Wimbledon has appointed an official poet for this year's Championships. Matt Harvey will write poems about the tournament during the Wimbledon fortnight that will be published online in written and audio form.
His first effort is as follows:
Grandest of Slams
-- Matt Harvey
Excuse me. I’m sorry. I speak as an Englishman
For the game of lawn tennis there’s no better symbol than
The place where the game’s flame was sparked and then kindled in
Where so many spines have sat straight and then and tingled in
Wimbledon
Where strawberries and cream have traditionally been sampled in
Kids’ eyes have lit up and their cheeks have been dimpled in
Wimbledon
Where tough tennis cookies have cracked and then crumbled in
Top seeds have stumbled, have tumbled, been humbled in
Wimbledon
Where home-grown heroes’ hopes have swelled up and then dwindled in
Wimbledon
The Grand Slams’ best of breed, it’s the whizz it’s the biz
The temple where physics expresses its fizz
There’s one word for tennis and that one word is
Wimbledon