London, July 03: Tim Henman was yesterday in the unusual position of outshining England football captain David Beckham, as millions of Britons gathered round their television sets for the home hope's Wimbledon quarter final against Sebastien Grosjean.
Around 13 million people - not far short of a quarter of the British population - tuned in to see Henman's rollercoaster men's fourth round victory over David Nalbandian on Monday, and similar numbers were expected to watch his game against the 13th-seeded Frenchman.
Despite Beckham's far greater fame in normal times, his unveiling as a Real Madrid player on the same day, following his recent transfer from Manchester United, was set to be little more than a sideshow.
Generally a football-mad nation, every Wimbledon fortnight Britain embarks on a summer romance with tennis, a love affair fuelled in recent years by Henman's valiant but thus-far doomed attempt to become the first British men's singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Henman, the 29-year-old 10th seed, is well used to shouldering seven decades of national hopes, having reached the semi-finals at four of the past five Wimbledons.



But with age creeping up on him and this year's men's draw wide-open - apart from Henman, none of the other last eight have ever reached the semi-finals at the tournament - Britain is thinking that this could be the clean-cut star's best, and last, real hope.


Bureau Report