Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones.
Full details of BBC coverage
Wimbledon day four preview
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By Piers Newbery
BBC Sport at Wimbledon |
Andy Murray will have the added pressure of playing in front of the Queen when he takes to Centre Court for his second round match at Wimbledon.
The Queen will visit the All England Club on Thursday for the first time since the ladies' final in 1977.
Murray, the British number one, will open play on Centre Court at 1300 BST against Jarkko Nieminen.
World number one Rafael Nadal and women's third seed Caroline Wozniacki are also on the Centre Court schedule.
It is 33 years since the Queen presented the Venus Rosewater trophy to Britain's Virginia Wade on her last visit to Wimbledon in Silver Jubilee year.
She will begin Thursday's visit with a walk past Aorangi Terrace, commonly known as Henman Hill, before watching a display of junior tennis.
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It's a pleasure to have the Queen here at Wimbledon
Rafael Nadal
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Players past and present will then meet the Queen in the members' enclosure before she takes her place in the royal box on Centre Court.
"I hope it doesn't affect me in the match," said Murray.
"I think it's one of those things when you get out there, you're aware of it, but then it is our job to be able to concentrate and to focus, not let things that are going on off the court distract you.
"I've been doing it for the last five, six years, getting used to playing in big stadiums with people watching and various distractions. You just need to stay focused."
The 23-year-old expects that both he and his opponent will bow to the Queen on their arrival on Centre Court, and is hopeful of meeting her after the match.
"I don't know what I'll say exactly - I'll probably be a little bit nervous, understandably," he admitted.
"I guess I don't want to mess up at all. But the plan was to bow to the Queen, as everybody would. It's just you wanted to get the right etiquette for what we were doing on the court."
The royal visit has overshadowed the fact that Murray faces a difficult second-round match against the experienced Nieminen.
Murray has beaten the 28-year-old Finn in both their previous meetings but the last of them was three years ago, and Nieminen is a former quarter-finalist at Wimbledon.
"He has a lot of experience," said the Scot. "He had a really good chance to beat Andy Roddick at the French Open a few weeks ago. He's a tough player. He's obviously a lefty, which can make it tricky.
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606: DEBATE
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"He's a very solid player, he doesn't hand matches to you. You have to go out and beat him. He's not going to make many mistakes."
Wozniacki will play Kai-Chen Chang in the second match on Centre Court before Nadal completes the line-up as he takes on Dutchman Robin Haase in the third match.
"It's a pleasure to have the Queen here at Wimbledon," said the Spaniard. "That's very good for the sport. And for me it's not an extra pressure, it's just an honour to see the Queen in the royal box.
"I would love to have the chance to say hello to her."
Defending champion Serena Williams has been practising her curtsey for the royal visitor but she will be out on Court Two when she takes on Russia's Anna Chakvetadze.
Robin Soderling and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova are among the star attractions on Court One, while Nicolas Mahut and John Isner will resume the longest tennis match in history at 59-59 in their final set in the third match on Court 18.
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