Wimbledon Fever Begins

For the next fortnight Britain will be going tennis mad, as Wimbledon fever takes over the country. The tennis tournament, held in south west London, attracts all the very best players in the world, including Britain's main hope- Andy Murray.

One of the four majors in tennis (alongside the Australian, French and U.S. Opens), Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and the only one to still be played on grass. Held annually, this year's tournament has particular significance as it is the 125^th championships.

Traditions

Tradition plays a major part in Wimbledon, and the tournament wouldn't be the same without its many quirks. For example, the chosen snack of the fortnight for the crowds watching is always strawberries and cream, which, if you haven't tried yet, is delicious. These crowds will have first had to queue (often overnight) to get in to watch on one of the important courts, though chances are the clichéd British summer rain will force play to be stopped several times throughout the day. However, all this is part of the Wimbledon experience and is what makes it such a brilliant sporting tournament.

British Hopes

In the UK, any hope of a Wimbledon winner lies with Andy Murray, the world number 4 Scotsman. Though he has never won a Grand Slam tournament before, he comes into the championships in great form, recently having won the warm up ‘Queens' tournament also in London. However, he faces very tough competition from the top 3 players in the world- Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who between them have won 27 of the last 30 Grand Slam tournaments.

Other than Murray, us Brits have very few other players to cheer on, with the next best Men's player- James Ward, ranked 176^th in the world, and the best Women's player- Elena Baltacha, ranked 61^st.

Despite the lack of real tournament winning hopes, the British love Wimbledon and over the next few weeks you will see quite how much everyone embraces the traditional strawberries and cream, the rain breaks and Sue Barker's presenting skills on the BBC coverage.

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