Wimbledon: Heather Watson excites nation, Maria Sharapova is rubbish at bowling...

Slowly but surely the British players are being muscled out at Wimbledon, but ladies number one Heather Watson didn't go down without a fight in a ferocious encounter with Serena Williams...

World number one Serena survived an almighty scare in round three, battling back to beat an inspired Watson in three sets and stay on course for her 21st Grand Slam title.

Williams, who has lifted this year's Australian and French Open crowns, was forced to dig deep in front of a raucous home crowd after an error-strewn showing against the superb Watson, recovering from 3-0 down in the final set to win 6-2 4-6 7-5.

The signs looked ominous for 59th-ranked Watson early on after being swept aside in the first set but the 23-year-old bounced back in the second, forcing Williams into a string of wayward shots as she matched up to her more powerful opponent.

Watson reeled off six games in a row with three service breaks to level the match and race into a shock 3-0 lead in the decider, raising the prospect of a first British female victory over a reigning world number one since Sue Barker beat Chris Evert in 1979.

Watson was twice just two points away from the biggest victory of her career when she served for the match at 5-4, only for Williams to show the grit and guile behind many of her successes to prevail in two hours and 15 minutes.

Watson excited folk across Britain and the world with her heroics and her defeater Williams had plenty of kind words to say.

Serena said: "She could get beyond the top 20, she is playing really well... She was playing so good there was nothing I could do."

Meanwhile Andy Murray, British men's number one, said on Twitter: "Retweet if @HeatherWatson92 just made you feel really effing proud! Favourite if she made you feel really effing proud!"

Sharapova isn't that good at sport, apart from tennis

Turns out Maria Sharapova's ball skills don't extend far outside the tennis courts.

The Russian former No. 1 was asked on Friday whether she had watched Dustin Brown's win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon a day earlier, but said she had been outside playing bocce with her team. Asked if she was any good at the Italian game, Sharapova responded: "Terrible."

She said "I'm not good at many other sports besides tennis. It's actually frustrating because I'm so competitive. I'm getting better. It's better than my bowling skills."

Sharapova's tennis skills still looked more than adequate as she advanced to the fourth round by beating Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in straight sets.

Leg's be having you

Novak Djokovic is used to signing all kinds of items for fans, but this was a new one even for him.

After his third-round victory at Wimbledon on Friday, the top-ranked defending champion stopped as he usually does to sign autographs for supporters before exiting Centre Court. Along with the usual programs and oversized tennis balls that people normally hand over, one man gave the Serb something a bit more unusual: his prosthetic leg.

Djokovic signed the artificial limb and handed it back.

"I hope the signature is going to make him feel better," Djokovic said.

Earlier in the day, he eased to a 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over Australian Bernard Tomic, and the Serbian top seed, bidding to defend his title, has yet to drop a set.

Kudla continues sensational run

You probably haven't heard of him but American wild-card entry Denis Kudla extended his surprising run at Wimbledon, beating Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in five sets on Friday to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
                  
After coming from two sets down to beat Pablo Cuevas in the previous round, Kudla needed another comeback to win 6-2, 6-7 (3), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
                  
Prior to Wimbledon, Kudla had won just two tour-level matches this year.

Naughty Nick gets the headlines, again

Nick Kyrgios was in sparkling form to oust Canadian seventh seed Milos Raonic on Friday, but had it not been for a fan in a Batman T-shirt, Kyrgios might have been heading home to Australia.

"He was just a fan. I thought he was key in the match," Kyrgios said. "He was actually saying some really good things at crucial moments. I think he helped."

Courtside coaching is banned when it comes from a member of a player's entourage, and tips from spectators are probably best usually left alone.

But Kyrgios was motivated by the mystery man, adding: "Before I was serving, he always said something like, 'Send down a bullet'. At that stage, I'm thinking, 'Let's try to make it a really good first serve here'."

Never one to let a match pass without incident, Kyrgios had a brief spat with another spectator.

"I thought she said something like, 'Pull your head in'. She started laughing," Kyrgios said. "I didn't really find it funny. It's easy when you're just sitting there and you're just watching, when you've got no experience at all on the court."

If he can stay focused, Kyrgios is equipped to go deep into the second week.

"I think if I play the right style of tennis, obviously if I'm serving well, feeling good out there, I think I can go close," said the youngster from Canberra.

Nick was also asked to remove a headband for having 'too much colour' on it and launched a tennis racquet into the crowd by accident.