WIMBLEDON, England(AP) If Roger Federer's performances at Wimbledon weren't already the stuff of poetry, they certainly will be this year.
The All England Club said Tuesday it has appointed a ``Championships Poet'' to write a poem per day to sum up the matches and atmosphere of the the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
British comedian and poet Matt Harvey has been tasked with writing the poems on all things Wimbledon,'' which the All England Club said includes everythingfrom umpires and racket stringers to the ball boys and ball girls; from the grass and its bounce to rain and the roof; strawberries and cream and all the unfolding drama of the matches and players.''
The poems will be made available on the Wimbledon website in text format during the June 21-July 4 tournament and as an audio podcast read by Harvey.
Harvey, who regularly appears on British radio shows, said I'm delighted'' by the assignment,with a little bit of healthy anxiety thrown in.''
It's an honor,'' Harvey said.And I'm acutely conscious it's the only time I'll come first in anything at Wimbledon, unless you count the queue for strawberries.''
The idea of a Championships Poet came from Honor Godfrey, the curator of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, who said it will ``provide a novel and interesting way'' of interpreting the tournament.
``It will be fascinating to see both Matt's take on what we see year in year out, and indeed the public's reaction to the poems,'' Godfrey said.
Harvey has already written his first Wimbledon poem, called ``Grandest of Slams,'' which is available on the website of The Poetry Trust, a British organization that is collaborating on the project with the All England Club.
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Online:
www.thepoetrytrust.org