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Rafa's royal snub

ESPN staff
June 22, 2011
Bethanie Mattek-Sands lives up to her reputation as tennis' answer to Lady Gaga © PA Photos
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ESPN.co.uk will be providing live scores and analysis from Wimbledon throughout the tournament.

Wimbledon Day Three Gallery
Men's round-up: Nadal marches on
Women's round-up: Venus scrapes through

By a whisker
At 6-6 in the first-set tiebreak, Kimiko Date-Krumm's instinctive volley at the net appeared to brush the line. The linejudge called the ball in, but Venus disagreed and made her first challenge of the match. Hawkeye deemed the call stood - but by a millimetre. The Japanese veteran went on to clinch the following point to seal the opening set.

Beach tennis
Serving for the opening set against Williams, Date-Krumm responded to serving back-to-back double faults by grabbing set point, albeit slightly fortuitously. After an exchange of volleys that looked more like a game of bat-and-ball on the beach, Date-Krumm smashed the winner to snatch set point.

Royal snub
When defending champion Rafael Nadal kicked off his second-round match against Ryan Sweeting, there was not a single person in the Royal Box on Centre Court. With fans queuing overnight in a bid to see their idol in action, perhaps the esteemed guests would be kind enough to give their seats up for some real tennis fans.

Taunting the fashion police
Bethanie Mattek-Sands is perhaps better known for her unusual fashion sense than her tennis ability, and the American lived up to her reputation, entering Court 14 with a jacket to rival Venus Williams' toga-inspired outfit. While dressed entirely in white, Mattek-Sands risked tournament organisers' wrath with a fringed jacket adorned with silver studs and 12 blanched tennis balls down the sleeves. The rules stipulate that "any competitor who appears on court dressed in a manner which is deemed unsuitable by the Committee will be liable to be defaulted." "I'm not hitting any balls in it," Mattek-Sands insisted. "Don't worry ... It's too heavy to wear." As it happened, she crashed out in three sets to Misaki Doi, so any defaults were unnecessary.

Juan Martin del Potro hurls his shoes into the crowd © Getty Images
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Sixteen and counting
He may be a long way behind matching Novak Djokovic's 43-match unbeaten run, but Rafael Nadal's perfect Wimbledon streak now stands at 16. The defending champion hasn't lost at SW19 since he was beaten by Roger Federer in the 2007 final. He claimed the title in 2008 before missing out on the chance to defend his crown the following year on account of injury, but he was back on top of the pile in 2010, defeating Tomas Berdych in the showpiece. The Spaniard looks set to be the man to beat once again, after demolishing Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6-3 6-2 6-4 on Wednesday under the roof on Centre Court. Vamos Rafa.

Smashing time
Finding himself one game away from defeat against Mardy Fish, it all got too much for Denis Istomin, and the Uzbek smashed his racket on the ground in frustration. Istomin clearly didn't know his own strength though, as it shattered.

Who throws a shoe?
While Istomin vented his frustration on his tennis racket, Juan Martin del Potro took a slightly more unorthodox approach. After narrowly losing the opening set on a tiebreak to Belgium's Olivier Rochus, Del Potro removed his shoes and walked to the net, asking for the match to be suspended due to darkness. The tournament referee agreed, prompting the Argentine the hurl both shoes into the crowd.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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