That is so incredibly cool!! What did you have to do to get picked to be there?
I was only there for something like 12 hours over three days, and I spend most of that time drinking Robinson’s Barley Water, rather than fetching things.
Being on net is harder, but not because of the job. It’s because you always wonder if the server is going to accidentally brain you. This fear was especially pronounced when Goran was serving, because he usually hit second serves nearly as hard as first serves, instead of doing a low-speed, high-percentage kick serve. In fact, he replaced Boris Becker as my favorite player, purely because he didn’t hit me.
I would probably have wet myself if someone with even more power and less control, like Richard Krajicek, was serving at me. In fact, Kracijek did hit one of the ball boys that year, and while he didn’t break anything, he had a bruise from wrist to shoulder.
At the moment, you have to go to one of these schools and be very well-behaved. My school (Blue Coat in Birmingham) is no longer on the list, sadly, and it looks like they’re all in London now. I think each school picks their ball kids themselves- I got to do it because I was top of my class that school year, but the whole rugby team and girls’ netball team got to go as well.
My niece goes to one of these schools, but she won’t be old enough for six years. That would be cool. 
Seth Meyers tweeted: “Mahut didn’t want it bad enough.”
I’ll repeat an earlier question.
What did they give the umpire and both Isner and Mahmut?
That’s really fascinating stuff. Does the barley water taste as vile as it looks and sounds? I think Tim Henman was the last guy who regularly drank the stuff.
By the way, the match between Michael Russell and The Great Fognini is turning into sort of an anti-Mahut/Isner epic. It’s 2-2 in the fifth set, and they’ve had 18 breaks of serve. Both guys have more errors than winners, and Fognini is trying to rally from a two-set deficit.
Meanwhile Robin Haase is making a nice effort against Nadal. Haase won the first set 7-5 before Nadal won the second in typical Nadal fashion, 6-2. They’re on serve early in the third.
Congratulations on being top of your class! I might have made more effort in school if being a ball kid was a potential reward!! (Ok, no I wouldn’t have)
I’ll be looking for your niece’s “Ask the Wimbledon ball girl” thread in 2016.
It’s quite popular in the UK, at least among kids. It tastes more or less like reconstituted orange drink, only the barley makes it a bit thicker (and significantly less refreshing).
They gave them a couple of different boxes. One looked like it might have had a crystal dish in it, the others were wrapped in paper and the players didn’t open them on the court.
Airbeds seem like the most appropriate gift. 
Did Isner drop out of doubles, then?
They’re still listed as active in the draw, which is updated live.
I can’t say for sure what they do at Wimbledon, but they do indeed rotate out frequently at the US Open. I would expect all the grand slams to do similarly.
Robin Haase (who?) up two sets to one over Nadal!!
They can’t possibly play today even if they don’t drop out. He is still on court, and just went up two sets to one against Ivan Dodig of Bosnia, and it’s 6:30 over there. Querrey should be able to finish this match but they wouldn’t send him right back out there, I don’t think.
Nadal just lost the third set against Haase, so he’s trailing and in trouble. The mustache is a good look for him, though.
The Great Fognini has completed another triumph in his London show La Breakable! He won the fifth set 6-3 shortly after finishing the 19th and final service break of the match. And Andy Murray’s older brother Jamie just lost a doubles match that went to 15-13 in the fifth.
I was paying attention to the lineswoman (somewhat) on the far right side. It looked like she got rotated out of the match, and then she was back in the calling the lines. I noticed that she was wearing sunglasses, and i couldn’t help but wonder if there was a special filter that you could put on lens that would help lines people to call the lines.
Nadal did a nice job of turning on the jets there - or Haase got tight. Probably both. Nadal won the fourth set 6-0 and took the fifth 6-3. It looks like Haase had a fantastic serving day, with 28 aces and 2 double faults. With the help of some good serving and that short fourth set, these two played five sets in 2:22. That means they could have played this match almost five times in the amount of time it took Isner to beat Mahut. They could have done this match three times in the Is-Mah fifth set alone, and then had an hour to spare.
Nadal will get Petzschner or Kubot next. He could be headed for a date with Isner, or much more likely Youzhny, in the fourth round.
Rose tinted lenses make it easier to differentiate between shades of green, and between white and green.
Longest boxing match ever: 110 rounds, 7 hours. I think this beats it. Anyone got an athletic sport that lasted for longer?
According to the BBC, “the pair were each presented with a crystal bowl and crystal champagne flutes by the All England Club to mark their historic match”.
I hope I didn’t miss this getting posted earlier, but the Guardian Wimbledon Live Blog of the epic match was hilarious. Seriously, the writer should win some sort of award for this.