How can you not chuckle at the colorful new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who, in the course of explaining how he was doing his "civic duty" attending Wimbledon on Sunday, includes this gem:

Of course I was on the side of Federer, especially since his opponent had a peculiar habit of bending forward before every point and tugging from behind at the gusset of his shorts. It was very rum indeed.

There we were in the Royal Box, with the President of Switzerland and assorted dukes, duchesses and the heir to the Spanish throne, and Rafael Nadal seemed to be unable to sort out what is known as a serious wedgie.

I pointed this out delicately to one of the tennis supremos, and he said that it was a well-known Nadal phenomenon.