It is, by now, no secret that Andy Murray followed his Australian Open defeat to Fernando Verdasco by going out to dinner and bumping into The Prodigy in his hotel lobby. We know this because he revealed it live on his Twitter page. In his exact words: “Just bak from dinner. Bumpd in2 the guys from The Prodigy in hotel lobby. Tuf 2day. Fernando playd gr8 5th.”

Interesting that on the day that he was defeated in a major tournament that some were tipping him to win, he should reflect first on dinner and The Prodigy and then mention that it was “Tuf 2day” as an afterthought.

Twitter – the internet text-blogging site - can make the most Herculean of tasks seem bizarrely everyday. This, for instance, was Lance Armstrong Twitter-ing last week the morning after completing a 145km stage of the Tour Down Under (“TdU”): “And good morning to you all. TdU = Hard. Ask the boys. Slept like 'merde' too.”

For real high-class Twitter-ing, though, go to Shaquille O’Neal. This followed the presidential inauguration: “The obama speech, wow, was dat memorized, very impressive, im jealous”. I prefer the following, totally random entry; “I wanna b a ufc fighter, raaaaaaaaaaaaaa dats my growl , lol.”

Phelps is right to cash in

Less than a week after his return to full-time training, here are some encouraging reflections from Michael Phelps which suggests that he finds it a struggle to get fit too: “I'm in a world of pain right now. It's all over my body. I'm almost in a state of shock. Literally every part of my body is hurting.”

It has, of course, been a lucrative break from the water. Yes, it is probably fair to say that he has credit crunch-proofed himself. If that is a verb.

He has just returned from Beijing where he added Mazda to his list of endorsements. Reportedly for over £1million, said to be the largest single sponsorship deal for a foreign celebrity in the country. Which has created an interesting debate. The stick being wielded in the US is that in economic hard times, should he not be putting his name to an American brand rather than a foreign one?

Personally, I don’t think there is any "should" here at all. He is entitled to sell his name wherever he wants. You might add that he has done a bit for his country already (let’s start with eight gold medals). He will also be taking Japanese money and paying tax on it into the US economy. Which kind of brings Lewis Hamilton and Switzerland to mind.

Talking point: who is your ideal dinner party guest?

I write this column en route to Boston with a shameless mention for splendid American Airways in the hope of an upgrade on the way back. Anyway, once released from the back cabin, this should be a decent trip: to interview Jonny Wilkinson who is in a ski resort in Vermont getting heavy rehab on his dodgy knee from Dr Bill Knowles, one of the acclaimed market-leaders in the dodgy knee business. Through his link with The Times, I have come to know Jonny about as well as any other professional athlete and the association has been fascinating.

There is a misplaced assumption out there that Jonny is too obsessive and self-absorbed to be interesting. Wrong. Some people also rail against his introverted stance on privacy but his warmth and hospitality to me once included lunch for the whole Slot family at his house near Newcastle.