Passing shots on a rainy day in Wimbledon

LONDON, June 26: While hearty stewards try to raise the soggy Wimbledon crowd's spirits with sing-songs and a Mexican wave, players stuck i...

LONDON, June 26: While hearty stewards try to raise the soggy Wimbledon crowd’s spirits with sing-songs and a Mexican wave, players stuck in rain-soaked SW19 have to find other ways to pass the time during long, damp delays.

Those waiting for their games to start can stoke up with energy-giving spaghetti and bananas in the players’ restaurant or play cards in the lounge.But for the dozens who know there is no chance of a game before the next low pressure front moves in from the west, the long hours in houses rented at excruciatingly inflated rates or in bleak hotel rooms need to be filled.

Many players list watching television as a hobby in their publicity handouts.But after their fill of chat shows and grainy tennis footage of the last British success at The Championships, daytime TV can wear rather thin.

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez says she enjoys shopping and judging by their publicity handouts she is likely to find several tour companions, cruising the up-market clothes stores and delicatessen of Wimbledon village.

Many will be looking for chocolate and pasta, two of the leading favourite foods the women admit to.

The men show less enthusiasm for shopping and more for playing cards and watching motor racing and football.

Most would prefer to be outside playing golf like Pete Sampras, fishing like Michael Chang or heading for the nearest beach, like Spaniard Marco Aurelio Gorriz.

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Women’s world No 1 Martina Hingis always tries to go horse riding and Martinez might be able to indulge her passion for big motorbikes when she comes here, but those who like ice-hockey, beach volleyball and other pursuits considered exotic in suburbia may have to give up and go back to the TV.

Quieter pastimes could be in order. France’s Mary Pierce can take to the backgammon board, Monica Seles might survey her collection of stuffed animals if she had room in her suitcase to bring them, and Nicole Arendt can go in search of a new miniature glass creatures to add to her stable.

But the luckiest on a damp afternoon are those who have something to really get their teeth into. Jeff Tarango, one of the tetchiest players on the circuit, thrown out of Wimbledon two years ago for abusing the umpire, admits to enjoying philosophy and creative writing.

Andrei Cherkasov bones up on Egyptian and Greek history and Polish teenager Magdalena Grzybowska likes nothing better than a sad movie.

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South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer sometimes drops the shopping in favour of studying languages, but Larisa Neiland of Latvia has chosen the most introverted cure for weather-induced boredom.

She is writing her autobiography.