand Slam champions, with Raducanu, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki all given one. Wozniacki, a former Australian Open champion and world No.1, is playing at Wimbledon for the first time in five years, having retired and then un-retired. The Dane faces Canadian Leylah Fernandez, a former US Open finalist, for a place in the third round.