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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GLOSSARY 词汇表



Wimbledon Tennis Championships

温布尔登网球公开赛

Women's Singles

女子单打

high-profile

知名度高的

semi-finals

半决赛

to regain his form

恢复最佳状态

ranking

排名

get behind

落后

quarter-finals

四分之一决赛

Britain's biggest tennis hope

英国网球希望之星

held him back

阻止(他)

tournament

比赛, 锦标赛

title

头衔, 冠军

major

主要的

seeded

种子(选手)

criticism

批评

slipped

下滑

British citizen

英国公民

contender

竞争者；角逐者

injuries

伤病

come on!

加油