The Gardeners' World Blog

I'm Michael Cole and I'm the editor of live athletics. I joined the BBC
in 1990 and have been within Sport since 1992. I've worked on athletics
- in one role or another - since 1993.

As the editor of live athletics I work alongside the executive producer
and senior producers to plan our athletics coverage. What that involves
varies whether it's an international event like the World Championships,
or a domestic event such as Crystal Palace. There's a fair amount of
crossover between their roles and mine, but the broad split is that I
concentrate on what the programme should include, and they look after
how that happens. On the actual day of a programme I decide whether we
should be doing track, field, interviews, build up or studio chat and
they direct the programme including the coverage of the athletics
itself.

Finally it happened. It took five attempts spread out over two years but last Sunday Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal for the first time on clay.

Taken individually, it’s just one win but it is one that could be the key to the Swiss master finally winning the French Open and, who knows, maybe the Grand Slam.

That alone makes this year’s French Open essential viewing for tennis fans - and there'll be uninterrupted coverage via the red button on BBCi starting on Sunday at 10am.

The tournament is a marathon of a five-set matches and forty-shot rallies so we’re prepared for long hours, strained voices and even the strange bits of red grit you get in the media centre sandwiches - we hope you’ll join us for the duration.