Hitting with Mario

05 June, 2008 | 13:06

After a day on hardcourts, the weather gods smiled enough to get back on the grass today.

Good fortune in the form of hitting partners too. None other than Mario Ancic...

Doing nothing to dispel the rumours that he's one of the nicest guys on the tour, Mario took a big intake of breath as he walked on court, smiled, and said "I love the smell of grass."

It's not something you might hear many of the South American and Spanish guys saying over the next few weeks, but for some players this surface is a bit special.

Sentiment over, they were quickly down to the hard work, working on drills and getting a proper feel.

Andy was hitting the ball great, and working the approaches well...

Looks very comfortable coming into the net...

Mind you, having seen Mario's serve at first hand, getting the ball back into play is one thing, getting it back in an area of the court where you can wrestle some of the initiative from him is a different kettle of fish...

His serve is a huge weapon; scary at close range.

Here's Jez confirming as much to Matty. Clearly Treacle still fancies his return as the best part of his game...

The guys played points as they went through the drills, taking time to serve, and return...

And all under the watchfull eye of Miles in his trademark hat. Look out for him in the box at Wimbledon.

The hat has a Shrimp on it. Don't know why...

And if you're wondering just how much the Ancic serve can make you work on the returns, this should give you a good idea...

Like I said, scary stuff...

The guys finished for lunch, and with Mario heading off, Andy just had time to hit the gym and work on some stuff.

Doing a bit of leg work here...

Next on the agenda is some filming this evening for a well known BBC chat show.

Stay tuned...