Why is the car a star?

THE All England Club, who traditionally frowned on any form of commercialism, are now embracing it more by the year. Having said that, only relevant supply contractors have logos on the show courts — Slazenger (equipment), Rolex (timing), IBM (stats and service speed) plus Evian. Jaguar has also appeared at this tournament, although transport is nothing to do with court-related sponsorships. A spokesman said confusingly that Jaguar related to speed.

Meanwhile, the All England Club have had to reveal their astonishing £154m turnover from last year’s Championships because the tournament has been hived off as a limited company. But they have no intention of any extra transparency around their private members club business, which remains as secretive as ever. CLARE BALDING has reacted to the savaging of her Wimbledon highlights show — now thankfully doing what it’s supposed to do from a proper studio after the weight of public opinion forced a rethink — with cheery good nature, at least in public. Not so BBC tennis executive producer Paul Davies, who admitted on his Beeb blog that he’s responsible for programme strategy. When he crossed paths with your Sports Agenda columnist on the outside courts, the snub was total and his anguished expression one of total disdain. YOU would expect Wimbledon media centre to respect the minute’s silence to mark the 10th anniversary of 7/7. But two Italian journalists were talking throughout, saying afterwards that they did not understand English.