I have to stand up for the corporate hospitality lot at the tennis. Yes it was a lot at Queens, rather too much in my opinion, but actually it serves as a really nice day out for people who work incredibly hard (Ok not all are in that boat, but many are). You can't compare a corporate day at the tennis with one at the rugby, the tennis goes on for a full 6-10 hours (11am till 8pm isn't unusual early in the tournament at Wimbers) whereas a rugby match will be over and done with in 2 hours. On top of that a single tennis match might take anything from 1hour to 5 hours. You just can't compare the two. And frankly what is wrong with people being taken out by their company (or another company) for a lovely meal, some pimms (maybe) and a chance to watch some tennis, and to include a bit of work in between? A conversation about the economy (as a random example) at change of ends between two buisness associates is no different to a conversation I might have with my mum about the book I've just read. For that matter, why on earth do us "real fans" have to scorn someone who dresses up for a day at the tennis? Does that mean I'm not allowed to look nice to watch tennis?

I'll agree that Queens doesn't have the balance right, I think Wimbledon has it slightly better. And I'll agree that tennis shouldn't be as middle class a sport as it currently is, but that's not the fault of the hospitality people.

You all need to remember that actually, we are the minority when it comes to tennis fans across the world - ie even though most football grounds are full every match, no where near all of them have the same interest/knowledge of football as we posters do of tennis. Also, the price of the ticket...yes I'd love it to be less (I'm a poor student, of course I want it cheaper) but actually when compared with a ticket for a single football match (2 hours) it's pretty good when you remember that's a whole day's worth of tennis. You get your money's worth.

Finally, maybe we are a country of 2 week tennis fans, but actually the attendance at Wimbledon is fantastic, I was watching good quality matchs at the FO this year and the stands were more than half empty, at Wimbers, the stands are normally full, with just a few hospitality seats empty some of the time. And I don't begrudge those seats, they are an important part of the way business works, you can resent that all you want but actually building relationships between business partners is really important and why shouldn't that be allowed to take place at the tennis?

Hmm, this post has turned out longer than I was intending but I wanted to say it all so I'm going to leave it. I will just close with one thing I agree totally on...down with Andrew Castle!!