Wimbledon diary: A call for reform and a dry fish pie

London, July 14: Kevin Anderson's incredible victory over John Isner dominated Friday (July 13) at Wimbledon.

Eighth seed Anderson booked his place in the final by winning the second longest match in the history of the championship, and, unsurprisingly, he doesn't fancy doing it again.

Hopefully Jamie Murray's grandmother was not watching or she will have had her dinner ruined for a second straight night.

And after England's heartbreak against Croatia at the World Cup, some payback was issued in an unlikely manner on Court 3. All this and more in the Wimbledon diary…

TITANIC PART TWO? NO THANKS

Anderson's victory over Isner was a gargantuan meeting between a pair of heavy-hitting six-footers that lasted over six hours.

The South African somehow found the reserves of energy required to complete a 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 26-24 triumph, but he certainly doesn't fancy having to do so again.

Anderson said: "Honestly, I really hope this is a bit of a sign for grand slams to change the five sets. For us to be out there for this length of time, not just on us but coming back and trying to compete at this stage...

"It's happened to John before and he's played another five hours. I really hope we can look at this and address this. At the end, you don't even feel that great out there."

Kevin Anderson vs John Isner. Officially the second longest singles match in Championships history.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/fGGHRQaqz7

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) 13 July 2018

NOT QUITE TRAINING PARTNERS

Ahead of their meeting in Saturday's final, Williams and Kerber took to the practice courts to prepare.

After a lengthy warm-up, the 36-year-old American went to work on net play in a private corner.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the facility, Kerber got straight down to practicing ground strokes from the baseline.

Given the distance between the duo, it's unlikely they witnessed anything that will give them any kind of tactical advantage.

Serena Williams is tucked away on a practice court ahead of tomorrow’s #Wimbledon final.

All the way over the other side - her opponent, Angelique Kerber.

Will there be a few sideways glances?@OmnisportNews pic.twitter.com/cK3lU0uXLw

— Tom Webber (@thwebber) 13 July 2018

DRY FISH PIE

Jamie Murray and Viktoria Azarenka fought back from a set down to win their mixed doubles quarter-final against Jean-Julien Roger and Demi Schurrs on Thursday 4-6 7-5 7-5.

The match lasted two hours and 23 minutes – not quite Anderson-Isner standards – and Murray's mother Judy revealed on Twitter that while his grandmother was proud the following day, she was still irked by the impact it had on her dinner.

I agree that a "dried up" fish pie will certainly make one's dinner "ruined".

Phoned my mum afterJamie’s mixed doubles match @Wimbledon last night.....
Me : that was a great comeback wasn’t it?
My mum : well yes. But he took so long that my fish pie dried up. Ruined our tea.

My glass half empty mother. pic.twitter.com/tcfeHqKunk

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 13, 2018

WORLD CUP REVENGE

After England were beaten 2-1 in extra time by Croatia in their first semi-final appearance in 28 years on Wednesday (July 11), Jeremy Bates and Andrew Castle restored a modicum of pride for Wimbledon's host nation two days later.

The duo beat Goran Ivanisevic and Mansour Brahimi 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in the second round of the gentlemen's senior invitational.

Not sure that quite makes up for the Three Lions' defeat in Russia, though…

Source: OPTA