During today’s (June 30) Wimbledon telecast, the latest edition of “Technically Speaking,” a recurring feature on technical and strategic aspects of tennis, paired Cliff Drysdale, a top-10 player throughout the 1960s and an ESPN commentator since the network’s first tennis telecast one week after launch in September 1979, debating with Patrick McEnroe the pros and cons of “Old School Tennis” vs. “New School Tennis.”  The discussion covered everything from how to grip the racket, the changes in rackets over the years, whether to rush the net and the all-important topic of how long one’s shorts should be.  (Drysdale:  “We were proud of our knees.  We were athletes and wanted everyone to know it.”)

Click the link to enjoy the comparison and the live discussion that followed…including Drysdale’s complaint that whoever edited the piece changed the video to make him move in slow motion.

Thirty years after he was part of the first live broadcast of the Gentlemen’s Final from Wimbledon (”Breakfast at Wimbledon” — Roscoe Tanner vs. Bjorn Borg, 1979), Dick Enberg was again part of history, calling ESPN2’s quarterfinal match in which Scotsman Andy Murray outlatsted Stanislaus Wawrinka of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 — the first match played completely under the new retractable roof of the famed Centre Court (Monday, June 29).  With rain falling, the roof had been closed earlier in the day in the middle of the Dinara Safina-Amelie Mauresmo quarterfinal, and it stayed closed as Britain’s latest favorite son, the #3 seed,  took on the surprising #19 seed.  Illuminated by lights for the first time in history, the sacred sod saw play continue to the latest time in Wimbledon history — 10:39 p.m. locally (5:39 p.m. ET) after 3:46 of back-and-forth action.  (The previous record, when competition was limited by the setting sun, was 9:49 p.m. in 2006.)

As for the first-ever “Supper at Wimbledon,” Enberg says, “Of all the changes made here over the years, I was pleased to be part of another piece of Wimbledon history.  The quality of the match and the atmosphere made for a ‘tennis dessert’ to the first Supper at Wimbledon.  It felt like a championship.

“For generations the long-suffering British tennis fans have anquished over the fate of their male players, with Tim Henman the latest to tease and come close but not end the drought of a British title holder that dates to Fred Perry in 1936.  Now they pin their hopes on Andy Murray, who is bigger, faster and stronger…yet still has the flair for dramatic theatre for which London and Wimbledon are famous.”

Congrats to Vince Doria, senior vice president and director of news for all ESPN platforms, who received the Red Smith Award today at a luncheon in Pittsburgh during the annual Associated Press Sports Editors convention.

Named after the legendary New York Times columnist, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to sports journalism.

Doria, whose journalism career spans nearly four decades, has been with ESPN since 1992. His career includes such notable positions as executive editor of The National Sports Daily and assistant managing editor at the Boston Globe.

Click here for a great tribute to Doria by Sports Illustrated’s Leigh Montville, who worked with Doria at the Globe.

During today’s (Wed., June 24) Wimbledon telecast on ESPN2, analysts Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez and Pam Shriver humorously explained why ”Big Babes” such as the Williams Sisters, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova have enjoyed such success at Wimbledon.  In the “Technically Speaking” feature, the former pros showed how power — a big serve and hitting deep — mixed with the occasional slicing drop shot works so well on a grass court.

Although each former pro won Grand Slam doubles titles, none has, shall we say, quite the game they displayed in their prime…leading to some good-natured ribbing…along with some comments about Pam’s curly afro in the footage of her from the 1980s.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova took a break from the tennis court and joins us for a radio interview to chat about her role as guest editor of the current ESPN The Magazine, the annual Revenge of the Jocks Issue. She goes to work by laying out the changes she’d make to women’s tennis, giving the NFL’s No. 1 pick Matthew Stafford (the Detroit Lions QB) a makeover and dishing out free advice on life, love and money to her fellow pro jocks. The issue is on newsstands now.

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ESPN is filming the opening video for the 40th season of Monday Night Football this week in Nashville with Hank Williams Jr.  The Tennessean filed this story and photo gallery from the first day of the shoot, which also included Gloria Estefan, who will appear in the Oct. 12 open.

Some 250 local extras showed up yesterday and another 500 are expected today for the final day of shooting at the Parthenon.

UPDATE: This behind the scenes story from FOX affiliate WZTV-TV in Nashville.