Wimbledon diary: Facebook serves up a success

Contrary to the commonly held belief that British tennis struggles to move with the times, the internet age is primarily the reason why we can at least rejoice in the achievement of a pair reaching Wimbledon's Mixed Doubles quarter-finals.

Gone are the days it seems when one player would simply walk up to another on the practice courts and ask if they fancied a little hit and giggle in the mixed. Perhaps it was down to the fact she was so disheartened by losing emphatically in the opening round of the ladies singles, but Mel South was so bashful that she resorted to the friendship website Facebook to ask Alex Bogdanovic if he would consider playing.

Now of course Boggo, as he is known to the inner circle of British tennis players, is not quite a catch in the Federer/ Nadal/ Roddick/ Djokovic bracket but Miss South was more than delighted with the news and the subsequent success has been more than rewarding.

"It's quite embarrassing how we came about playing," admitted South who briefly was a national heroine at last year's Wimbledon by beating 11th seed Francesca Schiavone but suffered a spate of first round losses early this year, failing to win a match in the qualifying competitions for either of the other grand-slam tournaments in Australia and France. "We've known each other for quite a while but I didn't know whether he would be interested in playing mixed so rather than ask him face to face I sent a message on Facebook. And the answer came back yes, which was great."

Rewarding certainly. Before a ball was hit in the tournament, the New Malden-based 21-year-old's earnings in prize money for the year stood at little more than £9,000. But after pocketing the £10,000 on offer to first round losers in the singles, despite winning only five games against the experienced Japanese Ai Sugiyama, she and Bogdanovic are another £10,300 richer with an extra £12,200 waiting if they make it through the semi-finals. Looking any further forward might be viewed as presumptuous but there is a little bit of history on their side and it is 20 years since Britain last had mixed doubles champions; Jo Durie and Jeremy Bates lifting the trophy in 1987.

South and Bogdanovic moved through to the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 13th seeds Roger Wassen of the Netherlands and Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan. The victory followed on from the British twosome's initial win over the German pair of Benjamin Becker and Anna-Lena Groenefeld and one of the upsets of the tournament against the top seeds, Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond.

And the run has certainly been educational for Bogdanovic got the taste for playing doubles when he paired up with former world No 1 Marat Safin at the Artois Championships at London's Queen's Club. A distinct mixed doubles virgin, he'd never previously had experience of playing in the company of females and required a little acclimatisation. "I didn't know really what to expect and wondered whether it was the right thing to hit the ball at the girl player," he said.

South is a fellow novice to mixed doubles play at Wimbledon but she responded with some hard talking. "I told him not to be a wuss and to hit it at the girl player as hard as he could. I think he got the message pretty quickly."

For South this competition has proved an unexpected chance to bask in some glory although next week it is back to the mundane routine of the lower reaches of the ladies tour. After revelling in the experience of playing on Centre Court against Bryan and Raymond and then following Nadal onto Court No 2, she is scheduled to head for Felixstowe for a minor tournament next week.

Bogdanovic is destined for slightly more exotic climes. He is set to play in Newport, Rhode Island, home of tennis's International Hall of Fame where one of the new inductees next week will be Pete Sampras. "I was supposed to fly out tomorrow, but of course I've cancelled. Still I've earned enough in the mixed this week not to bother about it.2

Britain's other interest in the mixed doubles lies with Jamie Murray who won through to the third round along with Jelena Jankovic. But the Serbo-Scottish pairing were held up by rain in their bid to also reach the quarter finals.
*  Best of luck to both pairs:  here's hoping for a three-quarters British semi-final!