WIMBLEDON DAILY REPORT : For Now, the Stiff Upper Lip Is Out as Henman Excites the Home Crowd

The English appetite for tennis exists only during the two weeks of Wimbledon, but it’s a voracious appetite.

Tim Henman’s unexpected advance to the quarterfinals has excited the fans here and loosened their vocal chords. The players are remarking about the crowd’s ardent support of Henman, usually at the expense of his opponent.

Pete Sampras, for one, likes it.

“I play matches in the U.S. Open where I’m playing a European guy and the crowd is rooting for the other guy,” Sampras said. “That’s the way it is with Americans, they really love the upset, the underdog, they’re rooting for him. Here, it’s a little bit more patriotic; they are much more behind their guy. When you play a guy from the host country, you know the fans are going to be behind him. When I’m playing in the States, I think the fans are more concerned about their beer and hot dog. I’m noticing the fans here rooting Henman on, they’re really into every point, every game, and that makes it difficult to play. I faced that against [Greg] Rusedski [of England] here last year, I played [Mark] Philippoussis in Australia with his home crowd behind him. It makes it a little bit difficult.”

Henman plays American Todd Martin next.

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Doubles specialist Luke Jensen is known for wearing kooky clothes. He has played in football and hockey jerseys, he wore World Cup soccer gear two years ago and, teamed with brother Murphy, he wore a gas-station attendant shirt. For his mixed doubles match Tuesday, Jensen wore traditional cricket gear--long white trousers, white shirt and a white sweater vest, with England’s three lions, with his long hair pulled back in a pony tail and a bandanna around his head. Jensen and partner Nicole Arendt advanced.