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Wimbledon's leading lads

To help you know your ace from your elbow, Mark Sylvester has the low-down on the new knights of the court

Every June the leafy London suburb of SW19 becomes the focus of world wide sporting attention. Hundreds of young men and women, who are experts in the second best use of cat gut (just ask any cat for his opinion on the best), descend on the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. They all have high hopes of carrying off the most prestigious silverware on the tennis circuit. But who are these racquet-wielding warriors in white airtex?

Lleyton Hewitt
Age: 21. Height: 5ft 11in. Weight: 10st 5lb. Singles titles: 15. Tournament earnings: $7,081,509. Seeded: 1
There are some who believe this Adelaide-born big-hitter was named after an Australian slang for being sick, but we cannot confirm this. Lleyton first started hitting balls across a grass court in his back garden at the age of four. Concerned for his safety, his father Glynn, a former player of Australian Rules football (a vicious form of soccer), called in a coach. Glynn is quoted as saying: 'If he was going to bash his balls, it was best he learned to bash them correctly.'
When newspapers reported that Lleyton was being linked with Kim Clijesters his parents immediately worried that he was being held responsible for the outbreak of a rather nasty anti-social disease. They were relieved to learn Kim is a Flemish tennis star.

Marat SafinAge: 22. Height: 6ft 4in. Weight: 13st 13lb. Singles titles: 10. Tournament earnings: $7,574,054. Seeded 2.
Moscow-born Marat has lived in Spain since the age of 13, when his mother Rausa realised Russia's run-down tennis facilities - not enough nets, courts in de-commissioned nuclear reactors etc - were never going to be good enough for her son. She dreamt of little Marat making it to the number 1 spot and earning enough money to buy a small former-Soviet republic. Marat had begun playing at his local Spartak club aged five alongside Anna Kournikova. While Anna's tennis never really improved, Marat has become a real contender, making it to last year's Wimbledon quarter-final. He recently fell foul of sports manufacturers Head when he played with one of their racquets, painted over with his then sponsor Dunlop's logo. They're all friends again now, and Marat is back playing with Head.

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