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!

GLOSSARY 词汇表

Wimbledon Tennis Championships
温布尔登网球公开赛
tournament 比赛, 锦标赛
Women's Singles 女子单打 title 头衔, 冠军
high-profile 知名度高的 major 主要的
semi-finals 半决赛 seeded 种子(选手)
to regain his form 恢复最佳状态 criticism 批评
ranking 排名
slipped 下滑
get behind 落后 British citizen 英国公民
quarter-finals 四分之一决赛 contender竞争者；角逐者
Britain's biggest tennis hope
英国网球希望之星
held him back 阻止(他) injuries 伤病
come on!加油