ATPWorldTour.com takes a look at the news and talking points at The Championships on Thursday.

A Royal Occasion

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was welcomed by the HRH Duke of Kent, the president of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, on her first visit to the grass-court Grand Slam championship since her Silver Jubilee year in 1977, when Virginia Wade won the women’s singles title.

The Queen, wearing a light-blue and white coat and a matching hat, was greeted on her arrival at Aorangi Terrace at 11:22 a.m. by the Duke of Kent and officials from the All England Club, including its chairman Tim Phillips and chief executive Ian Ritchie.

The 84-year-old monarch, who also visited Wimbledon in 1957 and 1962, passed by Court 18 – the scene of John Isner’s epic first-round battle with Nicolas Mahut – then visited the club’s Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative on Court 14 before heading to the Members’ Lawn to meet a selection of players, including six-time champion Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and three-time runner-up Andy Roddick.

Prior to watching fourth seed Andy Murray play against Jarkko Nieminen at 1 p.m., The Queen dined in the clubhouse with current and former players. The menu comprised a salmon millefeuille starter, a main course of orange and honey marinated chicken followed by strawberries and cream with a mint syrup. She was presented with miniatures of the men’s and ladies singles trophies.

The Queen’s father King George VI competed with Wing Commander Louis Greig in the 1926 Wimbledon doubles championships. The Queen’s great sporting passion is horse racing.

Murray beat Nieminen 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 for a third round berth on Centre Court and both players were presented to the Queen on the balcony of the clubhouse, shortly before the monarch left the All England Club. Afterwards, Murray was unable to recall the conversation.

Presentation Made After Historic Match

Isner finally wrapped up a 70-68 fifth-set win against Mahut in a record-breaking first-round match that lasted 11 hours and five minutes. After the longest match in tennis history, on behalf of the All England Club, 1969 Wimbledon champion Ann Jones and four-time semi-finalist Tim Henman made a presentation to the players and chair umpire, Mohamed Leyhani, in recognition of the occasion.

Isner and Mahut were presented with a 10-inch tipperary Crystal Bowl and six Waterford Crystal Wimbledon champagne flutes, while Leyhani received the crystal bowl, a Wimbledon tie and silver Wimbledon cufflinks.

Coaches Foresight

After a week of gruelling practice in 100-degree heat and 100 per cent humidity to prepare for The Championships, Isner's coach joked that he was fit enough to play a 10-hour match. "My coach actually, believe it or not, said jokingly before the tournament started that I'd be able to play ten hours," Isner said. "That's the truth. After practising at Saddlebrook in Tampa in that heat, he was right."

Isner, who slept for just four hours on Wednesday night, also revealed that even a giant takeaway provided by fellow American Andy Roddick could not lull him into a deep sleep. "Andy just brought me back all sorts of stuff. It was for my coach and trainer. There was three boxes of pizza, all sorts of chicken, mashed potato, anything. I would have eaten 12 Big Macs.”

Tweet Of The Day

@AmerDelic: "I dont wnt to take credit for this @Johnisnertennis vs #Mahut, but we did practice all week in 100+F plus humidity. #Wimby weather is nada!"

Headline Of The Day

Mahut-Isner: 'In military terms, this was the epic deadlock of the south-western front’

The Guardian reflects on Isner and Mahut’s marathon encounter by likening it to the Great War of 1914-18. “In military terms this was the epic deadlock of the south-western front. Both combatants entrenched themselves on the baseline, relying on heavy artillery and only occasionally going over the top to venture in to the risky no-man's-land of the net.”

Match Of The Day

Tenth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dug deep to overcome 21-year-old Alexandr Dolgopolov, playing at only his second Grand Slam championship, with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 5-7, 10-8 win on Court 2 in three hours and 55 minutes. Tsonga, who hit 72 winners and 33 aces, now takes on the German Tobias Kamke in the third round. Dolgopolov, playing only his second grass-court tournament, could only convert one of 11 break point opportunities. The Ukrainian hit 80 winners and committed 35 unforced errors.

What The Papers Are Saying

Club Med, a French tour operator, have offered Mahut a free luxury holiday in Mauritius to recuperate from his Herculean efforts at Wimbledon. “Mahut is a great ambassador for the country and after Wimbledon, we hope he will take up our offer to have a well-deserved rest at one of our flagship resorts in Mauritius, La Plantation d’Albion,” says Laurent De Chorivit who heads the Club Med operation in the UK. “We will understand though if he doesn’t visit the tennis courts!” Hopefully Club Med can extend the offer to the BBC’s Rod Marsh, better-known as a boxing commentator, who called every single ball during the marathon encounter.

France might have made an ignominious exit from the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but Gael Monfils’ coach Roger Rasheed is trying to inspire the 23 year old through the endeavors of other countries competing in the football tournament. Rasheed told The Times that “if France were going well, he might feed off it. I love the World Cup and I might grab some stuff from other teams that might be valuable for him. “I’ve been concentrating on making him believe he can be a contender on grass.”

The Daily Mail offers the headline of ‘From sharpest shot to bullet dodger’. The newspaper’s correspondent, Mike Dickson, writes, “Much more of this and we will know him not as Roger Federer, peerless Wimbledon champion, but as Roger the bullet dodger.  The six-time winner escaped again on Wednesday night, from the clutches of unknown Serbian Ilija Bozoljac, a surf bum lookalike armed with a howitzer of a serve.”

Judy Murray, a former player and mother to Andy and Jamie, wrote a column in The Daily Telegraph on ways to revolutionise British tennis. Her five steps are to increase the talent pool, put emphasis on talent development, invest in the tennis workforce, develop a winning mentality and make the sport more affordable.

Murray Mania

“The revolution can wait,” wrote Mark Reason in The Daily Telegraph after Murray’s win over Nieminen. “Citizen Murray walked on to Centre Court, turned to the Royal Box and bowed like a courtier. The borders may have seethed at their man's obeisance but all was well at Wimbledon.”

Celebrity Spotting

Irish actor and model Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 32, was spotted rushing towards Aorangi Terrace shortly after The Queen’s arrival. Meyers has starred in historical drama The Tudors and films, Velvet Goldmine, Bend It Like Beckham and Match Point.