Why watching Wimbledon is the perfect way to get over England crashing out of Euros 2016

It’s that time of year when cucumber sandwiches, whispered speculation about a roof, repetitive references to a specific hill and a heck of a lot of grunting fill our screens with Wimbledon finally ushering in the Great British Summer and I love it!

Is there anything better to help you get over your European Championship woes then watching a Scottish man crush the competition on behalf of everyone in the United Kingdom? No, there isn’t. And to make things even better there isn’t an Icelandic person in sight!

There’s also something brilliant about the combination of effortlessly charming Englishness and fantastic sportsmanship that gels so well and makes Wimbledon the perfect lazy viewing. Plus nothing can come close to the feeling of a British person winning Wimbledon. There’s a reason Andrew Murray won Sports Personality of the Year last year after all, and not the England football team!

But Murray isn’t the only British person in the tournament. In fact there were a bucket load of Brits entering the tournament in round one, most of which were wildcards playing in their first grand slam. And the best thing is as there isn’t any expectation on them to win it’s impossible not to feel good if any of them do well.

Like Marcus Willis, ranked 772 in the world who triumphed over world number 54 Ricardas Berankis in straight sets to earn himself a marquee match up against Roger Federer in the second round. Sure he got comfortably beaten by Federer in the second round but the fact he won a match at Wimbledon at all is a minor miracle and just one reason to tune in.

Then there’s Laura Robson, the former Juniors Title winner, whose promising career in the seniors field was cut short by injury making her return in a lising effort against the world number 4, whilst fellow British women Tara Moore and Johanna Conta who progressed into the second round, Moore winning on her Wimbledon debut.

See in the space of three days Tennis has produced more feel good moments for English viewers than the England football team have in ten or so years. Sure, the majority of British players crashed out with with Dan Evans and Andrew Murray (of course) the only others joining the rest of the British first round winners.

We waved goodbye to James Ward who had the honour of giving Djokovich his first win, Kyle Edmund, Alexander Ward, 17 year-old Katie Swan, Aljaz Bedene, Brydan Klein, Liam Broady who was knocked out by fellow Brit Murray and Naomi Broady. Heather Watson is the only Brit whose first round match still hangs in the balance, thanks to the rain. But like I’ve already said it didn’t matter because there were no expectations.

So, with at least four, and possibly five British players still in the tournament I propose that there is nothing better to restore your sense of patriotism and faith in all things English than watching the rest of Wimbledon with a glass of Pimms and a stiff upper lip cheering our boys and girls on. And in the meantime the memory of Iceland beating England 2-1 will become a distant memory.