Oh poo. Not the best weekend to support Arsenal or be a British tennis fan. Bum, bum, bum. The Australian Open final was so disappointing and poor Andy Murray. If he’d had a kitchen sink he’d have thrown it at Roger Federer, although I suspect it would have whizzed straight back past him cross court. I must confess, I lost a lot of admiration for the Swiss player at Wimbledon last year, when he popped on that tacky tracksuit mere seconds after battering Andy Roddick into heroic submission.

We all knew he had broken the record he shared with Pete Sampras. We didn’t need a sponsored tracksuit top with 15 on it, to ram home the point. I thought it was deeply disrespectful, both of his opponent and the occasion. I note with interest that there was no repeat performance this time in Melbourne. However I do concede that Federer is without peer in the tennis world and probably always will be. Not that Andy Murray will care two hoots about that right now. I just hope he wins a Slam at some point, I really do. I can’t bear the prospect of spending the next 10 years, just as I've spent the last 10, sharing the agony with Tim Henman, as another plucky Brit comes so close and yet so far. And I just won't be able to stand watching Andy cry again, because it made me cry too.

Which sort of leads me on to Arsenal, but then again, I just can’t be bothered. They were so abject words fail me. Fortunately I had a fantastic weekend with friends in the Cotswolds to cheer me up. I spent the time eating, drinking, swimming, running around after small children and trying to decide whether to take on an 8-mile Kingston Breakfast Run. I have done it once before as the warm-up to the marathon, back in 2005. But my running mate is doing it and would quite like some company, so I am pondering.

The run is lovely, starting at 8am and finishing in Kingston town centre, having skirted Hampton Court Palace and the Thames. You can do either 8 or 16 miles and my friend is worried that it will take her so long to do the 8 mile run, that she will finish in front of the epic lunch-time queue that always builds up outside the West Cornwall Pasty Company. I share her concern. Although as I pointed out, looking on the bright side, we could just run straight in to the back of the queue and have an early lunch. I will keep you posted on that front.

I also visited the best playground I have ever seen in my life yesterday. It was enormous and had stuff for kids and grown ups. As you can see, I availed myself of the facilities, I think with a touch of panache. The children and grown ups laughed at me. A lot. And I don’t blame them. I do look slightly mad. But frankly I love the idea of a play area that everyone can use. Keeps us all fit and out of trouble hey? And it made me smile on a miserable sporting weekend and surely that alone was a good enough excuse.

Tags: Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Arsenal, Tim Henman, Andy Roddick, Wimbledon, Kingston Breakfast Run

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