That said, Henman at 32 is cheerful and, would you believe it, confident as he discusses prospects for the tournament he relishes above all others. With reason, since this will be his 14th straight tilt for the sport's prime rosette. Here is someone who has marched to the Wimbledon semifinals four times and the quarters on four other occasions, who has won more grass court matches than any other current player, Roger Federer included, yet does not have a grass title of any sort to his name. The nearly man of Wimbledon whose ill-fortune it was to find his peak years coincided with those of Pete Sampras.

Acknowledging that expectations were not great, Henman insisted he was not spitting into the wind when he claimed, "There isn't anything wrong with my game.

In some respects it would almost be better if I was serving horrendously or couldn't get a backhand in court. Then there is something very specific I could go away and work on. I would love to say 'this or that has let me down'. I am fighting to improve my form, it's just another challenge. There is no reason why I can't string together a good run at Wimbledon. On grass my game is still good enough. The nature of grass has changed a lot, with slower conditions and higher bounce, but I still think most people don't like my style of play and that is always going to be relevant.

"If I am doing the fundamentals well, I would like to think there are a few people who would be looking to avoid me in the draw." One will be his first-round opponent, Spain's Carlos Moya, a former French Open champion but no great shakes on grass.

"There is no doubt grass is not such an issue these days, but moving well on it is where some people struggle. Five or six years ago there were six, eight, maybe 10 guys you just knew the winner was going to come from. Now, Roger aside, there are so many more capable of competing. After Federer there is a group of half a dozen, including Rafael Nadal. The way he has come off the high of winning a Grand Slam in Paris and just gets stuck into the next tournament is phenomenal. It speaks volumes for him as a person and a competitor. He is tough to beat on any surface."

Precisely the contrary is Henman's predicament, unable to win on any surface, even the grass of Queen's last week where he went out in the first round to an 18-yearold Croatian wild card. Henman led but could not push on to victory, a problem he acknowledges.

"I just want to raise my form. I don't think it will take very much. I need to turn 4-1 leads into 6-3 sets." Ongoing problems with knee and back have not exactly helped and Henman points out, "Losing early in tournaments is no fun. There is only one option, to fight your way through it. But it's not torture. I would be the first to admit it's not a real job, it's always been my hobby.

"I am so lucky that what I do is what I love to do. There is going to be plenty of time to be retired so I want to make the most of it. To have the opportunity of playing Wimbledon is not going to be there for ever, so there is no way I am going to turn my back on it.

"But right now there is no doubt it is a real challenge for me. I can either say, OK I am going to find a way to get through this and am going to put in the hours on the court and in the gym. That to me is confronting the challenge. Or I could easily say I don't need to deal with that. But that would be quitting. The day I do decide to stop will be the day I am retiring. The two are very different." Henman points to reasons to be cheerful, citing the case of Jonas Bjorkman, the 35-year-old Swede who was a runner-up at Nottingham and Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2006.

"And I am perhaps better than him, " he grins. "He knows that as well." Acknowledging that he is going through "probably my worst run of form", Henman closed the chat by admitting, "Winning is the best bit and I have been doing too much losing. It is frustrating, but I will turn it around."

Meanwhile, the Andy Murray will-he, won't-he saga will go down to the Wimbledon wire, on opening day tomorrow morning. The British number one, sidelined by a wrist injury for the past six weeks, says he "plans to play" unless there is a worsening in his condition after practising with fellow-Briton Jamie Baker this morning, followed by what he called a "flat-out session" with his coach, Brad Gilbert, this afternoon.

Murray's steady recovery from the right wrist injury he suffered in the opening round of the Hamburg Masters Series tournament last month has been roughly in proportion to the mounting speculation about the 20-year-old Scot's prospects of appearing in an event where he surged into the fourth round last year.

Though you might not have guessed from his sombre expression throughout a media conference at the All England Club yesterday afternoon, Murray insisted progress on one of British sport's most agonisingly scrutinised injuries had been optimistic. "I've been playing some sets the last few days and haven't had any bad reaction on my wrist. Every day it's been getting better."

As for the possibility of doing further damage by going ahead at Wimbledon, Murray said, "The doctors and physios are all pretty confident I can't re-injure it, which is great. The only thing is, if I try to hit the ball 100 per cent and I have a reaction the next day it might take a couple of days for it to get better.

"I've been starting to hit topspin forehands [the stroke which caused the injury] properly for the past four or five days. I'm just trying to make sure I don't go for it too soon. After speaking to the doctors I'm pretty confident about what they say.

"The new fibres need time to get strong.

I've been doing weights on my wrist to try and help that, but obviously the contact of the ball makes it hurt a little bit. Hopefully the next couple of days it should get better." Murray said he was not aiming to fulfill his role as eighth seed by reaching the quarter-finals, but was focused on his first match, against Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Both the four-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and former British number one Tim Henman have advised Murray against coming back too soon. Federer said, "When you have a young career like Andy's and there is a risk the wrist won't hold, definitely don't jeopardise your entire career over one tournament, even though it's Wimbledon." According to Henman, "To take a risk with something as important as a wrist would be a mistake, and I'm sure he wouldn't make a mistake anyway." Murray acknowledged, "What they're probably saying is if my wrist isn't ready, don't play.

I'm not planning on doing that."

WIMBLEDON All England Lawn Tennis Club, Tomorrow - Sunday, 8th July Live, BBC, TG4, every day