British tennis suffers one of its darkest days at Wimbledon
The All England Club has played host to some grim days for British tennis over the 149 years of these Championships but surely none as grim as this.
The first day of Wimbledon turned into a blue Monday for the home guard. Eleven hopefuls started the day and one by one that hope was snuffed out.
Since Wimbledon starting recording results by day rather than by round in 2000, the previous worst record in a day was nine GB defeats and two wins.
Amid the slaughter came the grimmest news of all: Jack Draper followed Emma Raducanu in withdrawing from the tournament, as his chronic bone bruising injury reared its head again.
What horrific luck for a 24-year-old who has effectively missed 12 months straight with a combination of the bruising in his left humerus and knee tendinitis.
Draper was due to face Taylor Fritz on Tuesday in a blockbuster first round - and with Andy Murray back on Centre Court in his player box. Instead he must return to the soul-sapping, mind-numbing grind of rest and rehab.
'Devastated to share that I have had to withdraw from my first round match due to a recurrence of my arm injury,' he said. 'There have been a lot of painful moments in the last 12 months but this one is definitely the absolute worst.'
Jack Draper has dropped out of Wimbledon on a nightmare first day for British tennis stars
In the end 11 Brits fell, including Harriet Dart (left), Hannah Klugman (centre) and teenager Mika Stojsavljevic (far right) in the worst opening day cince Wimbledon starting recording results by day rather than by round in 2000
As for Raducanu, she pulled out so late on Sunday night she still appeared resplendent in Monday's programme.
Moving on to those who actually played, let us chart this day of dread chronologically. It started rather well when 17-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic won the first two games against No 11 seed Belinda Bencic and Felix Gill was on serve early against Spanish wonderkid Rafael Jodar.
Then things got worse, and fast. Stojsavlevic only won one further game, going down 6-2, 6-1. Gill did a little better but still fell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. Qualifier Max Basing went in a flash, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 to world No 151 Shintaro Mochizuki, of Japan.
Never mind a victory, it took until 1.45pm for the first set won by a British player. That was Cam Norrie, taking the opener off 22-year-old American qualifier Michael Zheng.
Then came the Draper news, at 2.30pm. But at least we still had good old Cam: Mr Reliable, so often the last Brit standing in a Grand Slam. Surely he was the man to put some red, white and blue on the board?
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But Zheng played an inspired match and even Norrie's grit and experience was not enough to prevent defeat via a fifth-set tiebreak.
Harriet Dart was the next to flirt with victory, but she went down 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Jelena Ostapenko. Amid the carnage it was easy to miss a 6-3, 6-3 defeat for Alicia Dudeney at the hands of Alycia Parks.
Oliver Tarvet, who came through qualifying for the second year in a row, gave a good fist of it against No25 seed Arthur Rinderknech before going down in four tight sets.
As afternoon slipped into evening our hopes lay with two more teenage girls: 18-year-old Mimi Xu and 17-year-old Hannah Klugman.
Xu did well enough against Daria Kasatkina, losing 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 and Klugman made a match of it in the second set in her 6-1, 6-4 defeat by 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova. Good experience for the kids but, still, no wins.
Jack Pinnington Jones was on the verge of defeat to Brandon Nakashima before play was suspended due to bad light and so it all came down to Fran Jones. She had one of the day's more winnable matches against world No 49 Diane Parry but fell 6-4, 6-3. As Agathe Christie would say, And Then There Were None.
Penny for the thoughts of Dan Evans, snubbed for a singles wildcard at his final Wimbledon. For all his struggles in his final year, it is difficult to believe the Brummie could have done any worse than this lot.
Felix Gill was on serve early against Spanish wonderkid Rafael Jodar but soon fizzled to lose
Mimi Xu (left) and Alicia Dudeney (right) also lost as Brits collectively won a total of five sets
Before we lay siege to the Lawn Tennis Association's headquarters, some context is afforded by the fact that of the 21 Brits in the main draw, 18 drew players in the top 55. But this is patently not good enough.
There is promise in British tennis: the trio of Klugman, Xu and Stojsavlevic remain real talents and there is a crop of seven men, including Pinnington Jones and Gill, between 150 and 250 in the world, most of them on the younger side of 20.
But at a certain point one or two of them need to make a push. Progress from 200 to 150 in the world is all well and good but the truth is, in tennis, if you're not in the top 100 then you're nowhere.
So, will it get any better on Tuesday? Of the nine in action only Katie Boulter, against 18-year-old Italian Tyra Caterina Grant, could be considered a solid favourite. The current low watermark for first-round British defeats is 16 in 1988.
So if six or more of the nine lose on Tuesday, this will officially be Britain's worst start in Wimbledon history.
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
