 |
| One of Britain's
tennis stars, Tim Henman, in action on the
court |
The
Wimbledon Tennis
Championships are famous around the world, with players from many
different countries taking part. China’s most successful women’s international
players at the moment, Zheng Jie and Li Na, will be playing in the
tournament.
So, what about the British players? The last
time a British player won the tournament was in 1977 when Virginia Wade won the
Women’s Singles title. However, in 2006, there are no
high-profile British women tennis players. It’s the men who are
the most successful.
There are three major British male players playing at an
international level at the moment. The most successful in the past has been Tim
Henman. He has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon four times,
but he has failed to make the next step to the finals. In 2002 he was
seeded fourth in the world.
Unfortunately for Tim though, he has been unable to regain his
form to this high level. He has received a lot of criticism
in the press for being unable to win any tournaments, in spite of his
high ranking internationally.
In recent years Tim has slipped to 62 in the world rankings.
He is also 31 years old so he is no longer as young or as fit as he used be. But
as long as he continues to play, the British people will always get
behind him and hope that he can succeed at Wimbledon.
Greg Rusedski is another famous British men’s singles player. He was born in
Canada but his mother is British, so he has chosen to be a British
citizen and represent Britain in the tennis. He was also seeded fourth
back in 1997 and has only ever reached the quarter-finals at
Wimbledon. He is currently the highest ranking British player, but he has never
really been a contender for the Wimbledon title.
Britain’s biggest tennis hope is 19-year-old Andrew Murray
from Scotland. He hasn’t been playing for very long, and he has had a few
injuries which might have held him back, but
he is currently ranked 45th, above Tim Henman. He has played well in tournaments
in other countries over the past year and he is probably Britain’s biggest hope
to succeed at Wimbledon sometime soon. Come on Andrew!
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