Sporting obituaries of British tennis ace Tim Henman take pride of place on Friday's backpages. The most popular line comes from Henman's reported admission that his best chance of winning tennis' only grass-court Grand Slam has gone.
But the Daily Telegraph asks the 28-year-old's critics to lay off and simply except that his best tennis is just not good enough to merit a Wimbledon singles title.
THE HEADLINES Daily Telegraph: Beaten Henman deserves break The Times: Henman heads for home The Sun: Timinated The Guardian: Kallis turns lights out on England The Independent: Henman's hopes come to damp ending The Mirror: Chelsea's �34m bid Daily Express: Muscles 2-0 Brussels Daily Star: Chelski assault on K2 Daily Mail: FA to take �150m pay cut |
The Express also lends weight to the day's other main tennis action - the women's sem-finals.
Its headline, "Muscles 2-0 Brussels", refers to the Williams sisters tandem victories over Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne and stresses that the balance of power has swung violently back from Belgium to the USA.
The other hot topic of discussion is the future transfer dealings of Roman Abramovich's Chelsea.
Every paper has its own theory, but the Sun links the North London club to Harry Kewell, Patrick Kluivert, Joe Cole and Edgar Davids.
And it is widely agreed that Chelsea have also had an audacious �35m swoop for AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta knocked back.
The Daily Mail warns of tough times ahead for the English Football Association.
It reports that the BBC and Sky are set to agree a joint deal worth �250m for FA Cup coverage, significantly less than a current arrangement worth �400m.
MMIX
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