Tennis digest

Clijsters bids farewell to Wimbledon

Four-time Grand Slam title winner Kim Clijsters said goodbye to Wimbledon for the final time on Monday, taking away a lifetime of memories from a tournament she likened to Disneyland.

Clijsters's ninth and final Wimbledon before she retires for good after the US Open ended in a dispiriting 6-1, 6-1 loss in the fourth round to German eighth seed Angelique Kerber out on Court 3.

"It all started from when I was a youngster, being at home, watching Wimbledon during summer holidays in Belgium, watching it on TV," said Clijsters. "You just kind of felt the magic coming through the television. Then as I got older, when I was able to be here for the first time as a junior, it was just very special. This was like Disneyland to another child. It was such a beautiful thing."

But the 29-year-old believes her best memory will be of seeing her father, Lei, a former Belgian international footballer, spending a fruitless four days at the All-England Club, waiting for the rain to stop.

The picture of her father's frustration is even more poignant as he lost his battle with cancer in January 2009.

Roof plays into Djokovic's hands

Novak Djokovic is thriving under Wimbledon's Center Court roof and after three appearances in the greenhouse conditions, the Serb believes he can keep shining in the gloom of an English summer.

The defending champion needed just 90 minutes to defeat fellow Serb and childhood friend Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarterfinals.

He can now rest until Wednesday while Germany's No 31 seed Florian Mayer and French 18th seed Richard Gasquet, one of whom will tackle the top seed in the last eight, were toiling in the rain out on Court 3.

"For somebody that plays all the tournaments outdoors and comes to the Center Court for the first time and plays indoors in totally different conditions, it's quite a change. So you need time to adjust," said Djokovic.

"When the roof is closed, I find it a bit easier to return serve. Obviously when you're playing on grass against a big server like Viktor, under these conditions you can neutralize the serve and get more into the rallies, so that was good for me."

Azarenka looking good in feathers

World No 2 Victoria Azarenka crushed Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals on Monday after being showered by pigeon feathers unexpectedly falling from the Center Court roof.

The Belarusian admitted she was mystified when the first feather dropped onto the court towards the conclusion of the match.

That turned to concern when even more floated down from above.

"I just saw some feathers coming down. Actually, I don't know how they got there as the roof was closed. It was kind of interesting," said the 22-year-old, who picked up the feathers and dropped them at the side. "I really wasn't focused on that. It was not my concern."

Azarenka, whose loud on-court grunting has often been criticized for putting opponents off their stride, said she tried not to let such things distract her. "Sometimes it can be annoying when somebody is chewing chips right when you're serving," she said. "Doesn't really matter. You just have to stay focused on your game. Whatever is going on around is going on around. It's out of your hands. But the feathers, it was fun."

Agence France-Presse - Reuters