MEN’S Final day at Wimbledon and we have a Murray on Centre Court this afternoon.
Not Andy Murray, but his elder brother Jamie in the Mixed Doubles Final.
No-one is more amazed that the young Scot and his Serb partner, world No 3 Jelena Jankovic.
Local hero Jamie, 21, is aiming to become the first British title winner at Wimbledon since Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie won the mixed doubles in 1987.
“When I got to Wimbledon on the first Monday, I didn’t expect that I’d be playing a match on Centre Court on Sunday, especially in mixed doubles,” he said last night.
Asked what it meant to him to reach a Wimbledon final before his brother, Jelena sparked laughter when she interrupted: “He’s going to be jealous, big time.”
Jamie added: “I hope so. I guess nobody thought I would get to a Wimbledon final before him.
“But it happens – he’ll have to work harder.”
It was a memorable day for Jamie and Jelena yesterday.
First they conquered ninth seeds Marcin Matkowski and Cara Black in three sets, to the delight of a packed Court 3 crowd, revelling in the sunshine.
After a short break, they were out again – but this time on Centre Court.
Watched again by millions of TV viewers, they defeated 11th seeds Elena Likhovtseva and Daniel Nestor in another highly entertaining encounter which finished at 8.11pm.
There’s been much speculation about the nature of the relationship between Jamie and Jelena, who told her partner last night: “I gave you a hundred million smiles today.”
After he confirmed that he had invited her to Scotland for Christmas, she said: “I didn’t think he meant it seriously.
“Now it’s serious. OK, I’ll think about it.”
Jamie: “She’s playing hard to get.”
Jelena: “He’s trying too hard, though. But we’re having a lot of fun. It’s a great game that we are playing.”
The identity of their rivals in today’s final is not yet known.
The other semi-final is still to be played – it starts on Court 13 at noon.
Jamie and Jelena didn’t pair up for the mixed doubles until the second day of the tournament, and then almost by accident.
“We kind of turned up at the same time in the morning,” explained Jamie.
“It was meant to be, I think,” smiled Jelena.
“Destiny,” added Jamie.
With a Brit in the final, the Mixed Doubles is, obviously, the focus of attention today.
As Jamie said: “A Wimbledon final is a Wimbledon final.”
But there also appears to be a degree of interest from the international media in some other contest before the main event.
Two chaps called Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the warm up act for Jamie and Jelena.
It seems Swiss gentleman Roger is hoping to equal Bjorn Borg’s record of five successive Wimbledon men’s singles titles.
Meanwhile Spanish challenger Rafael aims to spoil the party, having lost to the same player last year.
“Sure, he’s the favourite. No-one have any doubts about this,” Mr Nadal said yesterday.
“But I going to try my best, no?”
The sun is beating down here this morning.
It’s going to be a great day.