Wimbledon: Wimbledon hopes high for British success

Tennis fans in England were eagerly awaiting the start of Wimbledon today, with high hopes of serving up some British success.

Scorching temperatures were set to welcome the players to SW19 for the first day of the two-week competition.

Forecasters said dry and sunny weather would get the Championships off to a great start, with temperatures set to reach a sweltering 27C (81F).

But by midweek it was set to take a turn for the worse with showers expected to mean the covers being drawn over the hallowed turf, a PA WeatherCentre spokeswoman said.

Tim Henman, the 26-year-old British number one, from Oxford, was expected to set Wimbledon alight and breeze through his opening match after being drawn against a qualifier.

The number six seed could see himself eventually meeting last year’s Championships winner Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals.

But British number two Greg Rusedski, not seeded this year, will face accomplished Romanian Andrei Pavel in his first clash.

Despite fears Rusedski will not lift the trophy, all hopes will be resting on him or Henman ending the British success drought since Fred Perry became the last Briton to win in 1936.

But Wimbledon was lacking that certain glamorous something this year, with two of its key elements missing.

Russian beauty Anna Kournikova has been forced to pull out of the Grand Slam because of a foot injury.

And the Centre Court’s famous Boston Ivy that has adorned its walls since 1922 has been taken down.

One of the All England Club’s oldest features, the ivy has been removed as part of the extensive refurbishment.

Kournikova - a popular crowd-puller at SW19 - would have been hoping to beat her previous Wimbledon best of reaching the semi-finals in 1997.

Her hordes of male admirers will be left disappointed at her no-show at the tournament.

In the women’s singles top seed Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters - Serena and Venus - were expected to attract huge attention.

British wild card Louise Latimer faces a tough opening-round match against American 28th seed Lisa Raymond.

Hundreds of thousands of tennis fans are expected to flock to the All England Club over the two weeks of play, with many camping overnight to ensure a ticket for some of the major matches.

The Duke of Kent, president of the All England Club, and his wife will once again be the Royal representatives at the Championships.

This year also sees the introduction of increased seeding from 16 to 32, agreed by The Grand Slam Committee.

Once the 32 seeds were determined, each of the four Grand Slam tournaments then apply an objective surface-based system to determine the exact seeding of each player.

The All England Club has stocked up on strawberries, Pimms and other delicacies for the fortnight as it prepares for crowds likely to total 450,000.

The Centre Court action was beginning at 1pm this year changed from the usual 2pm start time with reigning champion Pete Sampras playing Spaniard Francisco Clavet.

He will then face one of the two British wild card entries, Barry Cowan or Mark Hilton in the second round.

Meanwhile, Sampras remained favourite to win the Championships, with William Hill giving him odds of 13/8.

Andre Agassi was second favourite at 4/1, Lleyton Hewitt, third favourite at 8/1 and Tim Henman fourth favourite at 10/1.

The bookmaker was also offering odds of 20/1 for Henman and Rusedski to meet in the semi finals.

The odds of a British woman winning this year’s Wimbledon was given odds of 1000/1.

William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: ‘‘We’ve taken more bets for the Second Coming that a British female Wimbledon winner.’’