NO MORE CROWING FROM THE NEST

Jimmy Connors is still smiling.

Three times he was assigned Court Two and three times he had to slink back through the crowd to the locker room and contemplate defeat.

Pete Sampras, Serena and Venus Williams, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe have all walked that walk.

But the Graveyard of Champions has been laid to rest. The All England Club ripped it up last year and has started again for the 2012 Olympics.

And with it went another slice of Wimbledon history.

The hand operated scoreboard overlooking courts two, three, six and seven has also been demolished and with it the best place in the world to watch tennis.

The camera position on top of the old wooden box was a tennis penthouse where privileged visitors had a high angle view of magic moments and epic matches and were still close enough to hear players muttering and doubles partners talking tactics.

The Crows Nest was a place to watch tennis until it was too dark to play and to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the world’s oldest tournament..

Not that cameraman Chris Coles noticed much of that. His regular gig for years had been what he liked to call ‘a fortnight’s holiday on the Crows Nest’.

Little disturbed him - least of all the tennis. Very occasionally he stopped reading the newspaper, snoozing or hanging out by the pool to stand up and point the camera at someone.

The heatwave last year prompted Colesy to invest in a paddling pool. He filled it with bottled water and kept his feet cool while perusing the paper or catching forty winks even though he was connected via headphones and a camera to some major voltage.

Most kept their distance.

Despite the tendency to loaf Colesy had good footwork when required.

He and a Radio Wimbledon reporter were perched there late one torrid evening two years ago and had a bird’s eye view of the electrical storm rolling in. They left it as late as possible before fleeing the Nest.

At the first flash of lightning they were off. Colesy had headphones on, was furthest from the ladder and smoking a cigar. He still beat me.