‘Every time you see the perfectly manicured grass at the beginning of the game, it kind of makes you feel like summer is upon us,’ Eddie Redmayne told us at Wimbledon yesterday.

‘I’ve been a couple of times before,’ he added just before Roger Federer took to Court One. ‘It’s been a few years so it’s lovely to be back, particularly given that the sun has come out.’

The actor and Burberry campaign star came to the tournament fresh from the set of the new film adaptation of , in which he plays Marius, lover to Amanda Seyfried’s Cosette.

‘I will be singing in it and it was an amazing experience,’ he said. ‘I was doing a play, Richard II, before that and went straight into it. It was incredibly hard work, so now I’m taking a break and going on holiday.’

But not before telling us that he had ‘a great night’ at the 2012 ELLE Style Awards. He’s kept up with ELLE happenings, too—Redmayne said he was aware of our David Beckham cover, but wasn’t sure he was ready to throw his hat in the ring should we decide to repeat the male cover-star feat.

‘I’m not even going to pretend that I could compete with David Beckham,’ he said, ‘as far as the old washboard is concerned.’

What do you think? Is it time for #EddieforELLE?

See Redmayne and more A-list tennis fans in our Wimbledon gallery