“The trip costs what it costs in Venice, not more, not less.” That, according to his firm, is about €10 (£6.50) for approximately one hour of romantic paddling.Mr Smirnov says the boats have been modelled on their Venetian counterparts and, although they are produced in St Petersburg, he claims they are authentic “down to the last detail”.The idea to import a slice of Italy came to Mr Smirnov after Venice presented St Petersburg’s history museum with a replica gondola.Three gondolas have already started to ply their trade around the city’s landmark Peter and Paul Fortress, whose dank cells used to house Communist revolutionaries. The city of some five million inhabitants has just six gondolas so far, against Venice’s five hundred plus, but more are expected to follow if the vessels prove popular with tourists.”It will be great if the black swans of Venice go along the canals of St Petersburg,” Mr Smirnov enthused to the local St Petersburg Times. But until now the city’s canals were bereft of that quintessential Venetian form of transport: the gondola. St Petersburg’s sumptuous palace-lined waterways and its ornate Italianate architecture have long prompted visitors to dub the former Russian capital “the Venice of the North”. “Tim was a really nice guy, good help, gave me a few tips.”Enjoying such illustrious company will no doubt provoke a swell of pride among Andrew’s school friends. As they continue to rebuild their lives after the tragic events of 1996, they will no doubt be cheering him on as continues his quest for success at Wimbledon this week.. I want to get into the top 10 in the world, then possible win a Grand Slam championship.”He was able to study Henman at first-hand earlier this year when he travelled as a non-playing member of the British Davis Cup team for a match in Luxembourg, to gain experience of a big match atmosphere.”I watched everything,” he said.

But I’m also going to be in London a bit more now as well.”Andrew plans to play in the junior event at the US Open next September and is otherwise concentrating on establishing a world ranking on the mainstream professional tour.”I watch Tim Henman a lot,” he said. “It must be really difficult for him, because every year the press put so much pressure on him But he deals with it so well. I’d love to be doing what Tim’s done, staying in the top 10 for such a long time, and making the semi-finals of Wimbledon four times. Now he alternates his training between the academy in Barcelona and the Lawn Tennis Association’s coaching headquarters at Queen’s Club in west London.”If I’m going to play some tournaments on clay,” he said, “then I’ll go over to Barcelona for maybe two or three weeks to prepare. I had to take four or five months off, doing absolutely nothing.”I only started playing again in the last couple of months.”Coached by fellow countryman, Leon Smith, the teenager has spent the past two years based at a tennis academy in Barcelona run by two Spanish former tour players, Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casal.

“It’s only my second tournament in eight months, so I was just glad to get through.”Andrew’s physical problems began at the US Open juniors last September, when he reached the quarter-finals.”I had a niggling knee injury for about two or three months,” he said.”Then I got an MRI scan in December, which showed I had a bipartite patella It was very inflamed I couldn’t bend my knee at all. “I didn’t think I played my best match, but it was a good feeling to win,” he said. He lost in the first round then, and again last June, which made his success yesterday all the more encouraging. Andrew Murray’s defeat of his American opponent – his first win in the boys’ singles tournament – signalled an important milestone for the 17-year-old.
Andrew was a pupil at a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane, when, on 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into the school and shot dead 16 children and their teacher.Eight-year-old Andrew was on his way to the gym when the shootings began. He remembers being herded into the headmaster’s study to hide with classmates as the horror of the morning’s events unfolded.Some of Andrew’s friends lost brothers and sisters in the shooting and, in common with everyone in the community, he struggled to make sense of it. Few of the spectators at Wimbledon yesterday would have been aware of the poignancy of a victory achieved by the promising Scottish teenager on Court No 4. Only 4 per cent of the employers questioned currently conducted tests but 9 per cent said they were likely to introduce them in the next year.The report’s authors fear that Britain could undergo a similar rise to that in the United States, where drug testing is a multibillion-dollar industry.Ms Evans said: “We are in danger of slipping into a situation where employers are taking on a quasi-policing role with respect to the private lives of their staff.”.