DOB:06.09.1974 Nationality:British World Ranking:5 Previous Wimbledon results: 2001 ::semi-finals 2000 ::fourth round 1999 ::semi-finals 1998 ::semi-finals

Henman has always said that he is improving year by year and this season's results - which include a title in Adelaide and a relatively good clay campaign - seem to bear him out.

But while Henman's Wimbledon record is one of the most impressive of players currently on the tour, time is running out for the 27-year-old.

He has reached the semi-finals for three of the last four years, with nemesis Pete Sampras disposing of him on the first two occasions.

Sampras' unexpectedly early dismissal last year led observers to wonder whether it might finally be Henman's year.

But they had reckoned without the English weather - which delayed the Briton's semi-final at a crucial point - and a man who believed destiny owed him the Wimbledon title, in the shape of Goran Ivanisevic.

The last British player to win a singles title at Wimbledon - Virginia Wade - did so in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977.

Could the fates now be pointing to another royal-tinged celebration for the nation's number one?