Flags fly once more for Henman

Tim Henman won a tight match at Wimbledon yesterday, beating Wayne Ferreira in four sets to secure his place in the fourth round, an achievement made more remarkable by there being, for first time in 80 years, no American in the second week of the men's tournament.

A cheering capacity crowd of about 14,000 watched the British No 1 on Centre Court as thousands more gathered outside. Patriotic fans wrapped themselves in Union flags, just as they had done for the Jubilee and the World Cup.

Meanwhile, the American Jeff Morrison's early exit left him destined to join his fellow countrymen Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi on a flight back home. But Henman's victory was not easily won. Although he was only playing the unfancied South African, he had to work hard.

Some might say it's only sport, millionaires hitting balls, nothing for a nation to get excited about. But thousands of fans queued all night for tickets to see Henman. And many others were front of the giant screen on the grassy mound inside the All England Tennis Club that everyone now calls Henman Hill. Millions more watched on television.

Defeat would have left faces more sour than the Queen's must have been when someone told her Ozzy Osbourne was to sing in her back garden. "It was so close," said Henman afterwards. "The crowd was so important." The torturous match came as no surprise. "He's fabulous, but he puts us through hell," said Chris from Eastbourne as she ate fairy cakes and drank wine in the sun before the match. "He does cut it fine."

Britain suffered one loss yesterday when the Scot Elena Baltacha lost to Elena Likhovtseva of Russia. "On his day Greg Rusedski could blow anybody away," said Chris. As her second favourite British player did just that to the American Andy Roddick on Friday, she was queuing outside the ground with her daughter Bobby and friends in the hope of getting tickets for Centre Court. They pitched tents on the pavement after close of play, and woke up to a breakfast of champagne and croissants. "It was noisy and we got no sleep, but we know how to look after ourselves," she said. "You get to know the people on either side. Nobody would dare push in. We had 22 South Africans next to us."

Margaret was wearing a sticker that said "I queued at Wimbledon", as if that were the sport and not the tennis. But the gang did manage to get their tickets at £30 each. They came prepared, with flags left over from a Jubilee street party, hand-made signs saying "Come On Tim" and cards proclaiming "Ace!"

Over breakfast they listened to Radio Wimbledon, the station that broadcasts for a fortnight a year to anybody within five miles of the tournament. It also has half a million listeners on the internet. "I've had emails from China today," said Steve Butterick, the editor. The station broadcasts from 8am to 10pm and covers every match.

"We are conscious of being the radio station for the All England Tennis Club," he added. "So we're not going to ask players about their sex lives. But we did catch Amélie Mauresmo out signing autographs, and she was talking about her Porsche and her BMW."