Injured Murray leave British assault thin on the ground

While British tennis braces itself for an

awkward four weeks without Andy Murray,

the rest of the world’s leading players are

gradually mustering in London to prepare for

Wimbledon.

Four of the top six can

be found at the Artois

Championships,

starting at Queen’s

Club today, for the

usual fortnight’s crash

course on grass that is

dictated by the sport's

unbalanced calendar.

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Tim Henman leads the

British challenge,

charged with bringing

some respectability to

home efforts in the

likely event that

Murray’s wrist injury

prevents him from

hitting balls in anger.

Only a defiant show

from home players can

prevent the Lawn

Tennis Association from

having even more

explaining to do than

usual about how they

spend their money. So

far, the portents do not

look good.

In last week’s modest

Challenger event at

Surbiton, only one

British player, Richard

Bloomfield, made a

singles quarter-final,

while the qualifying at

Queen’s this weekend

saw a total wipe out.

In fact, not one of the

home aspirants won a

single match against

foreign opposition as

they tried to make it

into the main draw.

Much now falls on

32- year-old Henman,

who faces talented

Croatian teenager

Marian Cilic in the first

round at Queen’s

en route to a

scheduled third round

against defending champion Lleyton

Hewitt.

He is supported

by three wildcards,

including Bloomfield.

Hewitt is just one

attraction in a field that

also boasts Rafael

Nadal, Novak Djokovic

and three-times

winner Andy Roddick,

with Roger Federer

taking his usual option

of playing the ATP event

in Halle, Germany.

Murray will try his best

to be ready for

Wimbledon and has yet

to pull out of the

Boodles Challenge, an

exhibition event at

Stoke Park in

Buckinghamshire next

week. He is making

encouraging noises but

it would still be tight to

make it back in time.

One observer

described Murray as

working the ball back

across the net during

recent practice in fairly

straight-arm fashion to

protect the wrist.

While Nottingham is

the main ATP Tour

venue for the men

once Queen’s is over,

their WTA counterparts

will be at Birmingham

this week and

Eastbourne the next.