Wimbledon: Henin, Clijsters, Roddick win. But no one is watching

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They’ve put all the shades down on the windows of the press room at Wimbledon. That’s so the unlucky fans who have tennis tickets Wednesday don’t congregate at the windows to watch England and Slovenia playing soccer.

The crowds on the court seem subdued as well, noses buried deep in cellphones, trying to find out scores other than how John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are doing out on Court 18 where, by the way, Isner is leading 17-16 in the fifth set and taking some magic rejuvenating powders right now.

Fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick had a shaky set but beat France’s Michael Llodra 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (2). It was a grown-up performance by Roddick, who was able to keep from getting discombobulated by his untidy first set.

Belgian comeback girls Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin seem aimed for a fourth-round matchup. Each won second-rounders Wednesday, Clijsters over Croatia’s Karolina Sprem 6-3, 6-2 and Henin over Germany’s Kristina Barrois 6-3, 7-5.

Afterward, Henin spoke of her appreciation for what Venus and Serena Williams had done for tennis. ‘They brought a lot to the game,’ she said, ‘because they really pushed us to physically and mentally get better. And I think they did an amazing job for women’s tennis, as we really had to get better after them.’

Also, Long Beach’s Vania King, in a match carried over from Tuesday, lost her third set and the match against 24th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3.

-- Diane Pucin