Great expectations on Henman's shoulders

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2004

LONDON (AFP) — England, with its football team beaten at Euro 2004 and its rugby world champions humiliated, is pinning its summer sporting hopes on the slender shoulders of an unassuming, middle-class chap from the shires.

Not for the first time, England expects something of Tim Henman.

The 29-year-old, four times a Wimbledon semi-finalist, has made the quarter-finals of the All England Club for the eighth time leading to the annual debate - can he become the first British men's winner here since Fred Perry in 1936?

"It was great quality tennis, it's as simple as that," said the fifth-seeded Henman after his nerve-shredding four-set win over Australia's Mark Philippoussis on Monday.

His fourth round 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) victory, revenge...