THE ACES IN OUR PACK

Which Brits are in with a chance at Wimbledon? We profile the young stars lining up for the challenge, and reveal where you can watch them

The Brits are coming – and they’re aiming for Wimbledon glory! With former champion Andy Murray attempting to regain match fitness after 11 months out with a hip injury, the spotlight is fixed on the younger members of tennis’s Brit Pack.

Kyle Edmund, the 23-year-old British men’s number one who reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, flies the flag in the men’s singles along with Cameron Norrie, who is one year his junior and ranked number two.

Cameron, who like Kyle was born in South Africa, has burst into the world’s top 100 this year and says, ‘I think my game suits grass so I’m looking forward to the challenge of Wimbledon.’

Johanna Konta, the British women’s number one, will hope to improve on her defeat in last year’s women’s singles semi-finals. Sue Barker, who once again leads the BBC’s coverage at The All England Club, reckons Johanna has what it takes to be a champion.

‘She has the ability, it’s about finding that necessary level of consistency,’ says Sue, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1977. ‘You have to win seven matches, back to back, under great pressure, and that’s not easy to do. But she is capable of it.’

Johanna isn’t the only British woman who’ll get the home crowd cheering. Guernsey-born Heather Watson won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2016 and has reached the third round of the singles event three times. She served for the match against Serena Williams in 2015, only to lose a three-set thriller.

Katie Swan, 19, probably still has her best years ahead of her, but Andy Murray, who signed her to his management company earlier this year, reckons she’s pretty special. ‘Katie has huge potential and lots of ability,’ says Andy. ‘She could become a major star.’

Tennis is becoming ever more lucrative, with even the first-round losers in this year’s men’s and women’s singles at Wimbledon being paid £ 39,000, an increase of more than 11 per cent on last year. The singles champions will each pocket £2.25 million, with last year’s men’s winner, Roger Federer, the bookies’ choice to pick up his ninth Wimbledon title at the age of 36. In the ladies’ tournament – won last year by Venezuelan Garbine Muguruza – Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova are joint favourites.

You can follow all the action on BBC1, BBC2 and up to 16 HD video streams of matches on BBC Sport Online. Clare Balding will round up the action on highlights show Today At Wimbledon on BBC2 from an open-air studio near Henman Hill, the vantage point from

which crowds watched battling Brit Tim Henman lose four men’s semifinals between 1998 and 2002.

Tim is one of a team of former players providing expert analysis. He’ll be joined by Wimbledon champions John McEnroe (three titles), Martina Navratilova (nine titles), Boris Becker (three, the first aged 17), and Billie Jean King (six).

Meanwhile, Barry Davies has decided this will be his last tournament after a 50-year commentating career. ‘It’s been an absolute joy,’ says Barry, who’s 80. ‘But I wanted to leave the party before I was asked to go.’

In 2012 at the HP Open she was the first British woman to win a major singles title since1988. Taking tennis lessons on holiday in Portugal aged seven, her teacher said she was a natural.