From King Arthur to the Royal Box, Beckham gives Wimbledon the thumbs-up

How many players, passing the umpire in his elevated throne, eyes roughly level with the adjudicator’s ankles, have thought about yanking down the man’s socks and giving him a little tickle?

Tragically not many, but Fabio Fognini, Andy Murray’s opponent last night, is such a prankster. Among other examples of his on-court zaniness, he once paused between points on a baking hot day when he saw a female spectator in the front row about to pour herself a glass of champagne and probably not her first either. Thinking she was about to be served by the handsome Italian cameriere, the woman leaned forward to a precarious degree, almost tumbling out of her dress, whereupon Fognini delicately put a bottle of water to her lips.

“Health is the most important thing in life, together with love,” Fognini told

when he posed nude for the magazine to raise awareness of male cancer. Two of his seven tattoos were visible, including “NMM” for

– never

give up. Seven? Call that body art? The over-painted David Beckham, pictured, was in the Royal Box yesterday – inkwork mercifully covered up as decreed by SW19 etiquette – and the Diary wonders if he was moved to add to the extensive collection by his recent acting debut in

Maybe an image of the sword or its name written out. What was it called again … Execrable? The Diary’s favourite review of the film farrago remarked that Becks had shown “just enough dramatic range to have played the stone the sword got stuck in”. The first of our four Brits bidding to get into week two yesterday, Aljaz Bedene, lost in straight sets to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. He had a chance the previous evening to give himself an early advantage but didn’t take it.

Bedene has been dining almost exclusively at Sticks and Sushi in Wimbledon Village and on the eve of the third round found himself sharing tables with his opponent. Such is the snug communality of Japanese eating that one was almost on the other’s lap. “There were so many tennis players in there,” said the British No 4.

It was suggested to him that he should have dropped something in Muller’s food. “I tried to,” Bedene sighed, “but he’s too quick.”

by Aidan Smith